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Andreas Hale, ESPN
Former UFC fighter and current Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship “King of Violence” Mike Perry was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and refusing to sign a citation requiring a court appearance in his home state of Florida over the weekend.
According to Lake County Sheriff’s Office online records, Perry was arrested in the early hours of Oct. 12 by the Clermont Police Department in Clermont, Florida. He was booked at 4:36 a.m. and stayed in jail until he was released on $1,500 bond at 9:41 a.m. the same morning.
TMZ Sports obtained body cam footage from the arresting officers that showed Perry, 33, hurling anti-gay slurs as he was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. In the video, Perry was informed that he was traveling 20 mph over the speed limit. The citing officer noted that Perry smelled like he had been drinking. Perry, who was driving with his wife, Latory Gonzalez, denied he was intoxicated and was asked to step out of the vehicle. The former UFC fighter refused to take a sobriety test and was informed that he would be arrested.
As Perry was being handcuffed, he yelled to Gonzalez that he was being arrested. When Gonzalez asked if the police knew who Perry was, Perry responded by calling the officers anti-gay slurs and became verbally combative.
Perry is due in court on Oct. 30.
Perry fought in the UFC for five years and amassed a record of 7-8. He signed with BKFC in 2021 and quickly became the promotion’s biggest star with a 5-0 record and was crowned with the symbolic “King of Violence” championship. However, Perry’s foray into boxing earlier this year against Jake Paul fell short when he was stopped in the sixth round. After the loss, Conor McGregor, part owner of BKFC, who went on to publicly “fire” Perry from the promotion.
McGregor addressed Perry’s standing with the bare-knuckle fighting promotion over the weekend by proclaiming that Perry was still fired but is currently “in negotiation” to return to action.