Perry: Girlfriend 'did a great job' in my corner vs. Gall
A lot was made of Mike Perry's choice in corner person for his fight against Mickey Gall this past weekend.
Perry forwent a typical corner that consists of coaches and training partners for the UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Hooker co-main event in Las Vegas, instead appointing his girlfriend, Latory Gonzalez, as his lone assistant during the bout.
The move received plenty of criticism, but "Platinum" walked away with a unanimous decision win over Gall, decisively beating him on the feet and the ground. Afterward, Perry praised Gonzalez for her efforts and said everyone who doubted his decision was proved wrong.
"(Gonzalez) did a great job," Perry said at the postfight press conference, according to MMA Fighting's Alexander K. Lee. "She kept it very simple. She shouted a couple of things, I heard her during the fight and I remember telling myself, 'OK. There you go. She getting into it now.' She was like, 'Keep your hand up.' There was one time (Gall) had swung and just missed. 'Get your hand back up,' and I'm like, 'Alright.'
"In the corner, when she was in there rubbing the ice on me, she kept asking me, 'Hey, where do you want, what else do you want, what can I do?' She was trying to do more for me and it was really cool just sitting in there quiet and just thinking about how the next round was gonna go."
Ahead of the Gall fight, Perry said he parted ways with his coaches because he felt the advice between rounds during his fights was lacking. Ultimately, all the 28-year-old wanted was someone to bring him the stool, carry the bucket, and put ice on his body - and though this was her first time working someone's corner, Gonzalez did just that.
"She was so pretty with that little ninja face mask, killing it all night long," Perry said.
Perry, who's trained at gyms in Florida and at the famed Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said he plans to try to put a team together for upcoming bouts and hopes to train at American Top Team in southern Florida in the future.