Eddie Alvarez did not want to take this public. However, after Mike Perry shared his version of what happened at BKFC KnuckleMania VI, Alvarez felt he had no choice but to respond.
The viral altercation, which unfolded ringside in Philadelphia, showed chaos breaking out in the crowd after a brief exchange turned physical. Perry later claimed on his podcast that he “got bumped from behind,” turned around to say “excuse me,” and ended up in a confrontation with Alvarez’s son.
“I think Mike’s telling the world that he got bumped by a girl and he turned around and he’s like ‘excuse me.’ That’s the first lie of the whole story,” Alvarez told MMA Fighting. “The girl was off to the side. There’s no way she bumped him. She didn’t even have to go into the row. That’s my son’s girlfriend, Kira. She’s a teenage girl. She’s 100 pounds. She’s never even been to fights before.”
According to Alvarez, Perry made an inappropriate comment toward the teenager. That is when his son stepped in.
“He turned around and said something pretty nasty to my son’s girlfriend,” Alvarez said. “My son turns to her and says, ‘What did he say?’ Then he said it again. The only thing my son heard was Mike saying, ‘I’m sorry, did that make you uncomfortable? What I said, did that make you uncomfortable?’ My son sincerely asked him, ‘What did you say to make her uncomfortable?’ He just wanted to know.”
Alvarez claims the situation escalated when Perry allegedly turned his attention toward his son.
“When he said that, Mike turns to my son — he’s 130 pounds — and says, ‘I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to her.’ You’re bullying a kid,” Alvarez said. “I’m sitting about six seats down with my wife and family. I’m not there with a team. I’m there with my family.”
Alvarez said he switched seats to sit directly behind Perry to keep things under control. He planned to calmly explain the situation if Perry continued.
“He’s telling my son, if he didn’t like it, he should do something about it,” Alvarez explained. “Then he turns to me and says, ‘I’m sorry, I know I’m wrong, but I think you should do something about it.’ What am I supposed to do? You’re drunk, you’re trying to bully my son, and my whole family is there.”
Alvarez did not deny the physical altercation that followed. But he pushed back hard against the idea that he orchestrated an attack.
“I didn’t instruct a team to beat up Mike Perry, nor do I need a team to beat up Mike Perry,” Alvarez said. “If I wanted to run it with Mike Perry, I’m not bringing my wife and kids. I’m bringing my wife and kids to watch a fight.”
“I protected his entire head,” Alvarez said. “I had him in a guillotine and I held him there. I didn’t punch him. I didn’t slam his head into the concrete. I protected him.”
Alvarez also revealed that Perry reached out the next day with a disappearing Instagram video apology.
“Mike sent me a disappearing video,” Alvarez said. “He said, ‘Hey Eddie, I was drunk, that’s not an excuse. It was kind of cool to get beat up by your whole family.’ The only reason he sent that is because I had a podcast already scheduled. He was worried about what was going to come out.”
Perry has denied Alvarez’s accusations and fired back publicly.
“He’s a liar, f*** you Eddie,” Perry wrote on social media. “What I said was true… This is not a business transaction. You’re an idiot for saying this for drama because now legal action will have to be taken.”
For Alvarez, the situation changed how he views his former BKFC rival.
“This ain’t even like me to air someone’s dirty laundry,” Alvarez said. “But you’re not going to bash my family publicly. He made my kid the bad guy. Anybody who meets my son loves him. He’s respectful. He would never disrespect anyone.
“Piece of s***. Grade A piece of s***. Good people don’t do this. He made the entire thing happen from start to finish.”
Despite their previous in-ring rivalry ending after one fight, the tension between Alvarez and Perry has now spilt far beyond bare-knuckle competition. And after this public war of words, it is clear the feud is far from buried.
