Break It Down: Danny Roberts vs. Mike Perry

Danny “Hot Chocolate” Roberts (13-1-0) is another one of the lucky UK fighters who has been afforded the opportunity to fight at the biggest MMA event to ever happen on British soil. He’ll be fighting Mike Perry (8-0-0), who made his UFC debut just six weeks ago with a first round knockout victory. There’s certainly no love lost between the two fighters who have been engaged in Twitter warfare ever since the fight was announced.

A relative newcomer to the sport having made his MMA debut in late 2014, Perry has amassed a perfect undefeated record of eight wins with eight knockouts. However the quality of some of his opponents outside of the UFC has come into question, a fact that Danny Roberts has been all too keen to reiterate during the heated build up to this fight. However his undeniably dominant stoppage against the very dangerous Hyun Gyu Lim may go some way to proving the doubters wrong, a fight in which he dropped the huge Korean three times before finally finishing him.

Perry certainly has a belligerent and abrasive personality which is suitably reflected in his preferred fighting style as a bull-headed power striker. To state the obvious, Perry carries major power in his fists and is no stranger to applying it. He measures in at the shorter end of the welterweight spectrum at 5’10” with just a 71 inch reach, a fact that necessitates a need to get inside and land shots whilst in the pocket in order to impose his will. This ties in nicely with his aforementioned disagreeable temperament, which could possibly be an attempt to get his opponent to fight emotionally – if you want to give him the benefit of the doubt that is.

Danny Roberts is one of the most skilled fighters from the UK to have been signed to the UFC in recent years. A technical southpaw with excellent boxing skills and a razor sharp opportunistic jiu-jitsu game off of his back; “Hot Chocolate” has showcased himself to great effect in his two UFC appearances thus far with a first round triangle choke victory over Nathan Coy at the end of last year and a decision win over Dominique Steele back in April. The savviness and refined technique that he has been sharpening at the Blackzillians gym over in Florida has served him well so far, and will be needed now more than ever against this very dangerous and undefeated young fighter.

One of Danny’s main criticisms of his opponent is that Perry only does one thing well, whereas Danny does everything well. There is certainly some truth to this, in that Danny has displayed much more variation in his skill set over the years with a nice mixture of knockout and submission wins over high level competition. He sees Perry as a one dimensional brawler with tunnel vision – a transparent game-plan that Danny believes he can pick to pieces. His style is well suited to counter that of a forward-marching heavy set power puncher, he has pristine long range boxing that he is capable of applying in a varied and unpredictable manner. He also is very keen on throwing heavy inside leg kicks from his southpaw stance during boxing combinations, and as a distance tool. This will come in very handy when Perry begins to plant his feet and throw with intention – which I can’t imagine taking very long at all. Danny may be able to upset his rhythm and prevent him from establishing a solid base from which to launch any meaningful combinations.

As mentioned before, Danny is much more than just a striker. He has five submission wins in his career and is no stranger to working from his back, which is probably one of the reasons that he is so comfortable and loose on the feet. However it may be a mistake to take Perry’s grappling game so lightly, as we saw him control Lim on the ground very comfortably using a nice mounted crucifix. This being said, if Perry does manage to take Danny down or even drop him he’ll have to be very careful rushing into the guard of ‘Hot Chocolate’ or he may find himself tapping to one of the many submissions that Roberts has in his arsenal.

Perry’s best chance of winning this fight may be by taking advantage of his low centre of gravity and pushing Danny against the fence, grinding him down and periodically disengaging to throw combinations at close range. However, Perry is an emotional fighter with a grudge so it’s my opinion that he will opt to throw hands from the start of the first round, a risky strategy considering that Roberts has never been knocked out in his career. If you’re betting on Perry then you’ll have to bank on something that he himself is all too sure of – that he carries a different kind of power to that of most men.

This fight is a great headliner to the Fight Pass prelims on Saturday night at UFC 204, a night that will surely live long in the history of British mixed martial arts.