Daniel Cormier: Mike Perry will 'make this fight just ugly enough' to beat Jake Paul

Daniel Cormier thinks Mike Perry will shock Jake Paul in the boxing ring.

Perry (0-1) faces Paul (9-1) in an eight-round cruiserweight boxing match July 20 in Tampa, Fla. The event airs on DAZN pay-per-view.

Perry has had tremendous success as a bare-knuckle boxer. “Platinum” is 5-0 under the BKFC banner, including stoppages of former UFC champions Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez. He managed to out-brawl all of his opponents in bare-knuckle boxing, and Cormier thinks he can do the same to Paul., despite the bigger gloves and different ruleset.

“Can Mike Perry stalk him in the way that he stalks these guys in bare knuckle? And does the damage make Jake Paul start to question himself like he did to Luke Rockhold, like he did to Thiago Alves?” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I mean, he hurt Eddie Alvarez bad. These are tough guys. What we’ve learned about Jake is that he possesses enough skills to cause problems for many in the boxing ring.

“He’s going to be bigger than Perry, he’s going to have more boxing experience than Perry, but does that equate (a win)? If I’m being honest with you, I believe that Mike Perry wins this fight. I think he’s going to make this fight just ugly enough to beat Jake. But if he doesn’t, and if his game plan isn’t ideal, he will find himself putting himself in dangerous areas, and Jake Paul can crack.”

Paul, 27, will take on Perry, 32, less than four months before facing Mike Tyson on Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Paul was originally scheduled to face Tyson on July 20 before a medical issue forced the boxing legend out. “The Problem Child” is coming off back-to-back first-round knockouts of Andre August and Ryan Bourland.