SAN ANTONIO – Due to life events and a series of unfortunate bout cancelations, former UFC flyweight title challenger [autotag]Alex Perez[/autotag] hasn’t competed as often as he would like.
At UFC on ESPN 43, Perez (24-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) returns to action to take on Manel Kape in his first appearance since last July. Perez expects an evenly-matched fight against Kape (18-6 MMA, 3-2 UFC), but believes he will have to deal with early blitzes in order to stop a two-fight skid.
In his previous outing, Perez was tapped in the first round against Alexandre Pantoja, which came after a first-round submission in his title challenge against Deiveson Figueiredo. There was over 20 months between the two bouts, a pace that Perez hopes to avoid at all costs in the future.
“Injuries and the whole COVID thing,” Perez told reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “I believe I was supposed to fight (Matt) Schnell three or four times, and like two or three weeks before the fight, something happened whether he got COVID, I got COVID one time, you know things like that.
“It was nonstop for me, I just kind of had to go with it. I would love to be more active, and then obviously, injuries. During that time I was still helping my teammates train and I’d still get banged up. Just a little bit of everything. Life kind of came into that, my son was born, so I wanted to take some time off and spend some time with him. So yeah, I’m excited to be back.”
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After being signed to the UFC from Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017, Perez won six of seven bouts, including a three-fight win streak with stoppages of Jordan Espinosa and Jussier Formiga to earn a title shot. He hopes to get right back in the mix by picking up a big win over Kape at AT&T Center on Saturday.
Check out the full pre-fight interview with Perez in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 43.