Conor McGregor: "Unfortunate that it went that way" - Mike Perry claims Luke Rockhold "did quit" at BKFC 41

BKFC 41 was headlined by two former UFC fighters in welterweight Mike Perry and former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. The two faced off in a light heavyweight bout in front of a star-studded audience that included several former UFC colleagues.

The fight ended in just the second round after Perry landed a few blows right on Rockhold's jaw. Rockhold gestured to the referee while pointing to his jaw and the referee put an end to the contest, handing Perry the TKO win.

Mike Perry addressed the incident in an interview with Helen Yee on her YouTube channel. He described the strikes that knocked Rockhold's teeth in:

“I saw when he backed up and he didn’t like something. You know, the body work was getting to him. I guess it was a right hand, his tooth muscle went into my knuckle. And I saw him back up not like something. And it’s kind of wild because he said - look, I still got respect for Luke, man. ‘Cause he came in here and he made the show, people weren’t sure who was going to win, I wasn’t sure who’s going to win.”

'Platinum' also stated that Rockhold quit the fight despite the Californian maintaining otherwise. BKFC president David Feldman also mentioned that Rockhold's teeth were not in a good state or a condition to continue:

“It’s just unfortunate that it went that way and he did quit. He said he is not a quitter. And it’s like you got to be careful with your words because it’s like he kind of spoke that and he went in there and he got hit in the teeth. And his mouthpiece was sh*t, it wasn’t even a good mouthpiece. I knocked his teeth in and he quit.”

Mike Perry speaks about face-off with Conor McGregor at BKFC 41

Mike Perry called out Conor McGregor from the audience after winning the main event.

The two fighters faced off in the middle of the BKFC 'squared circle' and embraced. They showed respect to each other in their brief chat with 'The Notorious' already wearing the BKFC belt on his shoulder.

Perry told Helen Yee that the face-off was a great way to cap off a successful night.