Abasi Perry (2-0) is prepping for his third amateur fight at Lights Out Championship 2 on Saturday. He’s set to fight Andrew Muyskens (3-5) in a featherweight bout.
When looking at the match-up, Perry said Muyskens’ biggest strength will probably be his boxing. He was also quick to point out he’s well aware that Muyskens has four-times the amount of fighting experience he does. However, Perry feels it’ll be his well-rounded game that carries him to victory.
“I don’t think he’s been in there with a guy like me,” he told MMASucka. “I’ll be able to beat him up everywhere we go. All I have to do is be myself and he’s gonna be in trouble.”
According to Perry’s coach, Ray White, he and his brother, Idris, have a Muay Thai striking base which works in tandem with their high school wrestling base. From there, they have Filipino dirty boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to complement their striking and grappling, respectively.
Perry will look to use his growing, rounded game to finish Muyskens; something he feels additional motivation to do given tension between the two.
“He’s been talking a lot,” Perry said of Muyskens. “I just let it be. I see it all but I ignore it. We’ll meet each other in the cage. He tried to be my friend first. That’s the thing I hate about him. He tried to be my friend. Then I see on the Internet about him acting like he wanted to fight me.”
Abasi Perry’s Growth
Idris Perry (4-0) fights on the same card, competing for the Lights Out Championship amateur lightweight title against Michael Addo. Abasi said he had a title shot opportunity like his brother, but turned it down until he has more experience and improves to the point he feels ready.
“I’ll start feeling myself in there and then ask for a title shot,” he said. “I’m worried about this fight right now. A title, it looks good. You get another trophy next to your name, but I have a lot of other things I’m working on that I’m worried about right now other than the title. First, I’ve got to be myself in there.”
As someone who only has two amateur fights and launched his MMA career just last June, it leaves a prospect like Perry a ton of potential for rapid growth in-between his fights, so a title shot may not be too far off the horizon.
He took a unanimous decision over Matt Hooper in his last fight at LOC 1 back in October. Four months later, he’s ready to show what improvements he’s made when he fights Muyskens.
“There’s not an area I haven’t improved in,” he said. “In my stand-up, on my ground game. Just being myself. I’ll be the best you’ve ever seen.”
LOC 2 goes down Saturday, February 16 from the Deltaplex Arena in Grand Rapids, MI.
