Dislocated shoulder derailed Perry as short-notice Brandon Jenkins stuns him in round one

Mike Perry suffered one of the most jarring upsets of his career at Duel Arena 1, stopped in the first round by short-notice replacement Brandon Jenkins after dislocating his left shoulder during the bout. Perry had entered the fight as a massive favourite.

The contest only came together at the last minute after Dillon Danis — Perry’s originally scheduled opponent — pulled out two days before fight night in Orlando, Florida, citing undisclosed reasons. The late withdrawal also cost Perry half his purse. Jenkins, a relatively unknown fighter, stepped in on short notice and capitalised on Perry’s injury to seal the stoppage.

Perry, now 15-9, has since broken his silence on the defeat, posting a reflective statement on X that acknowledged the need to look beyond physical training. “Health is wealth,” he wrote. “The MMA lifestyle taking care of the body, mind and spirit. The gym helps the process of growing your strength, but strength is needed in other areas of life and should be exercised everywhere we go. Organize, be consistent, more recovery and stretching. Taking knowledge into my future endeavors. More to work for, more work to do.”

The loss is only Perry’s second since leaving the UFC in 2021, where he built a reputation as one of the promotion’s most entertaining and unpredictable welterweights. He has since established himself as the most prominent name in bare-knuckle boxing, but the Jenkins defeat will sting given the circumstances — a pulled opponent, a reduced payday, and a fight-ending injury against a fighter few had heard of.

Perry’s previous defeat in that stretch came in a boxing match against Jake Paul in 2024. How he responds, and whether the shoulder injury requires significant recovery time, remains to be seen.