Issue 098

March 2013

As the first 100% Mexican to fight in the UFC, Erik Perez has the expectations of a nation on his shoulders – and he’s loving it!

Alias: Goyito

Age: 23

Pro debut: 2008

Pro record: 12-4

Team: Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA

Division: Bantamweight

Height: Five-foot-eight

Style: Striker

With the fastest knockout in UFC bantamweight history, Erik ‘Goyito’ Perez is being earmarked as something special. However, back home in Mexico, the diminutive striker from Guadalupe, has lived with that pressure for some time. After all, south of the border, he’s already dubbed ‘the most important Mexican in MMA.’ 

Despite the success of other UFC stars with Mexican heritage – namely Cain Velasquez and bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz – Perez is the first Mexican born and raised fighter to compete inside the Octagon. In his two starts to date (at time of going to press he was due to face Byron Bloodworth at UFC 155), Goyito has flourished, adding two show-stopping, first-round stoppages to his impressive 12-4 pro slate. 

At just 23, he carries the hopes of a nation into the cage, yet in an exclusive interview with Fighters Only, Perez reveals he still has his feet on the ground, his love for his family and his desire to spread MMA across Mexico.

Goyito – a portmanteau of his middle name, Gregotio, and the word ‘little’ due to his size – started training aged 15, and made his Muay Thai pro debut a year later. He recalls: “Everyone thought it was funny that a 16-year-old kid was fighting with adults. My face was shining and it was obvious I was barely a kid. 

“A few years later, I had been training a little MMA and fights were being organised in the Monterrey Arena, near to my hometown. One day, 24 hours before an event, I got a call and was invited to fight. I even had to go to the weigh-ins that same day, for a fight against an American from Pennsylvania. At the beginning, the guy takes me down and starts punching me. But, thank the Lord, I ended up winning with an inverted armbar. From that moment, I knew I could do this with my life, and since then there’s nothing more than MMA.”

Yet it’s one thing making up the numbers in a semi-pro fight close to your hometown, and something entirely different making your debut inside the world’s biggest MMA fight promotion. Not surprisingly, Perez reveals a long and arduous road to the UFC Octagon.

“When I was in high school, I would leave on Fridays and travel to McAllen, Texas, where I started training with Mike Valle, who is still my coach, as well as Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone’s,” he reveals. “Then on Sunday I’d travel back to Mexico to start school again on Mondays. During the holidays, I would go train with coach Valle, and, at 17, I started to get pro fights in Texas.

“Coach Valle would have to lie, saying I was 19 or 20, so they would let me fight. One day, he told me that if my dream was to fight MMA, I should move to where there was a higher level of MMA. So I moved to Texas and began getting better quality fights. Suddenly, I took the leap from being a young fighter to an experienced fighter, and the gym started opening the doors for me.” Especially internationally.

Perez’s next stop was the UK for back-to-back successes with promoters BAMMA, the second of which was against the number-one-ranked bantam in Europe, and FO’s resident sports science columnist, Paul McVeigh. Then, six months later, Perez was walking to the Octagon in Las Vegas to face John Albert at the TUF Live Finale. 

“That fight night is the one I always talk about,” he recalls. “I could not believe it. I fought in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. I got up that morning, I opened the window, and saw the Palms. I saw my UFC backpack, my gloves and my shorts and I told myself, ‘This cannot be happening, I’m in the UFC.’ That night I opened the card, in the first fight. I was walking towards the cage when I turned and saw a screen with my face on it that said ‘Goyito Perez UFC.’

“In the middle of the fight, I was in a triangle hold. I was in trouble, and it was only then I reacted and became aware I was already fighting. I told myself, ‘Goyo this cannot be, this cannot be happening. I have to get out of this (triangle) and come out victorious.’ 

“At that moment, I have no idea where I got strength, maybe from my heart. I started pounding on Albert from the triangle. I was almost passing out, but I kept fighting and punching him. Thanks to that, he started to let me go, and I ended up mounting him and turning the whole fight around. Thank the Lord, in the last minute, I won the fight with an armbar.”

Nine weeks later he was clocking up the fastest knockout in UFC bantamweight division history, knocking out Ken Stone in 17 seconds at UFC 150 in Denver, Colorado, in August. Perez recalls: “My mum actually travelled 24 hours by bus from Monterrey to Colorado – a full day just to see me fight. I went to the cage, I saw my mother from afar crying with joy, and so I headed straight for her and gave her a hug.

“I entered the Octagon with all the courage in the world, with all the heart in the world, prepared to give everything. But in the first exchange, I threw an overhand punch that landed right on the button. When he fell, I couldn’t believe one of my punches could have done that.”

Now a regular at Greg Jackson’s in New Mexico, Perez is determined to reach his potential, and accepts the pressure from back home drives him to succeed.

“I’m promoting the UFC so more Mexicans can have their opportunity there,” adds Perez. “I don’t want to be the only 100% Mexican in the UFC. The least I can do is open doors for more people. Fight, win and be the first 100% Mexican with a UFC belt.”