For the first time in over five years, “Platinum” Mike Perry will be stepping back into the cage for an MMA fight. He will face fellow former UFC fighter Nate Diaz on May 16 at the first-ever all-MMA fight card produced by Jake Paul’s MVP promotion, which will be headlined by Ronda Rousey’s fight with Gina Carano. In those five years, Perry has established himself as one of the best bare-knuckle fighters in the world, currently reigning as the BKFC King of Violence Champion, but during a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Perry is over the moon to get back into the world of Mixed Martial Arts, and wants to steal the show on May 16.

“I’m so ecstatic, bro. I’m doing incredible in training. I’m in fantastic shape. Training has been incredible. I’m ready for this opportunity. I’m the most active athlete, probably, on this fight card. We’ve got a lot of star power on the card, and me and Nate looking to steal the show. I am.” Perry explained that he’s enjoyed getting back in touch with his old martial arts roots in preparing for the Diaz fight. “I’m training for it. I’m consistently working. I’m very inspired by from like the going back to MMA aspect and training my body fully, you know, with everything and all the moves, all the martial arts I did when I was younger before I got into the success of bare-knuckle fighting.”

With that said, if people are expecting Perry to abandon the bare-knuckle fighting experience his gained over the past five years, they would be wrong as he’s ready to stand and bang with Diaz. “I’m looking to go in and give the people the bloody people’s fight, people’s main event show that they’re looking for, the real BMF-style altercation. Meet Nate in the middle and, you know, spread some blood.”

Please credit “TMZ Sports” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to MMAWeekly.com for the transcription.

Jake Paul and his brother Logan Paul have carved out quite the careers for themselves in the worlds of combat sports and sports entertainment. Jake is now a legitimate professional boxer and one of the biggest drawing fighters in the world, while Logan is a regular member of the WWE roster, and will be competing at his fifth WrestleMania event on April 18. Logan has also dabbled in the world of boxing with fights against the likes of Dillon Danis, fellow content creator KSI, and even Floyd Mayweather Jr., but Jake revealed during a recent appearance on CryptoMikli’s podcast that Logan would be lucky to last three rounds with him in a boxing ring.

“In boxing, I would beat him pretty easily. It wouldn’t be close,” Jake said. “I think he would agree but I think he would think it would be closer. He would last like two rounds with me in boxing, maybe three.” However, Jake did admit that if they were to meet in a sanctioned MMA contest, Logan would have the advantage thanks to his wrestling, both professional and freestyle, and his flexibility. “In MMA I think he would actually have the advantage because he’s really good at wrestling, and he can do like the splits, so I’m pretty sure he could kick me in the head. Like he can kick high.”

Jake has been slated to compete in an MMA contest for some time, having signed a multi-year deal with the PFL that expired earlier this year without Paul ever having a single fight. With all that said, the possibility of the Paul brothers actually facing off is very slim as Jake confirmed that his parents have always said no to seeing their sons fight, regardless of what setting it would be in.

Please credit the original source when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Bully Ray dislikes Chris Jericho’s decision to re-sign with AEW, arguing that the AEW fans have treated him badly.

Jericho made a surprising return to AEW on “AEW Dynamite,” squashing rumors of him potentially returning to WWE. The decision to rejoin Tony Khan’s promotion has not gone down well with his friend and former WWE colleague Bully Ray, who believes that the AEW fans don’t deserve him.

“I hate it,” began Ray on “Busted Open. “That fanbase, the majority of that fanbase, has been shi**ing all over Chris Jericho for a long time now. The AEW fanbase does not deserve Chris Jericho.”

Ray asserted that AEW isn’t the right move for Jericho at the moment and feels that the fans cheered for him just because he didn’t sign with rival promotion WWE, hinting that they could boo him again in the future. 

“The amount of AEW fans who have shown how two-faced they are, who completely bashed Jericho, booed Jericho, bad-mouthed Jericho, to the point where he had to come off of Twitter, now singing the praises of Chris Jericho because he stayed with AEW. And they’re not singing the praises of Chris Jericho because they love Chris Jericho or appreciate Chris Jericho. They’re just doing it because he didn’t go to the WWE,” he added. “I’m not a fan of Chris staying with AEW. Chris has done everything that he possibly could have done organically in AEW. Who is he going to work with now that is going to be such a big deal in AEW?”

When host Dave LaGreca replied that Kyle Fletcher could be one AEW star who could have a feud with Jericho, Ray brushed it aside by stating that it would be just a six-month rivalry and that he wouldn’t have anyone else to fight with after Fletcher. The WWE Hall of Famer said that he is pleased for Jericho, and AEW CEO Tony Khan for securing Jericho’s contract, but doesn’t believe it benefits Jericho, the performer.

The April 3 edition of “WWE SmackDown” disappointed fans following the reveal of Pat McAfee as Randy Orton’s mystery caller, but it seemed to bring in fans as it delivered the highest viewership of 2026. 

“SmackDown” witnessed a big jump in the average viewership for the April 3 edition, with viewership growing to 1,508,000 viewers, from last week’s average of 1,308,000, “Programming Insider” reports. This is the first time since September 2025 that the blue brand has crossed the 1.5 million mark in viewership. The last few weeks has seen viewership climb for the Friday night show, with the March 20 edition coming close to breaching the 1.5 million number, averaging 1.44 million. 

While the average viewership saw a 15% increase from the previous week, “Wrestlenomics” reported that the key 18–49 demographic rating doubled that growth, rising by 30% week over week. The rating for the April 3 show increased from 0.33 to 0.43, which is also significantly higher than the four-week average of 0.31. This is by far the highest rating for “SmackDown” in 2026, and the highest since the aforementioned September 5, 2025 show, which garnered a 0.51 rating. The show ranked #4 on cable, behind NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament games that aired at the same time.

Last week’s WWE SmackDown was a stacked show that began with Pat McAfee and Randy Orton attacking Cody Rhodes, who later came out and cut a passionate promo. The show also featured tag team and United States Championship matches, with Damian Priest and R-Truth holding onto the former, while Sami Zayn defeated Carmelo Hayes to keep the latter.