Abe Kawa is Perry’s manager and he says that people need to understand where Perry comes from when the fighter used the n-word.
“One thing I can’t do, and I’ve been been blamed many times in the past for, I don’t run their social media,” Kawa said to MMA Junkie. “I can’t tell people what to do and not do; I can only give them advice. I can show them, ‘Hey, this is where you’re going to lose out on things.’ In this case, Mike, if we would take the time to actually listen to Mike, you would understand where he was coming from.”
Perry has been caught using the n-word in the past as well, but he got a free pass from former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley at that time.
Kawa also states that Perry believes he is educating everybody out there about using the n-word.
“I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do,” Kawa said. “So I don’t want to put myself out there and say what he’s doing is the right thing to do. But for him and the way he grew up and the way his beginning was, it’s right. So, I get it. For the person who is not used to that and for the person who doesn’t get it, for me, I don’t go around doing that just the same way. I may have in the past and whatnot. But for him, for what he feels is right, it’s hard for me to change that in one shot. He would have to go to jail for that. It would have to be a law that says you’re doing something wrong. That’s the way he sees it. He feels that everybody else is being closed-minded, where he’s the one trying to educate everybody. And it just doesn’t come out that way. So I understand the hurt.”
There was no punishment or statement issued by the UFC during either occasion Perry used the n-word.
