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Ahead of his fight against Jake Paul on Saturday, Mike Perry announced he is starting his own combat sports organization called Dirty Boxing Championship, per TMZ Sports.
According to the new league’s website, the sport will combine MMA with traditional boxing for a unique spin on combat sports.
“Dirty Boxing Championship is new super-fast and close-action combat sport that packs world class MMA and vintage boxing into a pair of five-ounce gloves and an 18-foot certifiably ‘DIRTY’ competition ring,” the website says.
Dirty Boxing Championship will feature a “ground and pound” rule where fighters are allowed to strike an opponent while down. Fighters will also use five-ounce gloves “for more impact power while maintaining some protection to avoid broken knuckles and fingers.”
The new sport will also “focus on finishes,” disallowing grappling, kicking or submissions. The website explains that the organization will take a “talent first focus,” with an emphasis on fair pay.
“Me and my team have been working on this for quite some time,” Perry said. “We’ve tried to hint at this, we’ve been making way and we’re ready to make the announcement that this is coming very soon. We’re very close to being sanctioned by commissions and we’re ready to get some athletes and get a card together and put a fight on sometime this year.”
According to TMZ, Perry’s opponent on Saturday, Paul, is among fighters who could potentially join the league.
Before Perry can shift his focus to his new organization, he’ll look to get a big win against Paul on Saturday. Perry comes into the fight with an extensive MMA and bare-knuckle boxing background, but he’s boxed professionally just once in 2015.
Paul was originally set to fight Mike Tyson in a boxing bout, but the legendary boxer had to postpone the fight due to a medical issue. Instead, he will take on Perry, who stepped up as a fill-in for Tyson.