Perez Details Heated UFC PI Confrontation With Dumont

Ailin Perez says Norma Dumont confronted her near the bathrooms at the UFC Performance Institute in a heated exchange ahead of their UFC Vegas 121 clash.

Perez told MMA Fighting that Dumont showed up with a group of fighters who talked about knocking her out, leading to a near-altercation that friends on both sides had to defuse. The incident stemmed from Perez claiming that Dumont's boyfriend, UFC middleweight Marco Tulio, checked her out at the facility. Dumont has said Tulio blocked Perez on social media after she repeatedly tagged him.

Perez Says Viral Moments Sell Fights

The Argentine bantamweight insists she has to expose everything to build interest in a division where most fighters stay quiet. "Everything that's happening needs to go viral, you know what I mean?" Perez said. "It's great entertainment, and she's not taking advantage of that. I'm selling the fight, like I always do with all my fights."

Perez added that promoting fights in women's bantamweight requires extra effort because her peers rarely engage publicly. She described Dumont as someone who prefers to keep conflicts private, which Perez rejects entirely.

The two meet in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 121 on Sept. 16 at Meta Apex in Las Vegas. Perez enters with a 13-2 record while Dumont sits at 13-3.

Reported via:

• Sherdog — Ailin Perez details heated UFC PI run-in with Norma Dumont: ‘Everything’ must go viral