Perry seals first title since octagon return

DENIS Perry’s successful return to the octagon continued at the weekend when he acted swiftly to defeat the towering Ryan Higgins to win the Cage Legacy light heavyweight title.

The 32-year-old Strabane man, a World Championship bronze medalist in 2015, stepped away from the sport for five years before finally returning to action in 2019. However, it’s been over the last 12 months, since Covid restrictions have eased, that he has really found his mojo again, helping Ireland to silver medal success at the Super Cup in Bahrain and now claiming the title in trademark style just two minutes and nine seconds into the first round on Friday night.

“It went well!,” he beamed. “It was good to get it finished early.

“He was six foot six and I’m six foot so I knew he had a good reach on me. Plus, he’s won two of his fights by knock-out, he’s a good boxer so I knew to take him down very quickly.

“I relied on my wrestling and jiu-jitsu skills and my Americana is the same one I won with at the Super Cup in Bahrain so when it presented itself I took it!”

Having missed out on five years of his promising career after stepping away from the sport not long after that bronze medal success in Las Vegas, Perry knows he has to make up for lost time so he is hoping this title success can open some doors.

“Cage Legacy is one of the premier shows in Ireland and a lot of their champions have gone on to sign with bigger promotions around the world so it’s all good for me.,” he explained.

“When I came back into it three years ago it was all or nothing and since Covid we’ve had an unbelievable year. We headlined a show in Derry in February, then a few weeks later we were in Bahrain at the Super Cup [where he helped Ireland to a silver medal].

“But then I had a rib injury that kept me out and I was supposed to fight in Omagh in September but my opponent pulled out with injury. That all annoyed me because that’s time wasted, but we focused all the training on this and it paid off.

“But I’m 32 now and the five year lay-off I had has made me realise when you get older you’ll regret not taking chances because there is such a short window.

“Realistically I have another four or five years left fighting so I have to make them count.”

Perry’s success on Friday was not only important from a sporting perspective for the Tyrone fighter because it was the first time his supportive partner, Susan had watched him in action and it was his first title success following the loss of both parents, mother Susan and father Denis, both of whom passed away over the last two years, and it’s to their memory he dedicated his triumph.

“It was the first time my partner Susan watched me and she was more nervous than me!,” he added.

“But it was some buzz when I won and it was a huge relief for her because she has invested a lot of her time into the likes of my nutrition and stuff like that. Me winning was just like her winning.

“I’m turning it [the loss of his parents] into a positive thing because it can hit you in one of two ways, you can feel sorry for yourself our you can build up a sense of pride. It’s hard but you have to keep moving forward because the easiest and most readily available thing to do is to sit there and feel sorry for yourself.”

Meanwhile, Denis’s fellow SBG Strabane tram-mates, Lisa Houston and Conran Coyle were also in action in the Pilo Hotel on Friday night.

Lisa took part in a grappling match and she dominated from start to finish with attack after attack, but as there was no submission the match was declared a draw. And Coyle was making his amateur debut. A fantastic grappler, he put on a fantastic all round performance, showing some beautiful striking and unbelievable kicks before losing to a very narrow split decision.