For the fourth consecutive time, Jose Perez is readying himself to step into the cage to face an undefeated opponent.
It’s no accident, he says, nor is it some vendetta the CFFC matchmakers have against him. No, the 26-year-old Perez has been directly asking for the toughest tests available, and his latest assignment is recent Dana White’s Contender Series invitee Paul Capaldo.
“CFFC has been a blessing,” Perez said. “They’ve been able to set me up with guys that I consider to be my peers, and from all over the country, these undefeated studs.
“I believe that UFC is in my near future, and Capaldo is one of those guys that I say is my peer because regardless of what’s going to happen when we fight, I believe that he’s still going to be in UFC at some point. He’s just too talented not to be, so all respect to these guys, but this is a cannibalistic sport. If I’m going to get anywhere, I need to take it from someone.”
Perez (5-1) and Capaldo (6-0) will meet in the co-main event of Saturday’s CFFC 105 event, which streams live on UFC Fight Pass from Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena. It’s a matchup Perez had been anticipating for some time but figured wouldn’t materialize after Capaldo scored a highlight-reel finish via spinning wheel kick at CFFC 95.
“He was someone I was interested in a while back, but after that wheel kick, I figured he was gone, and I figured he was in the UFC, actually,” Perez said. “So when they offered me Capaldo, I was extremely excited because I thought he was gone already.”
Capaldo did have a chance to punch his ticket into the UFC in October, but an ill-timed COVID-19 positive forced him to withdraw from his Dana White’s Contender Series appearance. Now these two top-level featherweights will attempt to catch UFC matchmakers’ attention with their performances in the CFFC cage.
Perez, a submission specialist, believes his game matches up perfectly with Capaldo, who relies on a strong wrestling game to go along with his developing knockout power.
“I haven’t been overly impressed with the jiu-jitsu, and I say that respectfully, not to be rude,” Perez said. “Wrestling, he is a stud. He’s a bit of a slow starter, but I think the word was perfect once CM Punk said it in his last fight – that he’s cerebral. He’s actually paying attention to his opponents and trying to plan things, so I think he’s talented.
“I think he’s UFC-caliber. I think our styles match up kind of opposing. We’re opposites, you know? Where he’s weak, I’m strong, or where I’m weak, he’s strong, but it’s going to be basically a recurring theme of what my last fight with Isa Dalipaj was. I’m not going to be diving for the legs. I’ll stand with him, and we can trade from there, and if he makes the mistake of taking me to the ground, I’ll resist, but I’m not going to resist 100 percent.”
Should he prove victorious, Perez hopes it will be enough to earn an invitation to the UFC. Yes, he did suffer his first career loss in a shocking 11-second knockout back in August, but in some ways, “getting caught” isn’t as damning as being dominated over the course of 15 minutes – especially not when you consider the level of opponents he’s facing.
“Obviously, it wasn’t a perfect performance – not what you want to see,” Perez said of his CFFC 99 setback to DeAndre Anderson. “But I mean, as far as losses go, there’s only so many things that I can give myself as far as critiques. If it had been a three-round, drawn-out affair where he persistently thwarted my techniques and just showed that he really was better than me, I’d have to accept it, that he was a better fighter, but it’s a game of chance.
“But when you dive a little deeper in the context and you see who I’ve been fighting, more than half of my professional career has been against undefeated opponents. It’s not like I’m losing to schmucks. I lost to an undefeated opponent, rebounded off of that against an undefeated opponent. I’m going on to my next fight against, yet again, another undefeated opponent – and you know, the prerequisite to all of that was an undefeated opponent, so I think it shows that I’m reaching for top-level guys.”
Should a UFC invite not be in the cards with a win, Perez will certainly push for another top-level foe, and CFFC matchmakers will happily oblige. But that’s not the current plan.
“My first goal is going to be to win, and once I get in there and I feel it and that confidence hits and that switch is turned on, I’m going to literally do everything in my power to destroy this man,” Perez said. “I’m prepared to put on a life-changing performance.
“I’m preparing to get a finish, but I do think that I’m going to drag it out a little bit and really prove and make sure that there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that I’m a superior fighter. I’m going to attack and attack and attack until it’s finally just the last attack, you know, the straw that broke the camel’s back, and I finish the fight – and when it’s all said and done, it’s going to be really one-sided, and it’s going to be a life-changing performance.”
This story first published at CFFC.tv.
Jose Perez: ‘I’m prepared to put on a life-changing performance’ at CFFC 105
