Ailin Perez has her own theory for why her feud with Norma Dumont escalated into one of the nastiest rivalries in the women’s bantamweight division, and it has nothing to do with fighting style.
“We shared cards together in the past where we were both the two big butts of the card, and I think there was a lot of jealousy and envy that she was feeling watching me be the star of the show. On top of that… there have been so many times where she’s declined to fight me and then come out and said that I declined to fight her. I definitely think it’s because she’s jealous of my butt, but also because of her boyfriend. Every time that we saw each other, he would look at me, and I think that would really bother her,” Perez said.
The Condom Incident and a Controversial Decision at UFC Vegas 121
The rivalry reached its most chaotic point last weekend at UFC Vegas 121. During Friday’s faceoffs, Norma Dumont pulled a condom and two dollar bills from her shorts and threw them at Alina Perez mid-twerk, a jab widely seen as a reference to Perez’s OnlyFans activity, telling her, “you pay who*e with money.”
Perez brushed it off in the moment, but the fight itself was close and contentious, with Dumont out-landing Perez on significant strikes in all three rounds while Perez controlled far more clinch and top time. The judges scored it 29-28 across the board for Perez, extending her win streak to seven and moving her to 14-2, while Dumont fell to 13-4 and 0-2 on the year.
Dumont called the decision “one of MMA’s biggest absurdities,” and security had to step in as the two continued confronting each other after the final horn. Perez later fired back on social media, writing, “Thank you for the condoms, Norma Dumont, but I did not need to use them to f**k you.”
Ailin Perez Shows the Threatening Message She Received From Norma Dumont After Their Fight
Beyond the trash talk, Ailin Perez says the animosity turned into something more serious behind the scenes. She shared what she described as a direct threat sent to her personally after the result was announced.
“We’re never gonna be friends. We don’t like each other… After the fight, she actually wrote to me personally on my Instagram, and she actually told me that after the fight she’s gonna find me and beat the shit out of me. She said, ‘I already hit you once and I’m going to hit you again when I see you. You already know that you didn’t win,'” Perez said.
Despite the win, Perez did offer Dumont some credit hours after her more explicit post, writing that she’d like to “thank Norma for being a tough opponent who made me grow,” though it’s done little to cool the tension between the two heading into whatever comes next for both fighters.
Also read: Raoni Barcelos Breaks Silence After Terrifying Collapse at UFC Vegas 121: “I’m Okay, I’ll Be Back”
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