'I'm hanging myself at this point': UFC star Mike Perry details potentially tragic training accident

UFC welterweight contender 'Platinum' Mike Perry says that he may well have lost his life in a recent gym accident if it were not for the quick thinking of fellow UFC fighter Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza.

It is probably fair to say that if you are a UFC fighter and have facial tattoos, you may have found yourself in one or two tricky situations over the years. Perry is one such person who can certainly attest to that. The popular fighter, who faces Alex 'Cowboy' Oliveira at Saturday's UFC Fort Lauderdale event, has detailed a recent training mishap at his gym during an ESPN promotional shoot which had potentially tragic circumstances. 

Perry, who was a recent guest on the premiere episode of 'Fight Night on RT Sport', told Fox Sports Asia of the incident which occurred during his training camp for the Oliveira fight. 'Platinum' was, as he puts it, 'playing around' and noticed a thick rubber band wrapped around the pull-up bar and, wanting to test his resilience to a choke, he inserted his neck inside the loop. 

"So I lean forward and it wraps around my neck and so I flex myself so that I could hold on," Perry explained. "And in two seconds, as soon as lean forward, next thing I know Alan, from the UFC, and Jacare Souza are there. Alan is, like, slapping me and they’re pouring water on me."

Souza, the Brazilian submission machine who faces Jack Hermansson in Saturday's main event, initially thought Perry was joking around before realizing the potentially serious nature of the situation, saving his unconscious teammate.

Perry detailed further exactly what happened: "So within two seconds I pass out and swing and then she’s hears a bang and [Perry's wife Danielle] looks up and says ‘Mike stop playing’. So I had hit my face against the metal pull-up bar and I’m passed out. Plus I’m still hanging from this thing.

"I’m hanging myself at this point and Jacare sees me and runs over quick and pulls me out of this thing. Then they were like waking me up. When I came too I was like ‘Oh man, it was a bad joke. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare everybody'."