Danielle Nickerson has said she is ready to "be brave" about her long relationship with newly-expectant father Mike Perry, months after she was denied a protective order and filed reports to the police about the UFC welterweight.
Nickerson made her announcement to her Instagram following of almost 51,000 shortly before Perry and new girlfriend Latory Gonzalez posed and embraced on a beach to announce that they are expecting a son.
Perry and his ex-wife had a long and complicated relationship before divorcing earlier this year, first splitting up in early 2018, when the "Platinum Princess" blamed Perry's "wandering eye" but insisted the split was amicable and that they would remain friends.
The pair subsequently kept in close contact and entered their brief marriage in late 2019, last being pictured together in a snap on Nickerson's Instagram when they went snowboarding less than six months ago.
Now Perry's former cornerman has published a photo of herself on a beach with the angry-looking fighter standing half-naked behind her while silencing her with his hand.
"I’m done being silent," wrote Nickerson, tagging high-profile MMA media figures into a post offering to share her experiences.
"What happened is not OK. It’s never acceptable. It’s still happening every day to others.
"It’s time for someone to speak up, to be brave and tell the truth. I’m ready to talk – who’s ready to listen?"
Nickerson asked for an injunction for protection against domestic violence in a Florida court shortly before her divorce from Perry in March but was denied because she had “failed to allege facts sufficient."
In three written statements, the 28-year-old accused Perry of threatening to "beat my ass", screaming at her while "highly intoxicated" and promising to burn down their house with their dogs inside, according to police documents reported by MMA Junkie.
She alleged that those incidents took place in February and claimed that Perry was caught cheating on her while under the influence of drugs and alcohol less than a month later.
"He stated he paid to have ‘Brooke suck his (expletive)’ in the private room," her statement reportedly says. "[He] told me to ‘file the papers, (expletive). I want a divorce.'”
Perry once knocked a man out with one punch in a street fight in Orlando after an altercation over advances made towards Nickerson, becoming embroiled in a similar incident last month when he punched a man to the floor in a restaurant in Texas as a shocked Gonzalez encouraged him to calm down and leave.
Gonzalez, who followed Nickerson's lead by working as his lone cornerman in his win over Mickey Gall at UFC Fight Night, had clearly forgiven Perry for his violent outburst as he placed a hand on her stomach to celebrate the child they are expecting in January.
"It’s all cool, boy, but nothing's as cool as you," Perry said after the gender reveal, sharing a video with his following of more than 577,000.
"I hope and pray this life is everything you desire and nothing you don’t. Now we both owe queen [Gonzalez] our lives."
In the aftermath of footage of his attack in Texas being widely watched by sickened viewers, Perry told the UFC that he would seek professional help for alcohol dependency.
No arrests were made but UFC president Dana White said Perry “obviously needs some help" and would not be offered any further fights until he had been evaluated.
In the ruling against Nickerson's appeal for the injunction, a judge said that "general relationship problems and uncivil behavior are not domestic violence", adding that "verbal threats, without more, are not domestic violence.”
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