Ailin Perez and Norma Dumont will have a chance to settle their beef when they share the octagon Saturday at UFC Vegas 121, battling in a co-main event bout at the Meta APEX, and the Argentine talent feels she has gotten in Dumont’s head with her verbal attacks over the years.
Perez and Dumont have shared a card back in July 2023, when they beat Ashlee Evans-Smith and Chelsea Chandler, respectively, and Perez says the Brazilian tried to confront her at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas prior to her win over Ketlen Vieira in November 2025.
And Norma is a dirty person, because at the PI when she ‘beat’ Ketlen Vieira, because in my opinion she lost that fight, but she won,” Perez told MMA Fighting, “she came looking for me in the PI bathroom with all her friends, there were a bunch of girls, talking about how I’m going to be next, that she’s going to knock me out. And I said: “Ok, fine, let’s go, I’m waiting for that fight, why not?” And then my friends came in too to separate us a little because we kind of wanted to fight a little, but she has no code.
“The only difference is that I expose everything to the fans, what’s happening. She wants to keep what happens behind closed doors. No, no, no, stop, no, that’s bulls**t. Everything that’s happening needs to go viral, you know what I mean? It’s great entertainment, and she’s not taking advantage of that. I’m selling the fight, like I always do with all my fights. It’s very hard to be a star in a category where the girls don’t post and talk about what happens outside of the fight, which is what we need, you know? So, I’m doing double the work.“
According to Perez, her dislike for Dumont started “when she started turning down fights” in the UFC.
“It also happened when we shared a card a few years ago,” Perez said. “She fought and I fought too, and we had a staredown. A little bit of ego, Argentina, Brazil. Inside the octagon, I’m going to respect her, you know? The door closes and that’s it, whatever happens, happens, right? But outside of all that, she’s a woman who has no code. She turned down fighting me many times. The last time she said no was in Mexico, when I fought Macy. And look, she lost to Macy Chiasson, she lost to Joselyne Edwards, and those girls are my daughters. So, strategically and statistically, this fight is mine, you know? And whether she says I turned it down, or I say she turned it down or she’s scared, none of that matters. What matters is that on September 26th, we are going to fight. I am ready to finish Norma Dumont. That’s what matters to me, you know?”
Perez and Dumont will get face to face Friday morning, immediately after the weigh-ins, and the Argentine is curious to see how Dumont reacts to their last official encounter before entering the octagon the night after.
“I want to see Norma’s face when she faces me in the staredown, when she feels my hands,” Perez said. “I want to see her and see what she’s going to do. Because there won’t be any of her friends there to save her. No, no, no, no. In front of her friends and her team, she’s immortal, oh my God. But when she’s alone, I want to see, I want to see her face when she feels my hands and my takedowns on her.”
Dumont has only been finished once in the sport, a first-round knockout by the hands of Megan Anderson in her UFC debut at featherweight back in 2020. The next 11 fights of the Chute Boxe representative have gone the distance, with nine wins and two defeats, and Perez — on a six-fight winning streak and 6-1 in the UFC but only one submission to her credit — expects a finish.
“I have everything I need to stop her,” Perez said. “My last fight showed me a lot of things about where she’s weak. She continued training at the same gym and with the same people — maybe now they brought in a little more reinforcement. I had surgery on my shoulder a year ago, I’ve already had one fight since then, so I’ve gotten my boxing and my striking back in tune with my style. It’s different from my last fight, when I was dealing with a little bit of pain. My foot is fine, not at a hundred percent, the foot I hurt in my last fight, but I don’t need my body at a hundred percent to beat Norma. My team is saying I’m going to knock her out, I want to finish her, I want to put Norma to sleep.”
That doesn’t mean, however, that she’s expecting an easy night in the office.
“I don’t underestimate any athlete and that’s why I have the longest winning streak in the UFC,” Perez said. “Why am I 6-0? Because I don’t underestimate any girl. But I’m very experienced. I feel like I’m different mentally. I know how to win fights. And statistically, I see where Norma is weak and where Norma is strong. Her weakness, everyone says it’s the ground, because she doesn’t get up, because she has heavy hips and can’t move… No, her biggest weakness is her mind, and that’s where I’m going to work, I’m going to get inside her head. I’m already winning the fight, you know?”
The UFC has recently finally announced a title bout between Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes, pairing up the rival bantamweights for the co-main event of UFC 334 in New York on Nov. 14. Dumont expects both to retire that night, while Perez foresees Harrison sticking around a little longer in case of a victory. Regardless of the outcome at Madison Square Garden, Perez expects to be confirmed as the next in line for the bantamweight belt.
“Why not? If I beat Norma, no matter how I do it, even by decision, who else do I have to fight before getting the belt? There’s no one,” Perez said. “I beat Joselyne Edwards. I beat Norma, then who’s next? Yana Santos is coming off a loss. Luana Santos doesn’t have that many fights in the division, she needs a few more fights. And if I have to beat Luana Santos, I’ll beat Luana Santos, I have no problem [laughs].
“I want to beat Norma in a way that makes the UFC give me the opportunity to fight Kayla Harrison or Amanda Nunes next, or to be the backup fighter in case a fight falls through. I feel prepared, I’m ready, and I’m very committed, you know? This isn’t just about Norma Dumont or the battle of the asses, but about Ailin Pérez, about my name continuing to grow and becoming the first Argentine champion. Why not?”
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