LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) has announced that there will be another explosive bout in the always exciting heavyweight division. The bout will pair former college wrestling standout Tyler Perry against Derek Bohi of the U.S. Marine Corps. The bout is scheduled to take place on the undercard of RFA 4 on Friday, November 2nd in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Perry is a heavyweight prospect with an amazing pedigree. In collegiate wrestling, he was teammates at the University of Missouri with two current Bellator champions: Ben Askren (welterweight champ) and Michael Chandler (lightweight champ). One of Perry’s graduate coaches on the team also happened to be current Strikeforce weltweight top-contender Tyron Woodley.
Impressively, Perry also got to compete in college against five men who have won six of the last seven NCAA Division I heavyweight national titles in wrestling. That list would include current Bellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad of Minnesota (2006 & 2007 champ), Dustin Fox of Northwestern (2008 champ), Mark Ellis of Missouri (2009 champ; Perry and Ellis were teammates but wrestled against each other at a tournament), Zack Rey of Lehigh (2011 champ), and Tony Nelson of Minnesota (2012 champ).
In MMA, Perry has gone on to train with two former UFC heayweight champions: Maurice Smith (kickboxing) and Frank Mir (jiu-jitsu) to help round out his already formidable athletic background. Perry made his amateur MMA debut last December at RFA 1, where he defeated Anthony Simants via TKO in just 42 seconds. He followed up that win in March by defeating Wayman Carter in his professional MMA debut at RFA 2. Perry was able to submit Carter via arm-triangle choke at 3:42 of Round 1.
Perry will be stepping back into the RFA cage at RFA 4 on November 2nd against the toughest test of his promising MMA career. He will be facing a fellow Missouri native in Bohi, who is also a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. Bohi is currently the head coach at Broken Smile Fight Team in Kansas City, Missouri and holds a blue belt in jiu-jitsu under Nova União black belt and seasoned MMA veteran Leonardo Pecanha.
Over the course of Bohi’s extensive 15-bout amateur MMA career, he has won three regional amateur MMA titles, which includes winning the Big Creek Battles heavyweight title, World Series of Rumble heavyweight title, and Tru Revelation heavyweight title. Bohi is now ready to take a big step up in competition and his MMA career by facing Perry at RFA 4 in what will be his professional MMA debut.
RFA 4 is set to be headlined by a light-heavyweight showdown pitting former UFC and PRIDE star Gilbert "The Hurricane" Yvel against former UFC and ADCC star Marcio "Pe De Pano" Cruz. The co-main event will feature two former UFC lightweight stars, as Tyson Griffin meets Efrain Escudero. These fights and more will take place at the Dallas Event Center inside Texas Station Gambling Hall & Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.