Access denied to the UFC top 15

Perry is a more than welcome alternative

Trash talk welcome

Titanium meets platinum

Alan Jouban will be back in action on December 17, and he will be looking to build upon a Fight of The Night performance against Belal Muhammad this past July.Having put two wins together this year, Jouban was looking for a top-15, big-name opponent. Speaking Sunday on the MMA H.E.A.T. podcast, the American revealed he had previously called out two other guys but that neither fight worked out."I was trying to get a big name or a ranked opponent," Jouban said. "I called out Matt Brown, but I got no response. I called out Patrick Cote, but he had other plans and other things going on, so I couldn't really find the match up I was looking for. When you start calling out ranked opponents, I could've called out a bigger name, but I was trying to be realistic. Because I'm not in the top 15, top 10 yet, it doesn't make sense to call any one of them out yet."Matt Brown I believe ended up getting matched up with Tarec Saffiedine. ... He's another former teammate of mine...so I think that's a good fight. I would've been interested in that one as well."Having been denied those fights, Jouban got offered Mike Perry, a flamboyant knockout striker who has made a name for himself since entering the organization back at UFC 202."I got matched up with Mike 'Platinum' Perry," Jouban said. "He's a bit of a newbie in the UFC. He's had two fights and they were within three months of each other--he's just fought on the undercard of the Bisping card [UFC 204] and he's 9-0 and nine knockouts so he's fun to watch; oh, and he's a big s**t talker.[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLsS0XNjKJc/" hide_caption="0"]"It's actually working out. He's not perhaps got the name or the ranking, but he's out there and he's generating a little buzz. Being that he talks a little smack, it's not hurting that we are having a little Twitter battle, and it's building the fight. Who doesn't like to see two strikers talk crap back and forth before stepping in the Octagon?"With the insults between the pair already going on Twitter, Jouban more than welcomes the interaction, and the American believes that it's all part of the process of building a good fight. Jouban also jabbed that Perry reminds him of personalities from a certain TV series."[Perry] reminds me of all those guys from 'The Jersey Shore,'" Jouban said. "It's like he didn't make it into the house. Like I said, he talks a lot of trash, and we've been going back and forth on Twitter. It's bringing attention to the fight, and it's making me want to punch him in the face a lot harder. So, all in all, we both plan on taking each other out before the closing bell so it should be great."During his last fight, Jouban broke his hand in two places and required surgery to have two titanium plates inserted for it to heal properly. Having now fully recovered, Jouban is ready to put it to the test and thinks his new metal-reinforced hand will be more than up to the task of dealing with Perry and his Conor McGregor-like trash talk."It's all good, it's reinforced now," Jouban said. "Titanium is going to knock out Platinum."[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BH5fYLChj51/" hide_caption="0"]"I'm usually a pretty respectful and not too vocal on Twitter, but when I wake up to some of the messages [Perry sends me]," Jouban said. "Let me say this, he's trying to follow in the footsteps of Conor McGregor, but this is like elementary trash talk he's giving. I pick and choose when I reply."