His answer ... "Jake Paul!"

32-year-old Perry sat down with Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weeknights on FS1) from the TMZ office this week when we asked him who resided at the top of his hit list.

"Jake Paul, man," Mike said ... "If he hurts Mike Tyson, bro, let me get that, bro."

Perry's a huge fan of Iron Mike Tyson, BTW ... and obviously stands ready to get some payback if The Problem Child hurts Tyson during their July 20th scrap at AT&T Stadium in Texas.

Perry and Paul -- 9-1 as a pro boxer -- have some history. Mike briefly served as a sparring partner for Jake in 2021 before his fight with Ben Askren (Jake knocked out the retired MMA star). Suffice it to say, the men have different views on who got the best of the other.

But, before we start dreaming of a Perry vs. Paul mega fight, Mike has his gloveless hands full with Thiago Alves ... the combat sports vet he's set to scrap with at Knucklemania 4 on April 27 at the Peacock Theater.

Perry, who may well have been made for bare-knuckle boxing, is 4-0 in the promotion ... with wins over Eddie Alvarez, Julian Lane, Michael Venom Page, and Luke Rockhold.

Mike says he plans to show up next month in an even more dangerous form ... a scary proposition.