Michael Page is heading back to middleweight, and competing in another bout not a lot of people would’ve predicted.
The UFC announced on Wednesday that “MVP” will face Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC Paris. The event takes place Sept. 5 at Accor Arena, and streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S.
After going 2-0 at middleweight with wins over Shara Magomedov and Jared Cannonier, Page wanted a return to welterweight — which the UFC granted him in March at UFC London. Page defeated Sam Patterson in a lackluster
affair, and now returns to 185 to face a surging contender in Ruziboev who is 5-1 in the UFC, with the loss coming in his lone welterweight appearance against Joaquin Buckley at UFC St. Louis in May 2024.
Other bouts announced include a light heavyweight contest between Modestas Bukauskas and Oumar Sy, Losene Keita’s octagon return against Muhammad Naimov, as well as a heavyweight tilt between Mario Pinto and Ryan Spann.
UFC Paris also includes a middleweight contest between France’s own Matthieu Duclos, who makes his octagon debut, and Luis Felipe Dias, and a women’s bantamweight bout that will see Nora Cornolle compete in front of a home crowd against Klaudia Sygula.
