Michael “Venom” Page picked up a win in his return to welterweight UFC London on Saturday but probably didn’t make many new fans along the way.
Following a brief two-fight stint at middleweight, Page decided to go back down to 170 pounds but wasn’t overly excited about his matchup against frequent training partner Sam Patterson. That showed in the performance as both fighters were barely willing to engage with less than 40 strikes landed between Page and Patterson.
In the end, Page did enough to secure
the victory with the scorecards reading 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 but the London crowd was not happy, booing the fight rather loudy across all three rounds.
Known well for his awkward style and lighting quick strikes, Page was quick to take the center of the cage and he tagged Patterson early as the fighters settled into a rhythm. Patterson eventually saw an opening and popped Page with a solid punch of his own but the welterweights were both cautious not to overextend in the exchanges to avoid potential reprisal.
Just before the first round ended, Page unleashed a rapid-fire combination but didn’t do much damage as the crowd unleashed a chorus of boos after a lack of action to start the fight.
Between rounds, the referee pulled both fighters to the center and spoke to them, presumably in an effort to increase the offensive output.
Page listened initially with a quick outburst and finally connected with a couple of stiff punches when he got to counter Patterson when he came forward. But from there, the action slowed to a crawl yet again with neither fighter really engaging.
With five minutes remaining, Patterson had to start taking more changes and he came out winging wild punches just trying to cage Page off guard. Again and again, Patterson charged forward and got locked in the clinch with Page, although once again neither fighter was producing much damage.
While Page did enough to win, the performance probably won’t gain him any favor with matchmakers after he complained about a long layoff and then getting matched up with Patterson on Saturday. That said, Page is now 4-1 in the UFC with his lone loss coming to Ian Machado Garry by decision.
