Is “MVP” in the proverbial UFC dog house?
Michael “Venom” Page returns to action against surging contender Sam Patterson at UFC London next month inside the O2 Arena in London, England. But when the fight was announced, plenty of fans were confused — and Page admits he was, too.
After picking up notable wins over Shara Magomedov and Jared Cannonier at Middleweight, Page is dropping back down to Welterweight. Instead of a marquee matchup, however, he was booked opposite Patterson — a talented prospect,
but not exactly the “big name” Page envisioned.
“In regards to the fight, it wasn’t one that I expected or was even looking for,” Page told MMA Junkie recently. “It’s a bit more annoying for me because it’s not just an opponent that feels a bit further down the ladder; he’s also somebody that I’ve worked with before, so I know him well. It’s another reason why I didn’t really want to have this fight, but more so because I came here for the big fights. I came here for big names.”
Page says he’s been actively chasing higher-ranked opponents since his last outing.
“Since my last fight, I’ve been asking for absolutely everybody. It seems like nobody is willing to take the fight or they’re already matched or whatever,” he continued. “So, yeah, it’s definitely not the fight I was looking for.”
To make matters worse, Page isn’t even the co-main event — something that left him questioning where he stands with the promotion.
“I definitely don’t feel like I’m in good favor with the UFC at the moment,” Page said. “You look at the co-main event, and it’s like – you look at the whole card in general, it’s not the most exciting…And I would have felt like a name like myself being on that card, I’m definitely going to be positioned as someone who is going to go and show out always, but I’m being positioned on the card in a weird way. It just feels like I’ve upset somebody.”
The former Bellator title challenger speculated that his lack of finishes inside the Octagon may be working against him.
“The only thing I could really suggest is that I haven’t had a finish. So maybe they’ve looked to purchase somebody that is known for spectacular finishes, and I haven’t quite achieved that yet,” Page said. “That’s just me speculating. That’s the only thing I could see because I still feel like I’ve had some really exciting fights that people have really enjoyed.”
Page is 3-1 thus far in the UFC, with his only loss coming against Ian Garry.
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