Add Dana White to the growing list of people unimpressed with Michael “Venom” Page after his winning performance at UFC London on Saturday evening.
Across three rounds, Page landed just 33 strikes and attempted only 61 going up against frequent training partner Sam Patterson on the main card. The crowd at the O2 arena unleashed a chorus of boos during and after the fight as Page failed to live up to expectations in his return to the welterweight division while fighting at home in England.
The UFC CEO
reportedly got up and walked out of the arena during the Page fight and it’s safe to say he wasn’t a fan of the performance.
“I mean I didn’t think it was a great fight either,” White said reacting to Page’s win. “It was a bad fight. I don’t know. He won so we’ll see what’s next.”
Well known as a counter-striker with deadly accuracy, Page just didn’t engage much during the 15-minute fight and Patterson struggled to produce much offense of his own. The fighters were even warned between rounds with referee Rich Mitchell attempting to goad them into more action, although he never actually issued any point deductions for a lack of action.
Still, Page’s performance definitely left something to be desired after he lamented about a long layoff between fights after picking up back-to-back wins in the middleweight division.
Page is now 4-1 in the UFC with his only loss coming in a decision against Ian Machado Garry in his second appearance with the promotion but he’s yet to score a finish since signing there in free agency.
The last time Page scored a knockout came in 2019 while he was competing in Bellator, although he did deliver a finish via leg kicks in his fight against Goiti Yamauchi in 2023, which was just before he signed a deal to move to the UFC.
