Michael Page was hoping to at least have a conversation with the UFC brass before leaving.
The UFC opted not to re-sign Page (26-3) after he completed his contract with a unanimous decision win over Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC Fight Night 287
less than two weeks ago. Page went 5-1 in the UFC and was disappointed to not get the opportunity to discuss a potential re-signing, something he's always wanted."I had goals to achieve and regardless of anything, I was winning my fights, which says to me you get to stay," Page said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "That's the premise of this game, is success should breed more opportunities. So I still felt like we'll sit down at the table.
"I felt what may happen is they just say, 'Look, we can re-sign you, but
it's going to be a lot less (money),' and we work from there. But I wouldn't have expected it to be dealt with in a way that it was dealt with. I found that quite disrespectful, to be fair."
For the second straight time, Page was not given a post-fight interview in the octagon following his win over Ruziboev. The same happened to him when he defeated Sam Patterson in a lackluster affair at UFC London in March.
"You've seen fights that have been absolutely terrible, and they still get to go on the mic and say their piece," Page said. "So, this is the second time it's happened to me. I feel like, especially if you knew you weren't going to re-sign me, what was the harm in even allowing me to speak to my fans, speak to the Paris crowd who are amazing? I don't understand who makes those calls, to know who I'd even go to, to be like, 'What's that about?'"
Page found out about the UFC moving on in the same way everyone else did when he was removed from UFC rankings eligibility, and Dana White indicated that the promotion was done with him.
"I was just chilling on holiday, and I see I'm getting messages from people, I'm seeing the clip," Page said. "I'm like, 'OK, I guess that's where we're at.' I'm always happy to have a conversation regardless. It could be a difficult one or an easy one. Just being able to have a conversation can resolve a lot of issues before they even start. I'm talking as if I'm the UFC now, I'm like, 'Ah, I'm not happy with the performances, let me have a conversation with him. Look, we're not happy with the performances, if it continues this way, we're going to have to part ways, but we need to see more of this.'
"At least it gives me a goal and something to really work towards, and at least I know exactly where I'm at and where I stand with this partnership. So, to hear nothing and have to guess all the time, I think that's annoying. And even after the fact, to not have a conversation to say, 'Thank you for your time here, but we're not going to move forward and doing any work together hereafter.' It would just be nice to hear just before, 'OK, thank you.' I sent a nice message to the guys, as well, because, regardless of this, I enjoyed my time. I always go on about the staff and the team there. They're great."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Michael Page doesn't hold back on 'quite disrespectful' UFC departure
