Robert Whittaker can't get himself to sit through a Michael Page fight live.
Page (26-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) outpointed Nursulton Ruziboev (38-9-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) to fight out his contract in this past Saturday's UFC Fight Night 287 main card at Accor Arena in Paris. He landed just 12 significant strikes in the fight.
Page's past few performances have left fans disappointed as he failed to notch a highlight-reel finish, which he constantly delivered during his Bellator tenure.
"I didn't even want to watch it, and I have nothing but respect for MVP," Whittaker said on his MMArcade Podcast. "His ability to do what he does at his age is crazy. It's like he's dancing in there. He's so fast and fluid, but I find it so hard to tune in live to MVP winning via
points rather than watching it back afterwards. I reckon there isn't a single person that can beat MVP over point sparring in the UFC. He's so good at it."
Page has expressed his frustration with his opponents failing to engage him on numerous occasions. However, Whittaker thinks it's also on MVP to capitalize better in certain moments.
"You know how I feel about it? I feel like it's almost like he has a live feed of the judges' scorecards, like in real time," Whittaker said. "As soon as it starts to drop, he just does a little bit more, and it goes back up. He just does enough, which is the game, right? But, man, it makes it hard to watch fights back when he's doing that."
It appears the UFC has decided to move on without Page, as Dana White indicated. Whittaker concluded by giving Page the benefit of the doubt.
"He definitely is a puzzle for a lot of fighters," Whittaker said. "He's not fun to fight for anyone. I don't know because, as a fighter, and knowing that you get paid more if you win, it's that tricky balance. Because also, he could go out next fight, listen to our comments, and go out there and just start throwing hands, get starched, cut, and that's it. That's the reality. That could very well happen, especially after he has kind of just point-won every fight."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ex-UFC champ says Michael Page fights 'like has a live feed of the judges' scorecards'
