Ever since his lone defeat, the debate has raged on about how good Michael Page really is. To be clear, he’s one of Bellator’s top welterweights currently No. 2 in the promotion’s rankings. But MVP already knows he wants to ultimately test himself at what’s considered the highest level of mixed martial arts – the UFC.
“100 percent,” Page told Michael Bisping on the “Believe You Me” podcast (via MyMMANews). “If I’m being honest, when I first started, the only reason I started was to go to the UFC. That was the biggest thing, and it’s obviously still one of the biggest shows. Obviously, there’s a lot of shows popping up, but in general, especially when I started, anybody that was getting into MMA, their goal was to get to the UFC, and the majority of people are still the same.”
In 2019, fans and media alike pondered the intrigue of a cross-promotional matchup between Page and Israel Adesanya, the UFC’s middleweight champion, given their striking styles. That talk cooled down, though, after Page and Paul Daley put on a lackluster fight (a decision won by Page) in what was expected to be fireworks. Then any talk of Page vs. any top-ranked opponent went silent after he was knocked out cold by Douglas Lima in May 2019.
Prior to that, Page (19-1 MMA, 15-1 BMMA) opened his MMA career at 14-0, a run that consisted of dazzling knockouts against mostly unknowns and the Daley win. Since losing to Lima, Page has run off five consecutive victories, but his level of competition again has come into question.
Page most recently won by doctor-stoppage TKO after breaking Derek Anderson’s nose with a kick earlier this month at Bellator 258. He said afterward that he expected to continue being doubted because of perceived “can” opponents.
Regardless, Page has his immediate sights set on avenging his loss to Lima and claiming the Bellator welterweight title. Looking a little further, though, he hopes the UFC awaits.
“Yes, I enjoy Bellator, and I enjoy where I’m at, and I enjoy my success so far. But I definitely feel like I need to touch the UFC at some point and just test myself there, as well,” Page said. “There are some great matches to be made over there, so I definitely think in the future, I don’t know when, obviously I’m contracted to being in Bellator, and I’ve got some goals I got to achieve there, as well, and I feel like I’m close to doing that. But until then, I definitely still see myself going (to the UFC).”
MVP to UFC? Bellator’s Michael Page clear about desire to fight in octagon