Michael Page believes PFL faceoff with Cedric Doumbe helped speed up UFC signing

Michael Page believes there was a sense of urgency for the UFC to sign him after he faced off with Cedric Doumbe.

All signs were pointing to Page joining the UFC after he made several appearances on its broadcasts, as well as UFC CEO Dana White expressing interest. But when Page (21-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) made an appearance during the PFL Dublin show earlier this month and faced off with Doumbe, it had everyone speculating about his next move.

“I’m playing chess,” Page said on The K/O Show. “That kind of kicked off another thing. Everyone was like, ‘Dana’s fumbled it’ and this and that, and it was interesting to see people’s perceptions of what’s going on. And again, my phone’s blowing up like, What’s going on bruv?’ People were confused.”

When asked if the faceoff perhaps put pressure on the UFC to speed up the process, Page said absolutely.

“I would 100 percent say yes,” Page said. “There was a little bit of a lull even for me. It was getting to the point where, even for me, it was like, come on, because we’ve had talks. We’d been flirting already, guys had seen me at the UFC, they showed me on the UFC as the hottest free agent on the market, this, that, blah, blah, blah, and then nothing.

“So, this definitely kind of kicked everybody into gear, both from the UFC, both from PFL, and they were kind of like – it was a bit of an auctioning battle, but literally the last 48 hours has been insane.”

The UFC always has been Page’s dream. Page ended up spending 10 years with Bellator where he challenged for the welterweight title twice and broke multiple records. Now he gets to bring his personality and entertaining fighting style to the biggest stage.

“The UFC brand, as you know, we’ve known each other for many years, that’s always been a goal,” Page said. Even when I got into MMA, the goal was to eventually go to UFC. It was never going to be like – the Bellator thing was just a left turn. It was like oh, it’s a massive organization that was interested in me after my first fight. So again, it still felt like a stepping stone. … The fact is, UFC have just got that. It’s just that glitter.”

Page is already set for his octagon debut. He meets Kevin Holland in a welterweight bout at UFC 299 on March 9 at Kaseya Center in Miami.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.