Sam Patterson was a curveball for Michael Page for multiple reasons.

After heavily campaigning to fight various top welterweight contenders, Page (24-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) ended up drawing Patterson (14-2-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 270 (Paramount+) on March 21 from The O2 in London.

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Patterson came as a surprise to Page considering that not only is he relatively unknown in the main stream, but he’s unranked. “MVP” did not want to get in the way of his career trajectory after Patterson has finished his past four fights.

“Sam is a dangerous, young, up-and-coming fighter,” Page told MMA Junkie. “Even for those who don’t know him, he’s a lovely kid. I’m literally a supporter of his and want him to – obviously not against me, but I want him to progress even after this fight. I really want him to continue to succeed, grow and to show his talents because he’s a dangerous kid, which also makes the fight that much more difficult.

“People I think are naturally going to assume and expect me to win this fight when I know the person that I’m facing. Although he’s not well-known in comparison to myself, he’s super dangerous and super talented, so it’s still going to be a difficult fight.”

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Page’s other issue with Patterson is that he has spent extensive time training with him, with Patterson serving as a sparring partner for his prior fights. He said the booking caught both off guard.

“Literally the first three fights, I believe,” Page said on training with Patterson. “It was Kevin Holland, Ian Garry and Shara ‘Bullet’ (Magomedov). I know him well, he knows me well, and this is why for him – he even messaged me to kind of be like, ‘Uh, do you know about this?’ I was like, ‘I didn’t know. I was away. I was training in Thailand.’

“He messaged me, ‘I’ve just been offered you for a fight.’ So yeah, I think for both of us, it wasn’t the most ideal. But we spoke, and we were like, look, it feels like this is what they’re pushing. Let’s just respectfully, with love, just go in there, put on a show, and best man win, and we just keep it moving, keep supporting each other in the way we have.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Michael Page explains why it’s difficult to fight Sam Patterson