For Michael “Venom” Page, the reason his Aug. 16 return at UFC 319 is at middleweight is simple \u2014 Jared Cannonier, Page said, was the only one who\u2019d fight him. Even then, the Englishman had his doubts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called out everybody but got no answers,\u201d Page said Monday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.”<\/a><\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n While speaking this week to Uncrowned, Page appeared to be in a no-man\u2019s land.<\/p>\n At age 38, and with wins over Paul Daley, Derek Anderson, Douglas Lima, Kevin Holland and most recently Shara “Bullet” Magomedov, Page feels like a veteran. But he doesn\u2019t feel he gets the same love or respect as most combat athletes with his level of experience. He\u2019s too much of a risk for other vets in the game, and refuses to fight below himself as a gatekeeper for up-and-coming guys.<\/p>\n Later this month at the United Center in Chicago, on the UFC 319 pay-per-view, Page fights Cannonier. It’s a 185-pound contest that has great implications for the winner.<\/p>\n A win would crash Page, No. 15 at welterweight, into the UFC’s middleweight rankings. For Cannonier, ranked No. 8, it\u2019s a chance to break free from a middling .500 run and revive his title campaign.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n If Page keeps winning, he\u2019s confident he’ll become unavoidable. A potential Battle of Britain against Leon Edwards, which Page has long called for, could become even bigger for 2026.<\/p>\n That Page is fighting a second time this year at middleweight raises questions about his status at 170 pounds, but, \u201cI wanted to go where the smoke is,” he said.<\/p>\n The smoke, Page said, right now is at 185.<\/p>\n Page was hopeful that his victory over Magomedov, who is one of the UFC’s most aggressively marketed prospects, would have catapulted him into high-profile fights on marquee cards. He wanted to run amok at welterweight. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t look like welterweight [has many opportunities right now]. It seems to be political \u2014 who you can fight, who\u2019s ready,\u201d said Page.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that last win [over Magomedov] I was expecting big names, and the name I got [offered], I was thinking, \u2018This doesn\u2019t make any sense,'” Page continued. “I beat one of your prospects. And the way it looked, if he had beaten me, he would have been in a title elimination and moving forward [up the division]. So what does that mean for me? He was a young, up-and-coming guy, talented. And I\u2019d beaten him.\u201d<\/p>\n Page was expecting multiple fight offers from the UFC \u2014 from all directions. He didn\u2019t hear anything. He was expecting big names, but said it was \u201cirritating\u201d as those big names were never presented.<\/p>\n When those big names didn\u2019t come, Page wanted to bring himself to them instead. And so he issued public callouts. To Colby Covington. To Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. To anybody in the top 10 at welterweight.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought that was the best way to make something happen,\u201d Page said. \u201cThere were no responses, at all, from anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Even the UFC told him: \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to match you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like to play the avoiding game,” Page said, “but people are being tactical about who they\u2019re fighting next.\u201d<\/p>\n The Brit didn\u2019t want to sit on the sidelines to see the last few years of his 30s drift away. And so he considered fighting once again at 185, \u201cwhere these guys are a bit more ready, and willing [to compete].”<\/p>\n Cannonier, he said, “is an amazing fighter to share the ring with. So, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n But, though Cannonier agreed to the fight, it was not without criticism. A fight against Page didn\u2019t advance things for him. The opponent, Cannonier said, is not even established at the weight.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cThe ranking system has made things a bit more political about where people want to go, instead of just fighting,\u201d Page said, in response. \u201cI\u2019m a veteran in the game \u2026 but I\u2019m still new to the UFC. And other vets aren\u2019t willing to fight an awkward style, that can be a bit of a headache for some people.\u201d<\/p>\n Page said he finds himself \u201cin a weird situation.\u201d Because, while other veterans may not want to fight him, he doesn\u2019t want to fight the new guys coming in. He\u2019s not a gatekeeper in the divisions in which he fights, he said.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, \u201cJared accepted and signed the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite his frustrations, Page still likes the Cannonier bout. It\u2019s a sign of progression. It\u2019s also \u201ca bonus\u201d that it\u2019s on the same card as a middleweight main event \u2014 UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis defends the belt against intimidating mauler Khamzat Chimaev in UFC 319’s featured attraction.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Both du Plessis and Chimaev could be future opponents for Page.<\/p>\n But as for whether Page will stay at middleweight after Cannonier, or drop back down to welterweight, well, that depends on his opponents, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in it for the big fights,\u201d Page said. \u201cAnd I want to get to a title fight. I\u2019m a person who can fight in both divisions. It\u2019s depending on the best path to the top.\u201d<\/p>\n One box-office bout that could shake up welterweight, as well as stir national interest in the U.K., is one involving Page and ex-champ Edwards. \u201cIf that\u2019s offered to me, I\u2019d 100% accept [it],\u201d Page said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, if I\u2019m told, \u2018Take this fight [against Cannonier] and you\u2019re in line for a title eliminator,\u2019 then I\u2019ll stay\u201d at middleweight instead, he said.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n One way Page can reinforce his credentials as a ranked UFC fighter is to replicate the violent nature of his Bellator knockouts. He famously put a dent in Evangelista Santos\u2019 skull<\/a>. He hit Richard Kiely with a one-hitter-quitter<\/a>. He slaughtered Anderson with a head kick<\/a>.<\/p>\n He is yet to repeat that in the UFC, as his wins in the big league have only been via decision.<\/p>\n And that is not lost on Page.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to get it,\u201d he said, before analyzing his competition so far in the UFC. \u201cKevin Holland is bloody tough. I had a very awkward fight with Ian Garry, and then came up in weight against Shara.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n It is also tougher to finish opponents at middleweight, than at welterweight, he said. But Page is eager to take on the challenge, so he’s optimized his training to score knockouts against 185-pound fighters.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are shots that you land where other people would have fallen or wobbled,\u201d Page said. \u201cI realize in this division, that one shot I\u2019d normally catch, I need to land that three [or] four times. And that\u2019s when the damage starts to kick in.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been doing extra fitness work to just land more, land more combinations. And keep the work going.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is to always go in there and win by knockout,\u201d Page finished. \u201cAnd I\u2019d love to deliver that for the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n Cannonier vs. Page is one of five main card fights at UFC 319.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Michael “Venom” Page, the reason his Aug. 16 return at UFC 319 is at middleweight is simple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,39874,786,39872,6400,39873,785,17025,85,787,9995],"class_list":{"0":"post-46100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-derek-anderson","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-jared-cannonier","13":"tag-kevin-holland","14":"tag-michael-quotvenomquot-page","15":"tag-mma","16":"tag-page","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-ufc","19":"tag-welterweight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}