{"id":374341,"date":"2025-12-29T03:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T03:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/374341\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T03:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T03:25:08","slug":"michael-page-pondering-opponent-in-exciting-2026-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/374341\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Page Pondering Opponent In Exciting 2026 Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Page<\/a> (24-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has had a decent run of luck since joining the active roster of MMA\u2019s No. 1 promotion in March of 2024. The former stalwart in the late Bellator MMA went 17-2 under Scott Coker\u2019s former promotional banner until departing in 2023.<\/p>\n

A leg kick knockout victory over Goiti Yamauchi (31-7 MMA,) the current Pancrase Welterweight Champion, just 26 seconds into their 2023 fight was the last win Michael Page would score before switching promotions. In the wake of \u201cMVP\u201d joining the UFC, he owns a 3-1 record in the latter company.<\/p>\n

Page\u2019s 2025 schedule was one of success. In the old year, Michael Page went 2-0 in the UFC, with his most recent win coming on Aug. 16 in Chicago. That night inside United Center, the home court of the NBA\u2019s Chicago Bulls, he outpaced Jared Cannonier (18-9 MMA, 11-9 UFC) by way of unanimous decision after three rounds of action.
Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Page Having Problems with Booking Heading Into 2026<\/p>\n

Page is of the belief that he\u2019ll make his 2026 return on the March 20 show inside O2 Arena<\/a> for UFC London<\/a>. What he doesn\u2019t yet know<\/a> is who\u2019s going to be staring him down in the other corner that night, be it a welterweight or middleweight opponent. He has yet to fight in London in his UFC tenure.<\/p>\n

During a recent appearance on the\u00a0Shxts \u2018n\u2019 Gigs\u00a0podcast,<\/a> he detailed the hardships of fighting in multiple weight classes and why it\u2019s been a challenge for the UFC matchmakers to give him a proper opponent for an upcoming fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018I want to be at welterweight [for my next fight],’\u201d Michael Page began on the podcast. \u201cI\u2019ve taken a spur of the moment at middleweight fight vs. Shara \u201cBullet\u201d [Magomedov]. I didn\u2019t mind, then I was like, \u2018okay, give me a welterweight fight.\u2019 Nobody\u2019s available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon asking for another contest at 185, he was granted a bout with Jared Cannonier, after which he got his hand raised in victory. Since that August fight, Michael Page has been forced to play the waiting game.<\/p>\n

\u201cCool, give me a welterweight fight,\u201d he recalled. \u201cNobody\u2019s available. How can nobody\u00a0be\u00a0available? This is literally what I\u2019m getting messaged back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Page Perplexed at Lack of Suitable Adversaries<\/p>\n

Later on in the podcast interview, without identifying a fighter by name, Page said that he\u2019d have liked to fight someone in particular, only to be told that the contestant in question is already being lined up to fight someone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kid you not, there was a fight the other day [and] quite a few welterweights were performing,\u201d Michael Page mentioned. \u201cHe just won a fight spectacularly. I messaged \u2018That\u2019s a great fight for me in London\u2019. \u2018Oh, we\u2019ve got plans for him.\u2019 The guy just stepped out of the cage. I\u2019m already [out] for months and you don\u2019t have plans for\u00a0me,\u00a0but you have plans for\u00a0him?\u00a0Something\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Page on Israel Adesanya<\/p>\n

Another fighter in the UFC\u2019s middleweight division who finds himself in the midst of a hiatus from competition these days is Israel Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC.) Recently, \u201cThe Last Stylebender\u201d fielded audience questions<\/a> about an eventual return to the Octagon in 2026.<\/p>\n

Adesanya has mentioned that he\u2019s no longer interested in a pursuit of the UFC Middleweight Championship upon his return to competition. Michael Page was asked during his podcast episode if he\u2019d consider facing off against Israel Adesanya in a future fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proper brethren,\u201d he said. \u201cI always say this: Me and him are both prizefighters. If the prize is high enough, then we\u2019d both do it. He\u2019s fought Anderson Silva, somebody he\u2019s looked up to and somebody he respects. Anderson Silva respected him as a young buck coming through.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was dope,\u201d he continued. \u201cI feel like I wanted a couple more rounds, but it was dope. I\u2019m a person, because of the world I come from, a lot of my good friends are guys I used to fight all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/p>\n

Although there\u2019s still no word on if Michael Page will fight on March 20 at UFC London, he\u2019s too good of a fighter to keep out of action for very long. If the March 20 date comes to pass without Page making an appearance inside the fabled Octagon, it\u2019ll be a shame.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a man who\u2019s fought 27 times professionally and has only tasted the bitter pill of defeat three times since turning pro. Here\u2019s hoping Page and his fans don\u2019t need to wait too much longer for his next trip to the cage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Page (24-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has had a decent run of luck since joining the active roster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-374341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}