Michael “Venom” Page will have to go back to the drawing board after his second Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) appearance at UFC 303 last month (June 29, 2024).
“MVP’s” Welterweight contender clash with Ireland’s Ian Machado Garry resulted in only the third loss of his 25-fight career when Garry earned the unanimous decision nod. The fight was pivotal for either’s title hopes with the upcoming rematch between the champion, Leon Edwards, and top contender, Belal Muhammad, set to headline UFC 304 this month (Sat., July 27, 2024).
Garry, 26, kept his perfect 15-0 record intact with the victory over England’s Page. However, the former Bellator Welterweight staple wasn’t overly impressed with the rising contender.
“Not all. No,” Page responded when asked on The MMA Hour if Garry is championship material. “Because if that’s the game you’re going to go [to] when you get a decent striker, then Leon is going to kill you anyway, then Shavkat [Rakhmonov] is going to kill you anyway. There’s a few guys in there that I just don’t see him surpassing.
“Even in some of the areas, he didn’t feel massively strong,” he continued. “I’m not even trying to be disrespectful to him, because again, he’s done his job, he was smart about how he kind of went by it. But for me, regardless, this game for me is about combat. It’s about fighting. Not about stealing wins. Even like I said, that last round, I didn’t necessarily need to stand up or need to let him stand up. I could’ve stayed there and just dragged it out and potentially got a better score in the third round and maybe that would’ve swayed it, but that’s not the game I’m in. I’m in a combat game. Like, I want to cause damage, I want to hurt people.
“So yeah, I don’t see him progressing to the top,” Page concluded. “I think he’s talented. I think he’ll always be around there, top 10, top five and then he’ll keep losing out to certain people. But he is still talented, and obviously, he’s got a loads of time to progress and get better anyway.”
While Page looks to regroup and rebound in whatever his third Octagon appearance will be, Garry advances and has postured for a match up against the mentioned Rakhmonov.