Once his contract with Bellator expires, Michael Page will consider a move to the UFC
Bellator welterweight Michael Page feels he “definitely” needs to sign for the UFC later on in his career.
Page (19-1) has been signed to Bellator for almost a decade and has only lost to 170-pound champion Douglas Lima during his time in the promotion. ‘Venom’ is currently on a five-fight winning streak, last stopping Derek Anderson at Bellator 258 earlier this month.
Talking recently on the Believe You Me podcast, Page outlined his plans to sign for the UFC later down the line.
“I enjoy Bellator. I enjoy where I’m at and I enjoy my success so far, but I definitely feel like I need to touch the UFC at some point and just test myself there as well,” Page said (h/t MMA Fighting). “There are some great matches to be made over there so I definitely think in the future—I don’t know when—obviously I’m contracted to being in Bellator, and I’ve got some goals to achieve there as well. I feel like I’m close to doing that.
“But until then, I definitely still see myself going [to the UFC].”
Page, who has often faced criticism for facing weak competition during his time in Bellator, admitted that he started MMA with the hopes of signing for the UFC. The 34-year-old is likely to get another shot at Lima’s welterweight title if the Brazilian gets past undefeated Yaroslav Amosov next month.
“If I’m being honest, when I first started, the only reason I [got into MMA] was to go to the UFC,” Page said. “That’s the biggest thing and it’s obviously still one of the biggest [promotions].
“There’s a lot of shows popping up. But in general—especially when I was started—anybody that was getting into MMA, their goal was to get to the UFC. The majority of people are still the same.”