MVP on scuffle with Kiely: I’m not taking him seriously, ‘I see him as a joke’

Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports

“Everything about him as a fighter is a joke and everything he does on stage shows that.”

Things got heated between Michael Venom Page and Richard Kiely at yesterday’s Bellator press conference in Dublin, Ireland.

Page, who will look to rebound from his brutal knockout loss to Douglas Lima at Bellator 221, had to be separated from Kiely after shoving the Irishman during the staredown and, speaking to MMA Fighting at a backstage media scrum, ‘MVP’ said he’s treating his opponent as a ‘joke’.

“I see him as a joke, full stop,” Page said, per Metro’s Coral Barry. “His whole career in MMA seems funny to me. He’s already retired and come back. Everything about him as a fighter is a joke and everything he does on stage shows that.”

Kiely (3-1 MMA), who trains alongside former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor at SBG Ireland, responded by claiming to have ‘rattled’ Page during the face-off.

“It just goes to show he’s rattled,” Kiely told The MAC Life. “He was messing with his phone and the fake laughter. That just shows he hasn’t got the cognitive faculties to be able to keep up with me.

“As soon as someone puts your hands on you and then jumps behind the security guards, that just shows he’s rattled. You could see it in his face as well. Leave him to it. That doesn’t bother me. If he really wants to do it, then say to me I’ll meet you downstairs in ten minutes in the car park. We can sort it out then.”

Bellator Dublin, which will feature Page vs. Kiely as the co-main event, takes place later this year, Sept. 27 at 3Arena. The event will be headlined by a featherweight bout between James Gallagher and Cal Ellenor.