
Michael
Page grew tired of waiting around at welterweight.
The former Bellator
star recently explained his reasoning for accepting fights at
middleweight in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship ahead of his Octagon return
against Nursulton
Ruziboev at
UFC Paris.
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Michael Page explains why UFC welterweight title-shot tactics
pushed him toward middleweight
Page is 4-1 in the UFC, with his lone defeat in the promotion
coming against the last challenger for the 170-pound title,
Ian
Garry. However, odd bookings followed the loss to Garry, with
the Englishman taking on middleweights Sharabutdin
Magomedov and Jared
Cannonier before dropping back down to welterweight to fight
unranked compatriot Sam
Patterson in a lackluster bout.
Page claims top-ranked welterweights would rather wait around for a
title shot than fight him, prompting the move back up to 185
pounds.
“Everyone at welterweight is, I’m trying to be polite here,” Page
said in a recent interview. “I feel like there’s too many people
wasting time at welterweight at the moment. Too many people with
entitlement issues… They believe that they should be the next in
line. And so, they’re going to wait and this and that. I don’t have
the patience for that.”
Page acknowledged that winning a championship remains the ultimate
objective, but doesn’t believe fighters should be so calculated
about which matchups to accept.
“Everyone’s goal is the belt, but there’s no need to be this
tactical about it,” Page said. “And there’s like seven people being
tactical about it. It’s annoying. So, I just said, I’ll go the
tougher route and just move up a weight.”
“I just enjoy my art, and I want to keep
doing it.”Michael „Venom“ Page (@Michaelpage247)
is keen to make a statement with his performance on September 5.
#UFCParisFight by Fight Preview ➡️: https://t.co/fbp0AErPfk pic.twitter.com/pjCgwxosUf
— UFC News (@UFCNews)
September 2, 2026