One of MMA’s most intriguing free agents is weighing his options in
the wake of his former promotion’s recent high-profile merger.
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Michael
Page (21-2), former Bellator
MMA welterweight title challenger and longtime star, announced
free agency earlier this year after parting ways with his former
organization. Known for a plethora of highlight-reel knockouts,
Paige was immediately courted by the
Ultimate Fighting Championship. However, Page claims things
haven’t moved beyond courtship with the UFC, though he recently had
his first in-person interaction with its CEO, Dana White. “MVP” said on ‘The MMA Fan Show’:
“I wish I could say for certain that we have or we haven’t.
Honestly speaking, we’re not there yet. There’s still a few hurdles
we need to jump over, but like I said, we’re flirting.”
Page’s former promotion was recently acquired by the
Professional Fighters League, with some of its biggest stars on
hand at last week’s PFL World Championships for photo ops with
their future co-workers. The 36-year-old admits that while a lot of
his most desired matchups are still in the UFC, the promotion is no
longer the only dream destination for fighters. The Englishman
said:
“It’s difficult to say because I think there’s dream fights and a
lot of those dream fights land in the UFC. How I feel now to how I
felt when I first joined MMA—you first join MMA, the whole goal was
UFC because there was no other big shows that could really do
anything. Over time, things have changed. It’s a lot more than just
the name of the brand, there’s a lot more to it now. But
ultimately, we can still get there and see those dream fights
happen.”
“I think PFL by itself is definitely an interesting location to go
to especially with their development, I can kind of see their
progression. I wouldn’t re-sign with Bellator even though it feels
like it’s essentially not signing with them if you know what I
mean, but I just wouldn’t.”
Page amassed a 17-2 record in the Bellator cage, with his only
setbacks coming against Douglas Lima in the Bellator Welterweight
Grand Prix semifinal in 2019, and in an interim title bout against
Logan Storly in 2022. In his most recent appearance, at Bellator
292 in March, Page scored a first-round TKO of Goiti
Yamauchi via leg kicks.