Bellator star Michael "Venom" Page has expressed his desire to fight in the UFC one day — Fightful has you covered on this story as well as all of the other news in the world of combat sports.
Michael Page expresses his desire to fight in the UFC one day
Michael "Venom" Page is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining and dynamic fighters in MMA today, however, he is yet to have his skills tested against the best of the best in the UFC Octagon.
The highest level of opponent who Page has ever faced is Douglas Lima who is a multiple-time Bellator welterweight champion. When Page made the step up in competition to fight Lima, he lost via a devastating knockout.
With Page now being 34 years old he has admitted that although he still has goals left in Bellator, one day he would love to fight in the UFC.
During an interview on the Believe You Me Podcast, Page explained his plans towards the end of his career.
Page said "If I’m being honest, when I first started, the only reason I started was to go to the UFC. That was the biggest thing and it’s obviously still one of the biggest shows. Obviously, there’s a lot of shows popping up, but in general, especially when I started, anybody that was getting into MMA, their goal was to get to the UFC and the majority of people are still the same.”
Page also went on to say that although he still has goals which he wants to achieve in Bellator he is very intrigued by some of the matches which could be made for him if he was in the UFC.
He said "I enjoy Bellator and 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. 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 I got to achieve there as well, and I feel like I’m close to doing that. But until then, I definitely still see myself going there."
If Page was to sign with the UFC who would you want to see him fight and why?
Jon Jones hires boxing promoter as his advisor
The former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has announced that he has hired boxing promoter Richard Schaefer as his advisor.
Jones announced on Twitter that Schaefer, who is the former CEO of Golden Boy Promotions would act as his advisor going forward.
See the full statement from Jones below.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) May 26, 2021
Shane Burgos reveals what it felt like getting knocked out in a strange way against Edson Barboza
At UFC 262, the fight which opened the main card was a featherweight barnburner between Shane Burgos and UFC veteran Edson Barboza and the fight definitely did not disappoint.
Although the fight between Burgos and Barboza was an incredible one, the back and forth aspect of the bout was not the most talked about event of the fight.
Instead, it was the way Burgos got knocked out. Barboza caught Burgos with a right hand which landed on Burgos' temple and he seemed fine until about three seconds later, Burgos hit the canvas and was knocked out.
Burgos has now revealed what it felt like getting KO'd in such a strange way.
In an interview with MMAFighting, he said "The weirdest part is I remember everything which is something everyone is surprised about. I don’t have any loss of memory when it comes to that. So we’re fighting, I threw the jab, I bring it back to my head and he threw a fucking fast overhand right, and I didn’t even see it. It was like, boom, hit me and I was like (still moving around) but I thought, this is weird. It felt like my vision was slowly coming to a tunnel vision, my legs were getting slowly turned off. It was like somebody turning the volume down on the power button on my legs. I was bouncing and dipping down, and when I was dipping down I was trying to come back up fully, and I was slowly getting lower. I’m like, I can’t stand the fuck up, what the fuck is going on?"
Burgos also went on to say "Literally, as soon as the fight ended, as soon as the referee stopped the fight and I definitely went out for a second, I remember waking up being like what the fuck, I looked up at the ref and was like, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I knew the fight was over and that he caught me with something. I remember laughing in the moment because I was in complete disbelief where I really felt like it was going my way. Like, are you kidding me? It was just a weird feeling, it really was.”
Stephen Thompson says it would be a "bad idea" for Jake Paul to box Tyron Woodley
Since Jake Paul has been having some success in boxing, he has called out numerous members of the UFC roster and it is fair to say that they have given him the exact reaction which he wanted.
One of the fighters who Paul has called out is the former UFC welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley.
Woodley's former opponent Stephen Thompson has explained why it would be a "bad idea" for Paul to box Woodley.
In an interview with James Lynch, Thompson explained "I think it would be a bad idea for Jake. Tyron Woodley’s boxing is very good. He’s not having to worry about any takedowns or any kicks to the face or anything like that, he can just focus on boxing. Tyron’s got some power, boy. Tyron’s got some power. If Jake goes that route, which I don’t think he will if he was smart, he would not want to box Tyron Woodley."
Phil Baroni offers to fight Diego Sanchez
MMA veteran Phil Baroni has offered to fight Diego Sanchez following his UFC release.
Whilst offering to fight Sanchez, Baroni also called for Conor McGregor to promote the fight.
See Baroni's tweet below.
I’ll fight @DiegoSanchezUFC @TheNotoriousMMA should promote it
— phil baroni (@philbaroni) May 25, 2021
A fight between Baroni and Sanchez is very possible but having Conor McGregor as the promoter is very unlikely.
Following his dominant win over Brett Johns, Danny Sabatello expects bantamweights to duck him
At Bellator 259, one of the stars of the show was Danny Sabatello and that was because of his dominant victory over former UFC fighter Brett Johns.
During an interview with BjPenn.com, Sabatello broke down his win and laid out his plans going forward.
Sabatello said "Aside from not getting the finish, it was a picture-perfect performance. Again, that is how I thought the fight would play out. My style is not a good one for him, as we have similar fighting styles, the problem is, I’m just a way better wrestler. I figured I’d be able to take him down and going into that third round, I didn’t want to leave anything open so I got another takedown and sealed the deal. It was a dominant performance from me.”
Sabatello also explained how big a win over Johns is.
He said "It’s massive, a win over Brett Johns is huge for me as it proves I’m as good as I’ve been saying I am. Not only did I beat the guy, but I beat him on five days’ notice and dominated that motherfucker. It just shows that Sabatello is here and I’m coming for the belt and plan to dominate everyone that way, too.”
Sabatello then went on to outline his plans next.
He said "I expect to be top-five after that dominant win, but who the fuck knows. I’m just focused on the belt. I have called out Jornel Lugo and Josh Hill but it’s crickets from both of them. It’s what makes sense to me because the top of the division won’t fight me. Mix and Gallagher are supposed to fight, but they are both pussies. I just want a ranked opponent but I know it will be hard. I’m a stylistic nightmare for everyone at bantamweight and I fully expect them to start ducking me. Sooner or later they will be forced to fight me but they will run as long as they can.”
Jamahal Hill says that his fight with Paul Craig is personal
Jamahal Hill and Paul Craig were originally scheduled to fight each other in March but the bout was cancelled as Hill tested positive for COVID-19.
Things got personal between the two when Craig started commenting on Hill's social media posts saying that he faked COVID-19.
In an interview with MMA Junkie, Hill said "(It got personal) whenever he hopped on my posts talking about I faked COVID and if I really had COVID, ‘Show the COVID tests,’ and him calling me a b*tch and shit like that.”
Although Hill was not happy with Craig's comments, he will not disrespect him.
He said "I’m not going to disrespect his game because his game has gotten him to No. 14 in the world, and for him to be where he is, he’s obviously a skilled fighter. He’s obviously got talent. He’s obviously nobody to just shake a stick at. But as far as me, I’m on a different level. As far as me and the level I’m on, I feel he’s levels, levels below me in everything.”
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