Athletes
Michael ‘Venom’ Page | Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself
Frustrated With A Lack Of Willing Dance Partners At 170, “MVP” Has Moved Back Up To 185 Pounds, Where He Plans To Return To His Spectacular, Show-Stealing Ways
Michael “Venom” Page has felt a little bit like an actor without a stage of late.
The Englishman, who has built up one of the most spectacular highlight reels in the sport during his 14-year career, has only lost once since joining the UFC back in 2024. But despite proving himself on the big stage, two crucial things have been missing: knockouts and willing big-name opponents.
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Page is 4-1 in the Octagon, with his only loss coming on the scorecards against recent title challenger Ian Machado Garry. His victories over Kevin Holland, Shara “Bullet” Magomedov, former middleweight title challenger Jared Cannonier and Sam Patterson all took a similar tack, with his opponents not too keen to engage with the English striker, whose reputation – and highlight reel – precedes him. As a result, all four victories have come on the scorecards.
“It's difficult because it’s always dependent on who you're facing,” he explained.
“I tend to put people in a very defensive kind of feeling. I make them feel like, ‘Oh wow, this is the reality of it. The stuff that I heard, the stuff that I saw, I thought I was gonna be better than these guys, and he comes in, and he's doing it to me right now. So the best thing for me to do is survive and not be a highlight reel.’
“And I feel like that's where it's difficult, trying to get people to open up when they can feel something dangerous is coming. So yeah, I have to push myself that much harder to force it out of them.”
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That dangerous fighting style has also led to Page being unable to make the natural next step in his career, which is to take on the top contenders in the welterweight division. But, as Page explained, when his name comes up, nobody at the top wants to raise their hand.
“Everyone at welterweight is... I'm trying to be polite here!” said Page.
Michael "Venom" Page: "Too Many People Are Wasting Time" | UFC Paris
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Michael "Venom" Page: "Too Many People Are Wasting Time" | UFC Paris
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“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 gonna wait, and this and that.
“I don't have the patience for that. I just enjoy my art, and I want to keep doing it. Obviously, everyone's goal is the belt, but there's no need to be this tactical about it, 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.”
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For a fighter who is in the veteran stage of his career, with the window for a title opportunity getting ever smaller as the years pass, Page just wants the chance to compete against the best, and feels that, for reasons outside of his control, he hasn’t been afforded the opportunity to face the elite in his optimal weight class.
“I think that's the most frustrating part, and it's also because that's where you get to prove yourself to the world,” he explained.
“Because when you're training, I've got to spar some elite athletes, all different weights, and I see how well I do, and I'm like, ‘Yeah, I want to show this [to the world] now.’ You know?
“I'm working hard. We go through many, many spars with super talented people, and I'm doing exceptionally well. And I want to be able to show that to them. I get to that point, and there's a bit of a roadblock there. It's very, very frustrating. I feel like obviously my time here has still proven itself in terms of proving my talents at this level, but I want to do it against whoever's the biggest name. I want to do that against them.”
Given the situation he finds himself in, Page has decided to focus on what he can control, and has made the move back to middleweight, where he’ll make the third walk as a UFC 185-pounder this weekend in Paris, France.
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His opponent is in-form Uzbek Nursulton Ruziboev. The Philadelphia-based middleweight is 5-1 in the UFC and arrives in Paris riding a three-fight win streak. His fighting style in past contests suggests he might be more willing to walk forward and engage, but Page said he’ll believe it when he sees it.
“It sounds like a broken record a little bit for me, but I genuinely believe this,” he explained.
“Everybody believes that they will [engage] until they see how fast I am, or don't see how fast I am, get hit, throw punches, miss, get frustrated, and everyone's like, ‘No, the best thing for me to do is just grab him and take him to the floor.’ And I feel everyone goes through that process.”
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Page also said that, along with the move up in weight, he also plans to up his own aggression level to force his game onto his opponents more. If his opponents won’t come to him, he plans on going straight to them and forcing them to do the thing they so keenly want to avoid – engaging him on the feet.
“This one, like I said, I’ve got a point to prove to myself, which means I want to be that much more dangerous, more aggressive, more pushing forward, in his face, and let's see if he matches that.”
Now 39 years of age, Page is aware that he’s a veteran in this game, but he remains young at heart, and still possesses the lightning reflexes and fast-twitch movement that have been the hallmark of his career over the years.
“To be fair, I just feel blessed,” he said.
“I do work hard, and I feel like, even just my mentality, I still feel young, and I feel like just having that mentality of remaining young in your mind.
“I think that's just a normal thing, but my core does love martial arts. My core does love this game, and the puzzles, and the constant improvements. And what I mean about improvements, I don't mean necessarily personally.
“From each individual sport, jiu-jitsu seems to get better, wrestling seems to get better, kickboxing seems to get better. It's just fun that it's just never boring. So I feel blessed to be able to work in a space that is constantly evolving in a positive way, and keeps you with your learning hat on and wanting to improve.”
And on Saturday night, the latest iteration of Michael “Venom” Page is ready to get back into the Octagon and give people a timely reminder of exactly who he is, by doing what he loves best – putting on a show.
“Just reintroducing myself as MVP, because I don't feel like I've quite done that yet,” he said.
“I'm known for being a knockout artist, and I haven't achieved it yet. Again, I've had some fun fights, and I feel like people are still wowed by what I'm capable of doing, especially against some of the opponents I've had. But yeah, I want that. I want to take a scalp home.”
UFC Fight Night: Hooker vs Parnasse took place live from Accor Arena in Paris, France on September 5, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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