Fan reaction was mixed when UFC announced that Michael Page would be joining the Welterweight roster.
Obviously, no one was outright complaining about a new knockout artist in the ranks, but there was a lot of pessimism. Understandable pessimism, if we’re being honest. “MVP” was teased as the next big thing by Bellator for most of ten years, but the promotion refused to actually book him against top competition for most of that span. When he finally did fight high-level Bellator contenders (Douglas Lima twice, Logan Storley), the results were uninspiring: a knockout loss, a split-decision win, and a split-decision loss.
By the time Page walked into the Octagon for the first time, he was already 36 years old. It’s hard to be overly moved about fighters with, at most, a couple years left competing at the highest level.
The name Kevin Holland helped inject some excitement back into the situation. “Trailblazer” is never in a boring fight, and we already somewhat knew what to expect given the Holland vs. Stephen Thompson slugfest in 2022. Nobody was upset about a continuation of that fight, even if relatively few were hyped about Page particularly.
All that’s changed now.
“Venom” absolutely styled on Holland. From the first bell, the difference in the two was stark. On paper, both men are lanky, fast, and powerful Welterweight strikers. Physically, there are many similarities. In their kickboxing process, however, Page was the vastly superior man. From the first bell, his entries and sudden ability to spring forward with power shots flummoxed Holland, who was left leaping after his opponent and still coming up short.
It looked like a bad copy.
Holland does some funky Karate-esque stuff like his jumping side kick, but really, he’s just a tough and athletic MMA guy with a long 1-2. Page, conversely, is the real deal in their shared style, a lifelong martial artist who has really mastered his method of combat. As the fight wore on, Page’s setups — his leaping right elbow, pivots towards Holland’s back, subtle right foot trip after the lead right hand — all continued to work with great consistency, whereas Holland only grew more frustrated at his inability to hit “MVP.”
Process wins fights, and Page knows exactly how to get opponents dancing to his tune. It was remarkable to watch him take apart such a durable and experienced UFC veteran with relative ease, proving beyond any doubt that Page has SOMETHING to offer the top-tier of the Welterweight division.
I’m not predicting any title run. Page is probably too old, and more vitally, his defensive ground work simply isn’t on the necessary level to handle someone like Shavkat Rakhmonov or even Belal Muhammad. He’s not helpless in that realm — he stalled out Storley quite well and prevented a Holland rally in the second — but he’s not going to become champion in such a historically wrestler-dominated division.
Lock him in the cage vs. Stephen Thompson, however? There’s a main event! Hell, with Alex Pereira-style matchmaking, Page could potentially climb high up into the ranks by fighting strikers like Jack Della Maddalena or Ian Machada Garry. He’d have a real shot against those Top 10-ranked Welterweights, a concept few were giving serious thought to prior to last week.
The UFC Welterweight division is simply better with Page in the mix.
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This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
