London native, Michael ‘Venom’ Page, has a fighting style so theatrical it feels more fitting in a Tekken video game rather than the most competitive fighting organisation in the entire world. Lucky for us, he’s not a pixelated character controlled by a joystick, and his flying knees, moonwalks, and acrobatic dance moves are as real as they are dangerous.
Having fought inside the Bellator cage for most of his career, MVP finally signed his long-awaited UFC contract, and this weekend he returns to Saudi Arabia on Saturday February 1, for his second fight in the KSA, with his toughest test to date: the deadly Dagestani, Sharapova ‘Bullet’ Magomedov. Learn more about how to get tickets for the event here.
Calling me over Zoom, MVP tells me about his dance moves, his thoughts on Shara Bullet, and potentially moving to Dubai.
Esquire: How frustrating is it for your opponents when you start dancing and tauning?
Michael ‘Venom’ Page: It drives them crazy. You can see it in their eyes when I start letting loose, start dancing and making hand gestures…it’s like they’re trying to convince themselves “he won’t be able to do that to me,” and then when it happens to them, you can see how demoralised they get. You can see it in their face, almost like they’ve accepted their fate, and then I know I’ve got them.
Esquire: Having spent most of your career outside the UFC, have you noticed any differences in the quality of opponents and/or the events themselves?
MVP: The main difference between the UFC and everyone else is you get this feeling of needing to rise to the occasion because the show they put on is bigger than any other show you can go to. But the feeling you get heading into any fight is always the same, whether it’s in a car park or for a championship title.
Esquire: Shara Bullet is the one Dagestani native who isn’t a wrestler, but rather a striker, just like you. With his undefeated record, how do you feel heading into this fight?
MVP: He’s explosive, and very exciting to watch. He doesn’t care who’s in front of him and he’s super talented. But on the flipside, although he may have seen people with similar styles like myself, he also doesn’t know how frustrating it can, and will, be fighting someone like me. I’ve had people come up to me after fights and say, “I had no idea you were going to be that fast,” so people think they know something until they’ve dealt with it. But we’re both game, so it’s going to be a good fight.
Esquire: What are your thoughts on competing and spending time in the Middle East? Do you see any future talent coming out of the UAE or Saudi?
MVP: I go back and forth between the UK and Dubai all the time, and I’m looking forward to buying some property out there soon. As for in terms of fighting, the UAE has had Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in their school system for well over ten years now, so they’ll undoubtedly be producing some exceptional BJJ masters over the upcoming years. And as you know, Abu Dhabi created ‘Fight Island’ during Covid, so they had countless fighters flying out to stay and train there for long periods of time, so MMA is only going to get bigger and bigger out here. These people love combat sports, so it’ll be exciting to see what talent comes out of this place.
Michael ‘Venom’ Page faces Sharapov ‘Bullet’ Magomedov this Saturday, February 1, at UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs Imavov at the Anb arena in Riyadh. Get tickets here.
