Michael 'Venom' Page talks UFC predictions, retirement debate, manga & more

Michael "Venom" Page has had just three fights under the UFC banner but he's already captured the hearts of MMA fans around the world. The former kickboxer, bare-knuckle boxer, and Bellator star made his debut on the big show in March 2024 when he won a decision over Kevin Holland. Since then, he's fought twice more versus Ian Machado Garry and Sharabutdin "Shara Bullet" Magomedov, respectively. In a recent interview with DAZN News, Samy Izabachene sat down with MVP and talked about everything from UFC news, potential retirement, and even manga. 

Check out the full interview right here.

You fought two weeks ago. How you have been since then ?

Completely fine. I'm eager to get back and get another fight because my body's fresh, so I want to get back in the cage.

Let's go back to your performance against Shara. Now, are you satisfied two weeks after ?

Yeah, I've looked at it a couple of times now. There's still a few things that I wanted to adjust and I could have done better. But I'm obviously happy with the fact that he couldn't really do anything to me. I'm happy with the result, obviously winning. Like I said, it keeps building a new momentum to push forward.

What do you think of Shara ?

He's great. I think he's an exceptional fighter. I just knew even before the fight that that's somebody that I could beat, but he's a very talented fighter.

You start in the UFC in welterweight. You fought against Shara at the middleweight. What is next for you, middleweight or welterweight ?

It just depends. I guess how soon I can get another fight in because like I said, I'm fresh. If they offer me a fight really soon, I'd prefer to get it at middleweight so I don't have to overstress my body. But obviously, my focus is gonna be welterweight. The focus is welterweight. Middleweight is more for the exciting fights. Like one-off fights. But the title, I only really care about the welterweight. 

Do you want the belt of the welterweight ?

That’s definitely in my mind. That's the focus. Looking at the welterweight division, as much as there is a lot of talent there, there's also, I feel like there's a changing of the guards. There's a lot of people that usually are the ones that win all the time and they're starting to lose, which means there's a shift going on. That's the perfect time for me anyway to make my shot for the title.

Now, you are 15 in the ranking of the welterweight. For the next fight, you want a top 10 ?

Yeah. I think I deserve a top 10 fighter, so I'm not looking anywhere else. Definitely. A top 10 fighter for me makes the most sense, and that's going to help bring my rankings down to try and get that title shot.

So you don't have a name in your head ?

No, there's too many. There's too many fight. There's too many names. Again, things move all the time. Somebody gets injured or somebody, they already sign a fight. There's too many things. I never like to fixate on one person. Whoever is a good next step is... My coaches, they throw loads of names, and then whatever name they come back with is the name that I fight.

You fight in the middleweight, in the welterweight, can we see you in the light heavyweight or no ?

There's some good fights up there. I was even saying, when it comes to exciting fights, if I think it'd be a good fight, then I'll take it. If I have to pump some more weights just to be off-size, then I'll do that. There's always going to be a potential for me to have some exciting fights at any division.

How many fights do you want to do this year ?

This year, if all according to the plan, because I get to want trying back in april/may so maybe two more garanties. I think three will be perfect.

You lost against Ian Garry. What was wrong for you?

For me, I think I just wasn't of the right mindset. Mentally, going into that fight, I also I made a lot of grappling decisions during the fight that were wrong because the fight was tight. I just think I could have done so much better if I made those couple of decisions during the fight better. But I'm eager to have even a fight like that for me, having a rematch like that. Even a rematch like that, I'd love to take.

So one day you want to rematch against Ian Garry ?

Yeah, I don't hold any malice or revenge feeling to want that fight. If the time is right and it makes sense for me moving forward, then yes, I'll have the fight. But I'm not dying for the fight.

Now you are 37 and almost 38 in April. Have you ever thought of retiring or no?

I've thought about retiring since I started MMA. That is not really an age. It's more just because of how tough this game is. It's very difficult. Sometimes, even when things are going well, your body doesn't feel that so good. You're getting beaten up. So, yeah, that always goes through your head, but I love the game. Until I'm truly too slow, that’s the only time I'm going to stop. But for now, I'm feeling good. I think definitely for the next two years, I'm going to be in the game. It just depends. Anything can happen. Inshallah, I'm still good. I feel good, feel fresh, but anything can happen.

Well, now you have 37 years old, 23 victories, three defeat. How do you see your career today ?

For me, the numbers don't really mean anything. It's about what you've gifted to the audience. It's about what legacy you leave behind. It's about the memories that you're going to leave behind. I feel like I've left behind. If I were to stop today, I left behind a lot of memories that people can smile and say that they were a part of in some way because they might have been in attendance or they might have seen it with a friend or I introduced them to MMA, something.

Your friend Israel Adesanya lost against Nassourdine, what was the problem for you?

I think he rushed a bit too much to try and go back, and then he lost his momentum in that. I think he should have taken a little bit more time to deal with his eye, give himself a bit of a rest bite because that took his momentum. I think he looked amazing in the first round. I feel like he could have continued that and done and won the fight, but it's unfortunate. The game that we're in is unforgiving.

Three lost in his three last fight against Dricus, against Sean, and against Nassourdine. Who should he fight next for you?

He still needs to fight at the higher end. He's still such a dangerous fighter. I still think give him a top 10 fighter, and then just hopefully, he gets that victory and it gives him the confidence to start progressing again and moving in the right direction.

Sean lost to Dricus, another loss for the fighter against Dricus, two fight and two loss. What went wrong? What was the problem for you?

Well, Sean just didn't look like he wanted to be there. There's been talk since that he had an infection. You can see something was on his arm. So genuinely, even in the fourth round, he's obviously losing the fight. He's in the fourth round, and it's like coming to the last minute and a half, and I saw him look up at the clock, that’s not something that is a good sign. That's somebody that doesn't want to be there. Usually when you're down, you're eager to try and change that. You're pushing forward. He just didn't like he wanted to be in there. There definitely was something wrong. I think he's a warrior. He's not going to make excuses, so you're probably not hear about it. But just by the looks of how he was fighting and how he was in there, he definitely wasn't himself. Even from the first fight to this fight, he wasn't himself. Hopefully, he gets that fixed and then he pushes forward.

One day, do you want to fight in London ?

Yeah, definitely. It's a shame that my fight came so close to this one. Otherwise, I would have prefer to be on this one. Also, it's a shame that Shara, he can't fight in other places other than the UAE and I think Brazil. There's not I didn't see that much option when I had the opponent that I had. But yeah, I definitely look forward to fight in London.

Leon is a British like you. Can you fight him or you don't want to fight him because he is a British ?

No, I definitely want to fight. I've spoken about wanting to fight him before. I think it's good for the Brits. Both me and him come from very similar backgrounds. Other kids that have come from our background is going to be great to see that there's two people at that top spot. I know it's not for the title, but we're two of the best in that division. It's going to be inspiring for so many. So definitely looking forward. At some point, I'm sure we will have that fight.

What is your prediction for Poatan against Ankalaev ?

I've never put money against Pereira at the moment. There's no way. Chama.

In England, we have Tom Aspinall. We have you. We have Leon Edwards, we have Paddy Pimblett and a lot of fighters. Who will be the next face of the British MMA for you?

It's a difficult one because for me, there's different elements to be in a face of almost a nation. A lot of different elements. I think Tom Aspinall is in terms of what he could achieve, I think he's definitely the favourite there, but he's a very quiet character, and people are not necessarily drawn to him. Whereas you got somebody like Paddy Pimblett, who's a very big character, but his division is very deep. We don't know how far he's going to be able to go. He's talented, but he still got some questions to answer in terms of the top spot. So it's a difficult one. I'm just going to say me to keep it safe.

You are a fighter now for your creativity, your victory celebration, yours entrances in particular. I think about your first fight in UFC when you was be here with the song of the Undertaker. Where does that inspiration come from?

For me, I'm a very creative mind anyway, so I'm always trying to think about how to further entertainment. I know my style can be entertaining, but I love to do as much as I can because we only have small window to do that, to put that entertainment out to people. For me, I'm always thinking about the right things. I like to look at wrestlers. I think beforehand, before I even joined MMA, I was really studying wrestling, how they hone into the crowd, how they entertain, because I think they're some of the best in the world at that. Then my family were all very creative. I got all my siblings. We love to laugh, we love to joke, we got creative minds. My family, they sing, they dance, they do everything. They always inspire me to the next idea, so it makes it easier.

You love manga too, what is your favourite manga?

Yeah, there's so many. But I think my ultimate, just because I grew on that one, was Naruto. I've grown in it for a long time. For me, there was There's so many stories. It was a very long one, but so many stories that were just exceptional.

What does manga bring to your life, for example?

Yeah, just entertainment. I think for me, and I tell so many friends this, that even the ones that don't watch the manga. For me, some of the best story lines come from manga. Even when I see certain films, I feel like the story has already been told in a manga before. I think just a lot of the Japanese writers that are They're just exceptional what they do, so good at their job. The story lines are just so great. Some people, they struggle to get past the actual cartoon element or the animation. But once you get past that and you follow the stories, you're really going to be entertained.

After you fight against Shara, you were recently in Mecca. What does Islam bring to your life?

Everything's aligned for me in recent times. Getting married as well as referring to Islam. It just brings a sense of peace, guidance, structure, discipline that I haven't had in my personal life. I've always had more professionally, but not as much personally. For me, it's helped a lot.

Well, you are a Manchester United fan. What is your opinion of the current situation of the club?

For me, they are obviously massively struggling. We're fortunate that quite a few other teams are struggling as well. So it's not just us, But I think that's just the way of the Premier League. Premier League is such an unpredictable place. Some of the guys that you would guess that is top four right now, you wouldn't have guessed necessarily before. Man United, they've got a lot of work to do on the inside. It looks like anyway. I see Ronaldo spoke about that as well. So I feel right now it's hard to be a fan of them.

Who is your favourite player in football in all time?

It's difficult. Obviously, Ronaldo would be up there. Zlatan ibrahimovic would be up there because he's a great character as well as a great football player. Eric Cantona would be up there. Zidane would be up there. Big Ronaldo would be up there.