Michael Page opens up on disrespectful UFC exit, mental blockages39

Michael Page won significantly more times than he lost in the UFC, yet it still wasn't enough to sway the promotion to keep him around after his contract expired.

The former Bellator superstar entered the UFC with plenty of fanfare in 2024, scoring a clear-cut unanimous decision win against Kevin Holland at UFC 299. Page, 39, styled on Holland in vintage fashion, utilizing his flashy striking skills to outpoint the veteran in a welterweight showdown. As it turned out, though, finishes — or even similarly entertaining performances — failed to materialize in Page's subsequent five UFC appearances.

Despite winning four straight fights, capped off by his fight against Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC Paris, the promotion opted not to re-sign Page without even having a discussion.

Speaking on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show," Page vented his frustrations, saying he felt disrespected by the entire close to his UFC run.

"I had goals to achieve, so regardless of anything, I was winning my fights, which says to me you get to stay," Page told Uncrowned. "That's the premise of this game. Success should breed more opportunities. So, I still felt like we'd sit down at the table.

"What I felt would happen was they'd be like, 'Look, we can re-sign but it will be a lot less [money],' and we work from there. But I wouldn't have expected it to be dealt with in the way that it was dealt with. I found that quite disrespectful, to be fair."

The writing was on the wall for Page in his final two matchups, in particular. Before his recent win over Ruziboev, Page defeated rising prospect Sam Patterson in March and wasn't given a chance to speak in the cage post-fight. It happened again with the Ruziboev fight, which also failed to deliver any excitement.

"What is the harm in allowing me to speak [after the fight]?" Page said. "I've seen fights that have been absolutely terrible, and they still get to go on the mic and say their piece. This is the second time it's happened to me. I feel like, especially if you knew you weren't going to re-sign me, what was the harm in even allowing me to speak to my fans and the Paris crowd? I don't understand who makes those calls, [who] to go to be like, 'What's that about?'"

Page's UFC future was finalized just days after his Ruziboev win, when UFC CEO Dana White spoke at a Contender Series post-fight press conference. Asked about Page's status, White revealed that Page wouldn't be staying with the company.

Much like the rest of the world, White's public announcement also served as the moment Page was informed he wouldn't be negotiating to stay with the UFC.

"I was just chilling on holiday, and I see I'm getting messages from people seeing the clip. OK, I guess that's where we're at," Page said.

"I'm always happy to have a conversation, regardless of if it's a difficult one or easy one. ... If you're not happy with the performances, have a conversation with me. ... At least it gives me a goal and something to work toward, and I know exactly where I stand with the partnership. To hear nothing and have to guess all the time, I think that's annoying. And even after the fact, to not have a conversation to say, 'Thank you for your time here, but we're not going to move forward and doing any work together hereafter,' it would just be nice to hear that beforehand.

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"I sent a nice message to the guys as well because, regardless of this, I enjoyed my time. I always go on about the staff and the team there; they're great."

Throughout his MMA career prior to his UFC run, Page delivered some of the sport's most viral knockouts, from his face-breaking flying knee of Evangelista Santos to his tornado kick of Ben Dishman in his pro debut. His counter-heavy, knockout style was often accompanied by theatrics and showmanship that rarely went hand-in-hand with the sport. That combo made Page a love-or-hate fighter.

When looking back at his arrival in the UFC, Page believes he started on the right foot with the aforementioned Holland win. But his sophomore UFC outing against Ian Machado Garry — his lone loss in the promotion — led to some mental struggles that Page still sees even in his victories.

Page admitted that he's spoken to a sports therapist in recent years, and for his latest fight, he was back to enjoying himself more than he had been. Yet, he still feels some "blockages" that need to be pushed through to bring out more vintage performances.

"I just know what I'm capable of, and for some reason, I don't know what it is, I just feel like I'm not pushing myself enough in the fights," Page said. "It's weird to say, because I'm winning fights and I'm not at my best. It's just a shame that I haven't been able to really showcase my best, and yet I'm still beating fighters that are at the top of their game.

"I realized it second fight in, that I was carrying a weight, and I shouldn't be. It was a case of figuring out how to not do that when I'm heading into these fights. How to not fixate on performing the way that I used to and just enjoy the performance."

Luckily for Page, MMA's free-agency waters are fuller than they were in his last period of combat freedom. He's not sure if he's contractually free to sign somewhere new at this exact moment, but he's open to the world of possibilities — excluding bare-knuckle boxing, for his family's sake.

"Offers are just flying in," Page said. "To be very honest, I don't think there's one place that I haven't gotten an offer from. Like, name anybody you want — they've all put their hands up to be like, 'I know what he can do.' And as you can see, it has nothing to do with me not being capable. Although I'm not getting the exciting finishes, I'm still beating guys that are 10 years my junior, and I'm still faster than all of these guys.

"I'm hungry to keep working. So, now I sit down with [my manager Audie Attar], sit down with my team, and we make a plan about where we're going to go next.

"Everything [is on the table]. I'm a martial artist. I'm jumping at anything."

So far, Page has had one suitor make it abundantly clear that they're interested, and name-wise, it's the perfect fit: Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions.

Paul dropped a post on social media in the aftermath of Page's latest win, saying, "Think it's time to bring MVP to MVP."

With MVP merging with PFL at the start of 2027, Page signing with the promotion seems like a perfect fit on paper, especially with the option to take boxing matches as well. The interest is there for Page, he said, and he's already visualized what it could look like.

"It's a show. I'm excited about the things I can do with my walkout, this and that. I can visualize exactly how amazing and epic that's going to be. There's nobody I'm saying no to right now," Page said.

No matter what's next, Page added he wants to compete at least one more time this year.