Michael ‘Venom’ Page Discusses Mixing Boxing & MMA
Bellator welterweight standout Michael ‘Venom’ Page has made a name for himself in the mixed martial arts cage, compiling a perfect professional record of 13-0 with eight of those victories coming by way of T/KO, but he’s seen success in the boxing ring as well.
In fact, Page is coming off of a second-round knockout victory over Michal Ciach this past weekend (June 15, 2018) in London, England, extending his professional record to 2-0. He has, however, had difficulty finding tough competition, although it’s obviously still very early on in his career.
Speaking to that after his most recent fight, Page explained why that has been the case:
“(It’s) understandable what an ‘0’ means for a lot of boxers,” Page told MMAjunkie. “For a lot of anybody in combat, it means a lot in terms of their next paycheck and the development in their career. Their fans, their social, everything. We’re like, ‘Yeah, that guy’s got a good record, so let’s call them out’ – 10-2s, 10-0, he’s 12-0, he’s 12-1, whatever it is. And they’re like, ‘Not interested.’
“They’ve got a career that they want to improve. They don’t want to be on TV with that happening to them, and I understand it because it knocks them backside. Frustratingly so for me, but, at the same time, I have to take my time. I know a lot of people are like, ‘We want you to fight this person, that person’ – it’s just not that simple. I understand it. Hopefully, I want people to start thinking, ‘You know what, I can get the better of him,’ and they take that risk and jump in there.”
Moving forward, the man known as ‘MVP’ appears to have quite a bit of options and he said that he’d like to take on another boxing match before returning to MMA later this year:
“It takes a little while to kind of get the promotional side and just the opponents and stuff in terms of the MMA,” Page said. “Because they have a plan on what show they want me on. They’re businessmen, so they understand exactly what the best thing to do is. It’s a bit more of a chess game there, so I’m thinking it might take a little bit longer.
“I’m hoping to try and get another boxing fight in before having to jump back in the cage. It might change, but I’m saying now: Maybe one more boxing (match), August, early August, then straight on to an MMA fight, September, November, whenever I can strive for that.”
Regardless of what he does next, however, Page made it clear that MMA remains his ‘home’:
“I obviously have more tools available to me in MMA,” Page said. “I’m a person that likes kicks and things like that, as well, because I can be a little more creative. So I have to say MMA is still my home.”
