Michael “Venom” Page has finally settled on where he wants to compete in the UFC after repeatedly finding himself caught between welterweight and middleweight.
Page will face Nursulton Ruziboev at middleweight on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 287 main card at the Accor Arena in Paris, with the bout serving as the final fight on his current UFC contract.
The British fighter admitted that finding an opponent has been a frustrating process, with potential matchups repeatedly falling through for different reasons.
“It seems to be the common thing is like, we are sending forward suggestions, and we start at the top and one by one, it’s like, this person’s already fighting, this person’s injured, this person whatever,” Page told MMA Junkie.
“There just seems to be something. We just keep working our way down, sending in more names, more names. It got to the point where we’re like, who’s available?”
Ruziboev eventually emerged as an option, and Page was happy to accept the matchup.
The 39-year-old said the UFC’s preference for offering him fights at middleweight had previously created some confusion, as he had been more focused on remaining at welterweight.
“Sometimes they make suggestions, and I feel like I myself wasn’t necessarily locked into, I was locked more into welterweight, but more of the opportunities were coming at middleweight,” Page explained.
“That’s where our kind of miscommunication with the UFC was happening a lot. But now, I think we’re both clear that middleweight is where I want to be.”
For Page, the move is less about finding an easier route to a title shot and more about staying active.
“It’s less about a clearer path and more about being able to get more regular fights at middleweight, whereas welterweight seems very congested,” he said.
“It seems like many people are sitting on the sidelines waiting for opportunities instead of fighting to create opportunities, and I can’t be asked to be a part of that. So I said, yeah, let me go up to middleweight where I can enjoy what I do more.”
Page enters the fight ranked eighth in the UFC’s middleweight division. Ruziboev owns a 37-9-2 record with 34 victories coming by way of stoppage and is riding a three-fight winning streak.
His latest victory came in June, when he submitted Andrey Pulyaev in the first round at UFC Baku.
Page, however, has heard plenty of talk about opponents being dangerous finishers before. Sam Patterson entered their March bout on a four-fight stoppage streak, only for the contest to turn into a tactical battle.
Page believes his unorthodox style can sometimes make opponents overly cautious.
“I go in there, they see this wacky style in front of them, they freeze, they become more defensive, they try to take the easy options during the fight and then survive the fight,” he said.
“And then I get punished for the fact that they survived the fight, but it’s hard to finish someone that’s not wanting to put themselves in any danger at all and just being completely defensive. But it is my job to then still figure out a way.”
Rather than changing his fighting style, Page believes the biggest adjustment needs to come mentally.
“I feel like just enjoy it more,” he said.
“It sounds silly to say, but even when I’ve watched some of my old fights, I was really just in my element, just living my best life, enjoying, not worried about the results.
“And I feel like ever since I’ve come to the UFC, I’ve been worrying about getting the right result, getting it done in the right way and this and that.”
Page has gone 4-1 since joining the UFC and is currently riding a three-fight winning streak over Shara Magomedov, Jared Cannonier and Patterson.
His only UFC defeat came against Ian Machado Garry in June 2024.
