Michael Page: “The Canvas Was So Slippery” At Bellator 248
Michael Page competed in the main event of Bellator 248, defeating Ross Houston by unanimous decision.
It was not a typical MVP performance at Bellator 248 and Page says that was due to the slippery mat inside the cage.
“I don’t like to make any type of excuses whatsoever, and I’ve been in that situation before, but this is the worst I’ve ever had it,” Page told reporters after the fight (via Danny Segura of MMA Junkie). “The canvas was so slippery, I literally I couldn’t execute any of my game plans because my whole game derives on me moving my feet and being able to be agile, in and out, land shots and get out. Again, I don’t know if people will be able to see it in the fight, but I had to change my fighting style. I threw a punch and spun myself around and he threw a kick and literally threw himself off. I could see he was being tentative on his kicks and not throwing them with any kind of maliciousness and it was basically because the canvas was so slippery. I had to go traditional boxing and not throw many kicks, not bounce, so I made myself an average fighter, which is a lot harder to cover the ground that I need to land the shots. I had to play the grappling game, which again, I’m happy to do, but I don’t care for. I want to have a spectacular finish, but it is what it is.”
Despite the lackluster performance, Page is now riding a four-fight winning streak and the fighter has not been defeated in over a year. Page says that he would like to return to the Bellator cage as soon as possible.
“As soon as possible to be fair,” Page said. “If I was to take one more fight before Douglas Lima, but as you said, he’s got another fight and he’ll probably have a little time off, then I’ll keep busy and get another fight between that. But yeah, to be fair, I’m annoyed at that performance, so I just kind of want to get back out there and just remind people who MVP is.”
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