Michael Page doesn’t know where he stands, and it’s making things a bit confusing.
One month removed from his unanimous decision win over Jared Cannonier at UFC 319, Page (24-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) said he’s asked the UFC for at least three names for his next fight. Each suggestion, however, has been met with silence, according to Page.
“Well, it’s weird,” Page said Friday during a press event for his Total Kombat karate promotion. “I feel like I’m in a very difficult space. The very difficult space is that I feel the UFC, because of my age and the timing of things, they were thinking, because (I’ve) got a very good brand, I could be the gatekeeper to help grow their fighters. I started beating them. It’s like, ‘We don’t want to do that anymore.’ Then, the guys that are more senior like myself, who have been there a long time, they just don’t want to fight me.”
Page said he first accepted the callout of Carlos Prates. However, Prates was instead matched with Leon Edwards, whom Page said he also asked the UFC for.
“Even after I mentioned I’m happy to fight Prates,” Page said. “There was no phone call or nothing and then all of a sudden he’s got a fight. It seems like a little bit of a weird area at the moment. You may see me call out a lot of people just to try to make something happen. At the moment, I’m hoping to fight in November or December. Nov. 15, the show, the same one Leon Edwards and Prates are fighting on. They’ve got Dec. (6), I believe. I just want to get one more on this side of the year before the new year. But I don’t see many people’s hands up. Let’s see what happens.”
Given that Edwards vs. Prates doesn’t take place until UFC 322 on Nov. 15, Page recognizes he’ll likely have to fight someone else before he’s able to get his hands on either one of those guys. He wants a contender. The UFC wants to book him vs. a rising fighter. So Page has come up with a solution to check off both those boxes.
“I want to be active,” Page said. “That’s why I said I’m just pushing to try to get anything going. I actually asked for a guy, an undefeated fighter, because I’m out here to start taking out everybody. Michael Morales, he’s 18-0. Again, silence. I thought it’d be perfect for me to fight him. Then, I’ll fight the winner of Leon and Prates, hopefully in the U.K.”
Morales (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has competed since an emphatic beatdown of Gilbert Burns in May. He is not currently matched and the plan for him is unclear.
Page’s Total Kombat takes place Saturday at O2 Arena in London and streams on TrillerTV.
