Paul Daley believes he has already solved the puzzle of Michael Venom Page headed into their main event tonight at Bellator 216. Once one looks past the showboating and dancing, Daley believes, there is one strength Michael Page lacks that Daley holds…and that is strength:
“Michael kind of gave me the clue to how to prepare for him, and in essence it’s not to prepare for him,” Daley told MMAJunkie. “I’m not going to bring in a guy for sparring to dance and jig and do the breakdancing, because you can’t get that combination in a fighter. That is unique to Mike. But what is Michael Page? If you go back on YouTube and you see everything – his trouser kickboxing – he’s a light-contact fighter. That’s what he specializes in.
Paul Daley’s philosophy heading into the Michael Page bout boils down to one fact: dancing doesn’t throw punches for you. And with Daley putting in rounds against other “light-contact fighters,” he is supremely confident heading into tonight’s grudge match against Page:
“He’s not as unique as he thinks, and the guys I’ve brought in to spar, I’ve said: ‘Look, you’re not Michael Page. I want you to fight like you’re on those mats in a leisure center, point-scoring fighting.’” Page said. “Because that is what he is.
“And that’s part of the illusion that people have bought into. He doesn’t dance when he throws a punch – that’s a distraction – and the bouncing back and forward motion, that’s to unsettle you to slide in so he can get his right hand. I know that now, because I’ve sparred these light-contact fighters.”
Do you believe power will be the deciding factor in tonight’s Bellator 216 main event?
