UFC legend Miesha Tate doesn’t sound too confident that Michael Venom Page (MVP) would find success in the UFC.
Earlier this week, Michael Page stated that he would like to test himself in the UFC at some point in his career. MVP has been competing in Bellator since 2014, and many have always wondered how he and his exciting style would fare in the UFC. In the meantime, over at Bellator, his level of competition has been widely criticized, with the term “can crusher” following him around persistently, regardless of any fluctuation in opposition difficulty.
The public perception could be that it is only fans or internet “haters” who give MVP this label, but based on these comments from former UFC bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, there are at least some fighters who feel the same way. Furthermore, it’s not just that Tate believes Page is only successful against lesser competition; in a way, she feels that he is the lesser competition relative to the UFC level.
“I don’t know if he has much choice in picking his opponents right now. I mean, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he does want to continue to fight better guys,” Tate said on MMA Today on Sirius XM Fight Nation. “But clearly, he has lost to those better guys, so you kinda wonder…you know, sometimes it’s kinda like, if you’re smart, bro, you just stay in your lane because you’re gonna make probably more money in Bellator because you’ll get your win purse and just be a little bit more realistic.
“But here I say that, but I don’t always think that that’s something that we get with fighters. A lot of times, fighters want to dream outside the box, and sometimes it just doesn’t work very well that way. This seems like one of those situations where definitely the best option for him is to stay in Bellator, win the fights that he can win, put on those dazzling performances, because he’s not gonna get that in the UFC. I doubt he’ll be able to put on those performances because there’s levels. And he’s just not on that level.”
MVP does have wins over fighters who have well-established records and reputations in MMA, such as David Rickels, Paul Daley, and Derek Anderson, but he unquestionably also has wins against several fighters with noticeably mediocre records or far less experience. There is one falsehood in Tate’s claim, however, which is that MVP has “lost to those better guys.” Page only has one career loss on his record, which came against current Bellator welterweight champion, Douglas Lima.
MVP has shown that he isn’t afraid of fighting higher-level competition in the past, such as by entering the Bellator welterweight grand prix in 2019 and by lobbying for a rematch against champion Douglas Lima at every turn. But if Page ever does seek this higher competition in the UFC, Tate has a harsh outlook on how things would turn out for the exciting Bellator standout.
“It’s interesting to hear him say he wants to come over, but, you know, who am I to knock it? I think every fighter probably wants that shine and that glory to be in the best promotion in the world, so I can understand it,” Tate began as a setup for her big shot. “But at the same time, look at it like, what the reality of it really is. He’s probably gonna get chewed up.”
Do you think Miesha Tate’s critique of MVP’s chances for success in the UFC are a bit too harsh? Or did she hit the nail on the head?
