Michael Page announces free agency – “I am currently unemployed”
Michael Page (21-2) is a free agent. The 36-year-old fighter known as “Venom” announced today on The MMA Hour that his Bellator contract has expired and he is interested in exploring his options within the combat sports world.
“I am currently unemployed,” Page jokingly said.
“I think it’s time for me to just explore what else is out there. It doesn’t mean I’m not going to go back with Bellator. It just
means I want to see what other people think of ‘MVP.’”
Page has been fighting under contract with Bellator MMA since 2013, competing 19 times with the promotion. During his tenure with Bellator MMA, MVP has been allowed periodically to compete with other promotions including one bare knuckle bout with BKFC, two boxing matches, and one MMA bout with Super Fight League.
As one of Bellator MMA’s most popular fighters, news of his free agency comes as a shock to many, and even he thinks that the promotion may have dropped the ball a little.
“I think all of us missed it,” Page said of his contract. “Weirdly enough, I think it’s just one of those ones that we just all missed. [The Yamauchi win] was an exciting, quick fight. I was actually eager to try and get something going again. Obviously they were sorting out their own shows and getting that in place. But nobody really looked at contracts until we were like, ‘OK, what’s the next move?’ And I think it was [manager] Audie [Attar] or one of the guys on the team was like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re up.’ So it’s quite an interesting situation.
“[Bellator officials are] normally a lot sharper on that, and even usually when you’ve still got a few fights left, they’re already talking about what the progression is,” Page added. “So I think there’s a lot going on in the back office with their potential transition as well, and new owners, and so on and so forth. So yeah, I definitely feel like they kind of missed something there, but I think things happen for a reason in my opinion. I think it all happened for me to be able to have this space now and to make this decision, to actually say to myself, ‘OK cool, let me explore the waters in the MMA ocean and see what bites.”
This Saturday, the UFC will be in London, England and MVP plans to be in attendance. Will we soon see “Venom” inside the UFC octagon?
