Michael “Venom” Page is happy to work for Scott Coker, who’s a promoter that is willing to let him explore other options.
MVP will make his bare-knuckle boxing debut this Saturday in his hometown of London. He will face former UFC fighter, Mike Perry, who already fought in BKFC’s circular ring and beat Julian Lane at Knucklemania II.
Michael "Venom" Page vs. "Platinum" Mike Perry 🔥
BKFC 27 London | Sat. Aug 20th | Live at 2PM EST
Order Now: https://t.co/HLL6nJslEV pic.twitter.com/uQdo7BAIGx— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) August 9, 2022
After his split decision loss to Logan Storley in an interim welterweight title, MVP was waiting for his next fight and it looked like Bellator had nothing to offer at the time. That’s when BKFC offered him a fight in front of his hometown crowd and the MMA promotion gave him permission to explore it.
In his recent interview with MMA Fighting the Brit said:
“I like to make noise in the fighting world. Obviously, my last fight didn’t go according to plan. Bellator was saying they wouldn’t have anything available for me until October and I was like I can’t wait that long. I need to get busy now. Bellator’s always allowed me to do other things like boxing before, this opportunity kind of fell in my lap. I was like let’s go, let’s make it happen. Bellator was in full support so we’re doing it.”
Page credits former heavyweight and cruiserweight boxing champion David Haye for making it all possible:
“It’s actually through David Haye. David Haye is a good friend of my coach so they were kind of talking and David Haye does some work with BKFC every now and again. So he just said ‘would that be something Michael would be interested in?’ It was more so like maybe later [in my career] and that just sort of sped the process up.”
Scott Coker was not only on board with the idea but also wished MVP all the best in his BKFC debut. It shows that Bellator is about giving their fighters a chance to fight outside the promotion if they wish to:
“If you look at what Bellator is looking to do at the moment, even potentially doing a little collaboration with Eagle FC,” Page said. “They’ve done collaboration in Japan before with their shows [with RIZIN]. Collaboration with Cage Warriors in the U.K. They are definitely open to that kind of thing and obviously they’ve allowed me to box before. It’s great being in an organization that allows their fighters to do more.”
MVP vs. Michael Page will headline BKFC debut event in London. BKFC 27 will take place on August 20th at Ovo Arena, Wembley.
