Michael “Venom” Page will be looking to avenge his only career loss at Bellator 267. In the main event, he will face the only man to ever defeat him, the former champion, “The Phenom” Douglas Lima. The two adversaries will meet in the Bellator cage this Friday, October 1, and will be broadcast live from London, UK.
“The Phenom” Douglas Lima – 32-9-0
Douglas Lima is the former champion of Bellator’s welterweight division. He has defeated notables such as Rory MacDonald, Andrey Koreshkov, Lorenz Larkin, Paul Daley, Ben Saunders, among others.
The Brazilian-born Lima will be coming into this fight hungry and determined to get back in the win column. In his last fight, he lost his welterweight title to Yaroslav Amosov, of Ukraine. Lima has had much experience fighting great fighters such as the Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi, also Ben Askren, and others.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot from [the losses],” Douglas Lima told MMA Junkie. “Every loss that I take I learn a lot from and my performance in that one was terrible.” Lima also added that he will be aiming for a knockout finish in this Bellator 267 main event. “You’ve got to finish him. For me, the best way to win is finishing the fight. That first one happened, went viral and I’m about to do the same thing this time around, even better.”
The former welterweight champion is best known for his strong kicking game and previously knocked out Michael “Venom” Page first by knocking him down off leg kicks. Douglas Lima is also undefeated in rematches.
“He’s a puzzle and you’ve got to be able to solve it,” Lima said this week. “I did it one time. He’s very tricky.”
Michael “Venom” Page -19-1-0
Michael “Venom” Page will be coming into this rematch seeking to avenge his lone career loss and also will be riding on quite a win streak. The UK-born fighter is currently on a five-fight win streak, with four of those wins coming by way of KO/TKO. To add, in Page’s career he’s won nearly 60% of his fights via KO/TKO and an impressive 80% of his win via finish.
The most notable career wins of Michael “Venom” Page are the likes of Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, David Rickels, Paul Daley, and others. He has been a Bellator staple fighting 16 fights in the promotion. Never capturing a championship though, the lone title fight was his only loss against Douglas Lima.
“Obviously you watch it initially straight afterwards just to go over exactly what [went wrong], but for me there were [some] very obvious mistakes,” Michael “Venom” Page told MMA Junkie. “I don’t believe Lima’s going to change his style. He’s not going to doctor anything, he’s going to be the same person going into that cage.”
“But [the first fight] was going well for me.” Page told the press at Bellator media tour in London this week. “I’m going to be 10 times more effective this time while it’s going well and hopefully that’ll win the fight. It definitely will win the fight. But it’s more a case of just being a better, sharper, faster, stronger version of myself, which is exactly what I’ve been doing, and exactly what I am right now.”
Douglas Lima vs Michael “Venom” Page 2 at Bellator 267
The rematch Douglas Lima vs Michael “Venom” Page will be the main event at Bellator 267 this Friday, October 1, from London, UK. The quick-counter kickboxing style of Page will be again tested against the experienced Muay Thai style of Lima. Page will be determined to correct his only loss and will be looking to make it six wins in a row. The MMA veteran in Lima will be looking to counter this quick style with heavy kicks.
“I’ve seen a lot of opponents that he’s fought and almost everybody falls for it,” the Brazilian Douglas Lima said. “They get mad, they put their hands down, try to do what he does, and that’s when they get caught. For me, I’m always focused on me. My hands are going to stay up the whole time, I’m going to fight how I fight, put the pressure on him and catch him – catch him like I did last time.”
Michael “Venom” Page, London-born, will have the hometown advantage in this fight, and he won’t be alone in this. Also at Bellator 267 will see UK-born Leah McCourt fight American Jessica Borga in a featherweight tilt. Also, Robert Whiteford, of Scotland, will meet English Andrew Fisher. Two English-born light heavyweight will make the main card with Luke Trainer vs Yannick Bahati. Kicking off the Bellator main card will be France’s Yves Landu fighting Tim Wilde, of the UK.
“That side of me doesn’t switch off, or switch on, for other opposing factors.” Said hometown hero Michael “Venom” Page. “But I definitely want to give the London people something to cheer about and be happy about”
Bellator 267 will be fully covered here at MMA Sucka. Bellator 267 will be at The SSE Arena, Wembley this Friday, October 1. The event will be broadcast live on the BBC iPlayer from 5:30 pm BST, with the main card commencing at 9 pm BST.
Featured Image courtesy of Bellator MMA/Will Fox.
