Israel Adesanya Feels UFC Should Have Retained Michael ‘Venom’ Page

Michael Page has recently been let go by the UFC. Facing off against Nursultan Ruziboev at UFC Fight Night 287, the promotion reached the conclusion that they will not move forward with Page’s contract. Despite winning his final bout, the fighter was dissatisfied when the UFC conveyed him the tough decision. Now, reacting to the situation, former UFC champion Israel Adesanya has shared his honest take. 

Adesanya recently spoke about Page’s situation on the Precision podcast. Terming the situation as ‘unfortunate,’ Adesanya pointed out that he can totally understand how MVP was feeling at the moment. ‘Izzy’ pointed out how the intensity of the opponents too, has a major contribution in making a fight interesting. He also gave an example of his own title fight against Yoel Romero at UFC 248. 

Israel Adesanya on MVP's Departure 

‘The Last Stylebender’ said, “The UFC is a different business. They, the brass themselves, go on a case-by-case basis. They're human beings, man. I've had my dealings with my managers in the UFC, and I've heard stories of how they get deals done, you know?”

“I’m sure there's a lot of bodies buried in the desert. But with Michael 'Venom' Page, I felt like they got it wrong on that one because he only lost to Ian Garry, who just went toe to toe with the pound-for-pound No. 1, Islam (Makhachev),” Adesanya continued. 

‘Izzy’ also praised Page, terming him a “hard man to kill.” He also detailed how there are opponents who refrain from engaging and attacking. Such a scenario makes it very difficult for a fighter to bring life into a dull bout. Interestingly, one of the biggest issues with Page’s fights was that it was too boring. In fact, to address the situation, MVP himself wanted to change his fighting style to give his fans more interesting fights in the future.