Michael Page continues to put himself in matchups in the combat sports face that leave the community a bit stunned.
“MVP” will face former WEC welterweight champion and UFC interim titleholder Carlos Condit in the headliner of Saturday’s Polaris 30 grappling card in London. The event streams exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.
The longtime Bellator star, now UFC welterweight, is ready to add more exciting things to his résumé.
“I’d like to leave a legacy of being a true martial artist, like I can go wherever the fight takes me and be competitive in those areas.” Page told MMA Fighting. “It’s definitely a fun that I seem to blindside a lot of people all the time and just pick out these random things. But yeah, I’m excited for this one.”
Page made his UFC debut at UFC 299 in March, defeating Kevin Holland via unanimous decision. “Venom” went on to face the undefeated Ian Machado Garry at UFC 303 in June and lost a close decision in a fight many believed was Garry’s toughest to date. The 37-year-old had plans to add to his martial arts arsenal prior to competing at International Fight Week, and after sharing that time in the octagon with Garry, it became a no-brainer.
How did Page get matched up with Condit? It wasn’t the original plan.
“So after my last fight — in fact, before my last fight — I was already saying to myself, I wanted to take a little bit of time out just to focus on grappling,” Page explained. “And then after the last fight, I was like, yeah, 100 percent, I really want to just focus on the grappling side of things. And then a friend of mine is good friends with one of the fight organizers and fight matchmakers of Polaris, and he just mentioned it obviously, well he’s from my gym and he just mentioned it to say like, ‘Oh yeah, if you’re going to do that, would you be interested in doing this [in] Polaris?’
“I was like, ‘Actually, yeah, gives me something to work towards as well as just improving my jiu-jitsu. So that’s how they initially started and they actually end up speaking to the matchmaker. Initially, it was supposed to be Donald Cerrone, actually. ... and then he kind of went dark so I’m not sure what happened on his side, but they said, just in case, let’s look for some other people because the responses are not coming anymore, and then obviously Carlos, his name came up and it’s like, yeah, another great match, just a beast in the game, someone that I respect as well, I’ve watched before. and I thought, yeah, still another great fight. A great match up, and now we’re here.”
Condit retired from MMA after dropping a decision to Max Griffin at UFC 264 in July 2021. “Natural Born Killer” competed in 24 UFC/WEC bouts, winning the WEC welterweight title in March 2007, and then defending in three times before moving over to the UFC. Condit captured the interim UFC welterweight belt with a victory over Nick Diaz at at UFC 143 in February 2012 before losing via unanimous decision to Georges St-Pierre nine months later at UFC 154 in the Fight of the Night.
The fan-friendly fighter would get one more crack at UFC gold, losing a controversial split decision to Robbie Lawler at UFC 195 in January 2016 in MMA Fighting’s Fight of the Year.
For Page, sharing the mat with Condit will be an honor, and the result is not as important as what the encounter will mean in his martial arts journey.
“In all honesty, it’s just the experience, full stop,” Page said. “One aspect of my game that I want to improve on is the grappling — but not in the way, maybe, people might think. I feel the space I want to improve on is the grappling under the lights. It’s very different. Now, I grapple regularly in the gym, and I have been for many years and I love grappling. I actually do love jiu-jitsu.
“Obviously, when I’m fighting, I don’t care to take it to a place that I am weaker than in terms of my strengths — [which] is my striking — so it’s not a place I want to take it to. But I really do enjoy jiu-jitsu. I do find here’s been a few matches where I get to a certain spaces of grappling and I end up being in like a conscious state of, ‘Oh yeah, I should do this now, I should do that,’ and you can’t fight in a fight being conscious like that. It has to be drilled, it has to be subconscious, you have to be reactive, otherwise you are 10-20 steps behind. If you’re having to go through a thought process because they’ve moved on, they’ve moved on.
“So it’s that side. That’s why Polaris has really intrigued me because I was like, ‘Actually it allows me to train my BJJ, but then also experience it under the lights with people watching and with that pressure. So I really want to just do that. That’s the only experience I want to take away from it. Other than that, like I said, I just love being a martial artist and just showing my skills in every aspect.”
