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Michael Page called for his Bellator welterweight title shot and a meeting with undefeated champion Yaroslav Amosov within minutes of winning the Bellator 267.
But after stepping away from the moment and seeing the controversy surrounding his split decision over Douglas Lima in the pair’s main event rematch on Friday, Page changes tack. He’s not happy with his victory at the Bellator 267. He prefers to go back to the former Bellator welterweight king before turning to gold.
“In all honesty, I’m probably going to push to get this one back,” Page told reporters in London during his media availability after the fight. “Let’s do five rounds. Why not? Let’s go longer. Because if at the end of the third it happened again, I still have two laps to find you and finish it correctly. If I balance [my in-fight aggression] – I went from cover to cover, so I hope to find this in the middle – then I finish it.
Page claimed a controversial victory over Lima at the Bellator 267 in a result that divided both fans and judges. Two judges – Eric Colon and Doug Crosby – scored the fight 29-28 for Page, with both men awarding the “MVP” in the first two rounds. The lone dissenter, Judge Ben Cartlidge, scored the game 29-28 the other way around, giving Lima the first and third rounds.
It was a competitive competition nonetheless, and one that could give Page his first Bellator title after eight years with the promotion. “MVP” has won six straight fights since losing his career alone when he first met Lima in May 2019.
But for Page, the welterweight belt isn’t the end of his MMA journey.
“I’ve been telling people this from the start. I feel like no one is really listening. I don’t care about the title, ”he said. “It’s a belt – who cares, man?” How many people [are there] who are holders of titles that are nowhere near as popular as me? The belt doesn’t mean anything. It’s obvious, but for me it’s not. I swear to you.
” That time [in regards to the feeling in London’s SSE Arena], there are so many belt racks in Bellator that couldn’t make it. I could say it with confidence. There are a lot of people who can’t achieve what I did today, and I feel like people are drawn to me because of my fun in sports, not because I’m chasing what whether it be. And like I said, it’s more about me and my journey. I want to prove things to myself. I couldn’t prove it today. I won, but I couldn’t prove what I wanted to prove, which is make him roll his eyes behind his head and not get up, so I prefer to push him away.
Despite all the controversy, Page certainly had his moments. He touched Lima on the feet several times in the first two laps, including a second-round knockdown that saw Page drop the Brazilian with a right hand behind his ear.
And after avenging his knockout loss to Lima, Page couldn’t help but rejoice at how a formidable forward like the former welterweight champion approached Friday’s rematch.
“A lot of people still like to guess my style and how good I am. But even someone like him, I kind of canceled it, ”Page said. “And again, again, I made somebody who’s known to knock people out of their minds decide to be like, ‘No, forget that, man. Let’s just go to the floor. And he still couldn’t do much, but he was always happier there than seeing me bounce in front of him.
“So I feel like I have proven my talent in terms of punching ability. “
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