Michael Page ahead of Bellator 120 fight with Ricky Rainey "I want to be the face of MMA"

Kingdom MMA talk to Michael Page before he opens up Bellator's first PPV

by Ben Heather @benheather

Credit: Keith Mills

Last week Kingdom MMA caught up with Michael Page before he started his travels to Southaven, Mississippi to open the show for Bellator's inaugural PPV. The PPV was supposed to be headlined by the third fight in the Alvarez vs Chandler saga however just after speaking to Michael this fight has now been cancelled due to an injury to Alvarez. Page talks to us about his fight on Saturday, what he has been doing on his year long lay off and his plans for the future.

Ben: Hi Michael thank you for your time, when did you find out about this fight and how long have you been training for it now?
Page: Well i have been out for over a year but i haven't stopped training. I was supposed to have a couple of fights but due to injury I wasn't able to step in for them but I was always training.

I have had a long preparation, not specifically for this fight though. For this fight my opponent got changed from Marcus Aurelio to Ricky Rainey and for Ricky I've had just over a month to prepare. In general though I've always been training.

Ben: So who have you been training with in the past year?
Page: I have trained with everyone, I've trained with so many different people because we have a lot of cross sparring and we get guys from the outside come in all the time. Obviously we've got the normal guys in the gym like John Hathaway, Claudio da Silva, Karlos Vemola and all the normal London Shoot guys but obviously i train with them all the time. Regarding extra sparring sessions we have had so many other people come in that i have had the privilege to spar with so its been good.

Ben: You mentioned you're fighting Ricky Rainey can you tell the UK fans what you know about him?
Page: From what I have seen he has got a very experienced stand up game, he has nice responses and is known as the sniper which to be honest is a very accurate name for him. He has a mean right hand but he likes to line it up so he has his front hand out a lot almost trying to line you up for that one shot.

He is very strong, I have seen a lot of guys try to take him down to no avail and he has been able to stay on his feet for the majority of his fights, even against strong wrestlers. So he is going to be a strong guy but i think it will be a good stand up fight.

Ben: Have you been able to identify any weaknesses that you will be looking to target?
Page: As snipers do, they would probably prefer a target that doesn't move as much as me so that's one thing I am definitely going to expose. the fact that he is a slow paced fighter which for me works better with my movement and how I move in and out. I think that's how I am really going to catch him out.

Ben: Like you just mentioned, your style is very unique. I've not seen too many other guys do the things you do in the cage. Do you think he will struggle to actually prepare for this fight?
Page: Yeah, I believe I have got an advantage only because I am the first person from my specific sport which is freestyle kickboxing that has crossed over to the cage successfully. That means there is not many training partners out there that can do what I am doing. So he will have to learn first hand from that first second we are in the cage.

He can analyse as much as he wants but its going to be different when he actually has to fight against my style. I think all good coaches will try and pull out things that he can try and attack but its my job to understand my own weaknesses and my own strengths so I can work on them to make sure they don't get exposed.

Ben: On May 17th you will be making history by being a part of the first ever fight on Bellator PPV event. How does it feel to be part of history and to potentially be a name for MMA quizzes for years to come?
Page: To be honest, I feel so privileged, I feel so excited, I feel like its an added weight but in a good way. I am happy that Bellator respect me and my style enough to put me along side big names like Rampage, King Mo, Tito Ortiz, Eddie Alvarez and all those guys who are big hitters in the MMA world full stop.

Now I am alongside those people, I feel massively overwhelmed and excited. I want to go out there and give it my best shot.

Ben: What are your main ambitions for the future in MMA?
Page: For me to be honest with you, I say it to everyone. A lot of people only aim for specific titles but for me I want to be the face of MMA. I want to be what Michael Jordan is to basketball, what David Beckham is to football, what Michael Jackson is to music. I want to be that face, that would mean winning multiple titles being on top for a long period, being creative, being exciting, being entertaining and winning and that's what I want to achieve.

Ben: Do you feel the next step for you to achieve that would to be involved in the next Bellator Welterweight Tournament?
Page: Yes Definitely, for me that's just progress. Its a big thing in Bellator and its something that I am definitely going to progress to do but I am in no rush to do anything. I want to enjoy my time as an MMA fighter, although I seem to take quite big steps in a short period of time. I think that they are still not too big. I want to make sure that I have a good MMA career and I gain the experience necessary to stay at the top.

A lot of people do want to rush things and make it to shows like UFC but i think its important to establish yourself outside and also pick up as much experience as you can so when you go on to big shows like Bellator and UFC you are able to really make a name for yourself.

Ben: Another example of what you said would be someone like Luke Barnatt in the UFC, he is still happy to take on lesser known guys and fight them to earn his way up and justify his place in the top end of the rankings.
Page: Exactly, its exactly that. Some people don't like the fact that fighters do that but in my opinion you have to remember that this is our life, this is our career and its not something you can take lightly. We put our bodies through a lot and nobody wants a short career after having to do so much to make it. So you have to be a bit smart about how you progress, it has to be a partnership between you and your coaches that you understand how you want to establish yourself. I think it should just be slow and steady, but if you do feel that you can jump in to the cage straight away and handle yourself then and I know people have, then that's fine. It's just a decision that you need to make with your team.

Ben: After this fight do you want to be back fighting regularly after the long lay off? Obviously if you was put in a tournament you would have two or three fights in the space of a couple of months?
Page: 100% even this year I want to try and squeeze 4 fights in if i can. So yeah I want to get active, to be honest it was a shame last year as i really wanted to do a lot more. Its just one of those things that is part and parcel with what we do. Injuries will always be around it just depends on which ones you get and how fast you can recover. If I am fit and ready, similar to my last Bellator appearance I was fine after so i went out to India to fight there a week later because I was fresh still and ready to go. After all that fight was a 10 second fight, for all of that training I definitely needed to go out and do another one.

Ben: Do you try and take the positives from having a year lay off? Using it to look at ways to improve your career rather than thinking it was time wasted not being in the cage.
Page: I think with the team I have met I feel so privileged with London Shootfighters as I seem to just click with them in regard to everything, they look after everything for me, they manage me really well. They understand my style and know how to doctor it in the correct way and not just try and turn me in to another typical MMA fighter. I really work well with them and I think that has helped right from the start.

So the silver lining for me during this year out was the fact that all of the areas i needed to improve like my grappling and wrestling I had to do a lot slower which meant I was becoming a lot more technical in what I was doing. I feel like i have got 10x sharper in my grappling, my Jui Jitsu and have improved quicker than I would have if i wasn't injured. So that's my silver lining from being out.

Ben: Like you said, you come from a freestyle kickboxing background. Have you thought about going back in to it with the recent revival of the sport thanks to promotions such as Glory in the past couple of years?
Page: No to be honest, I started at 3 and first competed at 5 and I used to travel up and down the country and across the world doing kickboxing competitions so it has kinda played out for me. Obviously if a opportunity came around and I felt I could take it then I may do it but at the moment MMA is what I am focused on.

Ben: What was it like growing up in a family which went on to produce multiple world champions
Page: When you have been surrounded by martial arts with your brothers and sisters from an early age there was always a lot of fighting, even when it wasn't in a competition.

To be honest though martial arts calmed us down, although brothers and sisters bicker all the time anyway but it kept us very grounded and made us very respectful everywhere we went. Even outside of martial arts we were naturally respectful to everybody as that's what we had been taught.

I think martial arts should be an important aspect in every day life for kids, a lot of people just see it as violence but its not its controlled aggression. I teach as well and every child that we teach needs martial arts for different reasons, some kids come in and are not very confident in themselves but after a certain amount of time in martial arts they become confident in class and confident with peers. There is so much more to it than teaching them how to punch and kick. The kids social skills improve, they learn to work better with people and everyone takes something different from it but its all positive.

Ben: Finally, how do you think the fight will go on Saturday?
Page: I think initially as he is a kick boxer hes going to want to find out who's kickboxing style is better so he is going to want to stand. I believe I am going to out do him on my feet, just from looking at his style I know where I am going to be able to pick him off so after that I imagine he is going to try and either take me down or pin me up against the cage but then he and everyone else will find out how much i have improved in that area as well.

Thank you for your time, safe travels and we wish you the best of luck in your fight on Friday.