Michael Page ‘wouldn’t have been happy’ with Ian Garry win at UFC 303: ‘I didn’t perform’

Considering his performance at UFC 303, welterweight challenger Michael “Venom” Page says he wouldn’t have wanted his hand raised.

Page had plans to quickly rise to a full English championship against Leon Edwards, but Ian Garry stopped him at the International Fight Week pay-per-view late last month in Las Vegas.

The duo opened the main card, fighting the full three rounds in a fight that disappointed and left many in the community less than satisfied.

That sentiment is shared by Page himself, a former Bellator veteran who grew frustrated with some of the decisions he made while sharing the Octagon with “The Future” at T-Mobile Arena.

Despite this, “MVP” was competitive throughout the match and even had some support to win the scorecards. For UFC CEO Dana White, the match played out in a way that would have resulted in a draw as a fair result.

However, Page would have been unhappy if anything other than defeat had befallen him on the scorecards…

Page relieved he didn’t win with his UFC 303 performance

During an appearance on The MMA hour Together with Ariel Helwani, Page looked back last week on his second appearance in the UFC, four months after his successful debut at the expense of Kevin Holland in Miami.

The Londoner acknowledged that some felt he did enough (42.5 percent of the 372 fan scorecards submitted on MMA Decisions). But Page says he wouldn’t have been in a celebratory mood if the three cageside judges had seen things the same way.

“It’s nice to hear people cheering for me a little bit,” Page said of those who decided the match in his favor. “But either way, I didn’t perform well. So if I had somehow gotten the win, I wouldn’t have been happy with it anyway. If it had somehow been a draw, I still wouldn’t have been happy with it.

“I’m focused on myself and I didn’t perform the way I should have performed. I made so many mistakes; just stupid things,” Page continued. “Yeah, so I wouldn’t have been happy about that. For me, the thing is, I lost the fight. That’s the reality, no matter what anyone says. I should have done X, Y, Z and I just want to get back in there.”

With that, Page will be looking to come out on top with a convincing performance next time around. And given the extra motivation he’s touting after UFC 303, he seems eager to get back to winning ways and get his title aspirations back on track before the end of 2024.