LONDON – [autotag]Michael Page[/autotag] left a good first impression in the bareknuckle boxing world.
Despite not getting his hand raised in his debut for BKFC, the Bellator star impressed the promotion’s president, David Feldman, and now has an open invitation for a return.
Page competed in his first bareknuckle boxing bout in the main event of BKFC 27 on Saturday in London. He lost a hard-fought majority-decision to former UFC fighter Mike Perry.
Feldman hopes this isn’t the end of Page in bareknuckle boxing.
“The door is wide open for him,” Feldman said. “He deserves it. He definitely deserves another opportunity here. He made good money with us, and he deserves to make more because he fought his ass off.”
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Feldman said he’s open to a rematch between Page and Perry given the nature of the fight. The two fought to a split draw after five rounds and went into a sixth round for the tiebreaker.
Feldman though it was a close enough fight for Page to have an argument that he was the rightful winner.
“I couldn’t have been more impressed with him, especially finishing that sixth round,” Feldman said regarding Page’s performance. “I mean, he came out banging. I was afraid that he was going to run and dance and hold and not fight, but he engaged the whole time.
“I take my hat off to him. (He’s a) great fighter. The judges – it could’ve gone either way. For a second time in history, we gave the fans a sixth round. We don’t see that anywhere else, and then they laid it all on the line.”
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