SAITAMA, Japan – [autotag]Michael[/autotag] Page is a man known for his celebrations.
When he finished Shinsho Anzai with a punch in Round 2 at Bellator 237, however, Page (17-1 MMA, 13-1 BMMA) elected not to engage in any theatrics – and for good reason.
An observer of his surroundings, Page took into consideration the concept of respect – an idea deeply rooted in the history of Japanese martial arts.
“I’m very aware of my surroundings,” Page told MMA Junkie after the fight. “You’ve got to read the crowd. You’ve got to read the moment. For me, just coming over here brought back some old-school memories of my martial arts youth days and having to bow for everything. … It was nice to switch off.”
If the fight began with neutral momentum, it didn’t take long for things to shift in Page’s favor. As the fight progressed, the apparent gap in speed and striking became apparent.
“He was playing a little bit awkward – really closed,” Page said. “He wasn’t really opening up very much, but still applying pressure, so it took me a little bit longer to find out exactly the range and what I wanted to do. Then, I started to open up more a little bit myself in the second round. That’s when I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s game over.’ I hit him with a shot, and he went down.”
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Thus far in his pro MMA career, 18 opponents have attempted to take Page out. Only one has succeeded. That’s welterweight champion [autotag]Douglas Lima[/autotag]. Brazil’s Lima (32-7 MMA, 14-3 BMMA) is a fight Page knows will be run back in the not-so-distant future.
“He’s kind of now not interested,” Page said. “There’s talks of him going up. It feels like he’s trying distance himself as much as possible. Everybody else is what it is. I’m just going to keep fighting until he can’t get away from me. I will get that back.”
Bellator 237, the promotion’s debut in Japan, took place Saturday (Sunday locally) at Saitama Super Arena. The main card streamed on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
To hear from Page, check out the video above.
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