Michael Page Asks Why UFC Cut Him While Dagestani Wrestlers Stay
Michael Page says he still cannot square the UFC decision to let him walk after a winning record when other styles that fans have called boring were allowed to stay. Speaking with Ariel Helwani after his contract expired, the 39-year-old argued that results should have mattered more than whether every crowd enjoyed the way he fought.
Page closed a six-fight UFC deal on Sept. 5 at UFC Fight Night in Paris with a unanimous decision over Nursulton Ruziboev. He improved to 5-1 inside the Octagon and 26-3 overall, but the Accor Arena booed a 15-minute fight in which he landed only 12 significant strikes.
The promotion then pulled him from rankings eligibility, and Dana White later said matchmakers did not want to re-sign him. White told reporters the Paris bout was the last fight on the contract and that Page was no longer on the roster.
Page told Helwani he found the handling disrespectful, in part because he learned the same news at the same time as everyone else. He said he expected a conversation about a shorter deal and clearer expectations rather than a quiet exit after a win.
The Londoner built his name in Bellator with highlight knockouts before signing with the UFC in late 2023. Once he reached the Octagon, every fight went the distance, including a debut win over Kevin Holland, a loss to Ian Machado Garry, and later decisions against Shara Magomedov, Jared Cannonier, and Sam Patterson.
That pattern is why the cut landed as a style call. Page did not pretend Paris was the version of himself he wanted fans to remember, and he has said his output has to change if people are going to stay engaged.
What he rejected is the idea that a winning fighter should be discarded for the same reason other successful athletes were once criticized. He pointed to Dagestani wrestlers who arrived, took over divisions, and kept their places even when viewers called the approach dull.
“I just find it interesting, ’cause if it’s just a stylistic thing, then you could argue some of the, well, you know, the Dagestani wrestlers that have come in and kind of taken over for a long time, that was somewhat of a boring aspect of what people were seeing,” Page said.
He added that those fighters “get to stay, and they’ve stayed and, you know, done really well, and correctly so, and they’ve shown to be some of the best athletes in the world.” Then he asked the question that framed the interview. “So then why was I not given that same grace regardless of whether everybody’s enjoying it or not?”
Page drew a hard line between losing and winning. “If I’m winning, like fair enough, if I’m losing, but if I’m winning, then a hundred percent I should stay,” he said. He also noted that other UFC fighters lose on a regular basis without any public talk of being released.
That is the tension the roster decision leaves behind. The company has long sold finishes and pace as part of the product, and Page’s six UFC fights produced no stoppages after a Bellator run built on knockouts. White put the call on the matchmakers rather than on a personal dispute.
Page still sees himself as a top-10 talent in more than one division and said winning without off-cage problems should have been enough to keep him employed. He also said his brand was built outside the UFC and does not depend on staying there.
The cut does not close the market for him. Jake Paul publicly floated bringing “MVP to MVP,” and other promotions have already been mentioned as possible landing spots for a free agent on a four-fight win streak.
What happens next will test whether another organization values the same point-fighting style the UFC declined to keep. Page is now free to choose the next chapter, and the first booking outside the Octagon will show whether he changes the output that ended his UFC run or doubles down on winning the way he always has.