Michael Page won’t rule out a grappling game plan vs. Shara Magomedov.
Page (22-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) meets Magomedov (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in a middleweight bout, which co-headlines UFC Fight Night 250 (ESPN+) Saturday at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Page vowed to make Magomedov shoot for a takedown first, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t potentially shoot for a one himself. He highlighted the difference in their approach should the fight hit the ground.
“The thing is, when I said it, I wasn’t talking about who was going to do it first,” Page said during Wednesday’s media day. “I was simply saying he would. I can make him do it. I’m happy to shoot a takedown. This is an MMA game. So, I’m happy to do it. I’ve been working on that area, but I don’t feel like I’ll need to. There’s a difference.
“I may get to a point where I feel like it may be worth draining him out on the floor a little bit, landing some shots, elbows on the floor. So I may do that, but I don’t think I’m going to need to. Whereas, if he shoots a takedown, it’ll be for a completely different reason. If I do it, it’s just part of my game plan. If he does it, he’s in danger. That’s the difference.”
Page is coming off a close decision loss to Ian Machado Garry at UFC 303 where he was taken down two times and controlled for over seven minutes. He has since competed in a grappling match, defeating Carlos Condit at Polaris 30.
“Since my journey, I feel like a lot of things have clicked for me,” Page said. “It happened to me in my kickboxing career, as well, where I was doing OK, then something just landed, and I was going into flow state. It was different, and I feel like a similar thing is happening with the jiu-jitsu for me. Obviously, I focused on jiu-jitsu before coming into this fight.
“So, I feel confident in myself to be able to perform the way I want to perform during our fight. MMA is a very, very small world, and I hear he (Magomedov) doesn’t really like doing jiu-jitsu and wrestling. He maybe neglects some of his jiu-jitsu and wrestling so, I’m definitely confident. If he decides to go there, it’s going to be even more of a problem for him.”
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