Michael Page feels he’ll be the undisputed welterweight champion should he defeat Logan Storley on Friday.
Page and Storley will meet for the interim championship in the main event of Bellator 281 at the SSE Arena in London, England. Page was originally scheduled to challenge Yaroslov Amosov for the undisputed title on this card, but Amosov withdrew from his first title defense to fight for his country of Ukraine against Russia.
On Thursday, Page was asked if he feels the interim title name would be warranted, or if he believes there would be two non-interim champions. “MVP” says there will only be one in his eyes.
“I look at it as I am the champ, I’m about to take the belt home, I’m the champion of this division,” Page told reporters at the Bellator 281 media day. “The only difference is, when this whole situation with Amosov is settled and he’s able to come back, he gets to jump to the front of the line to fight the champ. That’s it.”
Page, of course, says this with full respect to what the undefeated Amosov is currently doing — which is bigger than sports.
“It’s a crazy situation,” Page said. “The fact that I can sit here and tell people the reason why I’m not fighting this guy is because he went off to war is crazy in itself. I’m not lying by saying that, so it goes to show you where we are in the world right now.
“For me, my feeling in this matter don’t matter at all because of what’s going on. I wish Amosov well, I wish his family well, and I hope everything comes to some kind of final conclusion so nobody is suffering out there.”
With Amosov out of action for the foreseeable future, Page faces Storley — who suffered a lone loss to Amosov via split decision at Bellator 252 in November 2020. Although both Amosov and Storley come from wrestling backgrounds, Page believes he matches up better with Storley’s grappling attacks because it’s a more “familiar” style, as opposed to Amosov’s.
When it comes to the striking, Page doesn’t even understand why that would even be a question that comes up.
“He’s nowhere near me,” Page explained. “[His striking] is not even something I’m considering heading into this fight.
Get the latest gear
Loading comments...