Michael Page expects to be right back in title contention with a win at Bellator 292.
Page (20-2 MMA, 16-2 BMMA) faces Goiti Yamauchi (28-5 MMA, 14-4 BMMA) on Friday’s main card opener at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
“MVP” is coming off a split decision loss to Logan Storley for the interim welterweight title at Bellator 281 last May, and sees a win over submission specialist Yamauchi as enough for another crack at the title. However, Page knows there’s one fighter ahead of him in the pecking order.
“100 percent, for me it’s a case of title fight,” Page told MMA Junkie Radio. “The next in line and I kind of know that is Jason Jackson, simply because there were talks of me and him fighting, and the reason why it didn’t land is because he genuinely believes he’s next in line.
“So, there obviously was a conversation that happened that made him feel that, and he’s like, ‘If I’m next in line, I prefer to wait’ instead of risk having to fight and potentially not succeed in that fight and getting pushed further back away from the title fight, which is why this fight ended up landing. I think he’s next and I’m definitely the one after. So, that’s 100 percent what it does.”
If a title shot doesn’t materialize for Page next, he’s willing to compete once more either in MMA, or bare-knuckle boxing – like he did in his most recent outing when he was edged out by UFC alum Mike Perry at BKFC 27 this past August.
“It potentially could be a long time so it just depends on when things are gonna happen,” Page said. “So, potentially I’ll just do another one. I don’t care that much. I’ll just do another one to stay active, stay fresh, but I still just want to be ready to jump in and go.”
