Joe Rogan did not sugarcoat his reaction to Michael “Venom” Page’s latest win. After Michael Page beat Sam Patterson by unanimous decision at UFC London, Rogan called the matchup “crazy bad” and blamed the booking as much as the action inside the cage.
Page got his hand raised in London, but the featured welterweight fight drew heavy criticism for low output. The two combined for just 39 significant strikes over 15 minutes, and fans at The O2 were not exactly in a standing ovation mood. MiddleEasy also covered the immediate fan blowback and reaction around the fight night card right after the result came in.
Rogan broke down the fight on his Fight Companion stream and argued the stylistic problem was obvious before the first horn.
“It’s interesting that they didn’t think of this when they booked this fight,” Rogan said. “They didn’t think, ‘These guys are training partners, this might be a stinker.’ Maybe it’s like, you can’t get anybody to fight ‘Venom’ Page in London? That might be a problem, too. It might have been a bunch of dudes said no, and Patterson was like, ‘Let’s go.’”
He also floated the possibility that London matchmaking options may have been limited, saying there may not have been a line of contenders eager to sign up for Page in his home market.
“This might be the least action of any fight, ever, next to Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou,” Rogan said. “This is crazy bad. That’s a crazy bad fight. … That’s a crazy matchup. It’s literally the last guy you want to fight a style like that, someone who understands it. It’s the last thing you want! Don’t you want excitement? Don’t you want as real as it gets? Don’t you want, ‘Just Bleed?’”
“I bet it was one of the things where there’s not a lot of guys lining up to take that fight, because he makes you look so stupid. But this dude is like, ‘I’ve been in there with him 100 rounds, I know how to fight it.’ It’s a big advantage, man. Giant advantage. Knowing what that distance and speed is like.”
If you watched live, you already know why that quote is making rounds. It was one of those tactical fights where both guys knew too much about each other’s timing, distance, and triggers, so both men played it safe and nobody really forced chaos. That can win rounds, but it does not win over the just-bleed crowd.
Michel “Venom” Page disappointed with his performance tonight 😔
“This is very disappointing from my own performance. I expect more from myself. It’s not good enough.”
(Via @ufcontnt ) pic.twitter.com/GjznrrmGoh
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) March 21, 2026
Rogan thinks MVP now has a public game-plan problem
Rogan’s bigger concern was not only this one fight. He said the performance may have handed future opponents a clearer blueprint for how to slow Page down by refusing to over-commit and making him lead exchanges.
“I think it’s bad for him. It’s not good. But also, here’s the problem: now people know how to fight him. People are going to watch that and go, ‘Oh, just don’t engage. Make him engage.’”
That is the hard part for elite counter-strikers in MMA. When opponents stop chasing highlights and start chasing risk management, even brilliant strikers can get dragged into weird, low-volume fights that look bad on tape. It is effective but ugly, and ugly usually kills momentum in a division that is already crowded with personalities and storylines.
The UFC’s matchmaking pressure is only getting hotter in 2026, especially with cards that need must-watch main card fights every week. We have seen similar “business vs violence” debates around other recent UFC conversations too, including how stars and names are being moved around high-profile slots in Dana White’s latest Nate Diaz comments.
For broader divisional context, this is the same matchmaking ecosystem where the UFC keeps trying to balance merit, style matchups, and market value at once, whether it is welterweight or title-picture lanes in other divisions as we recently broke down in featherweight.
Watch Rogan’s full reaction below:
Where does MVP go from here? He is still dangerous, still hard to prepare for, and still a name. But after London, the next booking probably needs to be built around urgency and collision, not familiarity. If the UFC wants a banger, it has to pair Page with someone willing to sprint into the fire, not someone who already spent “100 rounds” reading his rhythm in the gym.
One way or another, this result keeps Michael Page relevant, but it also adds pressure. In modern UFC matchmaking, “he won” is not always enough. “He delivered” matters too.
Source: MMA Fighting
