UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping has the perfect opponent in mind for Michael ‘Venom’ Page’s second appearance inside the Octagon.
Making his promotional debut at UFC 299 on Saturday (March 9), MVP used his unique style of striking from a distance to stifle the offense of Kevin Holland en route to his first victory with the organization. The win immediately thrust Page into the welterweight division’s top 15, securing him a spot at No. 13.
Sharing his take on what could be next for the former Bellator MMA star, Michael Bisping suggested that a fight with one of the weight class’ most polarizing figures could help spice things up in a division that has been accused of becoming somewhat stagnant in recent years.
“The welterweight division is spicing up in a big way,” Bisping said via his YouTube channel. “Ian Machado Garry is at number six. I think you leapfrog Michael Page right up to a number six fight with Ian Machado Garry.”
He added, “As a fan, I would love to see that fight. They’re both very tall Ian Garry’s 6ft 3, Michael Page’s 6ft 3. They’re both strikers they’re not going to wrestle, we’d see two tremendously talented strikers throwing down and it would be a lot of fun.”
Michael Bisping Believes the Winner of ‘Venom’ vs. Garry Should Move on to Challenge Leon Edwards
Going one step further, ‘The Count’ believes that the winner of a potential fight between ‘Venom’ and ‘The Future’ could present reigning welterweight world champion Leon Edwards with a viable challenger.
“The winner of that fight between Michael Page and Ian Garry potentially then would get to fight Leon Edwards in a stadium in the UK, could you imagine that? For all of those reasons Ian Garry vs Michael Page, sign me up,” Bisping added.
As intriguing as the pairing sounds, MVP and Garry would likely take a backseat to some of the other division’s more deserving contenders — chief among them being Belal Muhammad who has all, but guaranteed himself a shot at Leon Edwards’ gold after winning nine straight, including victories over Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Sean Brady, and Gilbert Burns.
Even after Muhammad books his inevitable title tilt with ‘Rocky,’ there are still far more deserving contenders than ‘Venom’ and Garry i.e. Shavkat Rakhmonov and Jack Della Maddalena, both of whom are riding impressive win streaks and already reside in the welterweight top five.
