UFC welterweight contender Micheal ‘Venom’ Page is looking ahead of his next fight with Ian Machado for a possible clash with number one ranked Kamaru Usman.
Page spoke with Chamatkar Sandhu in an interview about the path he sees to UFC gold which started at UFC 299 with a win over Kevin Holland.
MVP sees the Ian Garry fight on June 29th at UFC 303 as the perfect springboard to the top of the division.
“He’s an Irish guy that’s doing he’s doing really well … he’s [ranked] 7th, which is my lucky number,” Page said. “So that’s that’s another reason why I was like, ‘Yep. I want that.’ And it propels me into the top 5. So it’s exactly where I wanna be. I don’t wanna waste any time.”
From there Page believes he’s one more fight away from earning a title shot on home turf in England.
“If I wanna bring it back to the UK, there will most likely be one more fight,” he said.
“And then they usually do a show in March or something. So if I can get one more fight by the end of the year, that’d be perfect. Perfect way to sign off the year.”
“Finish Ian. Maybe ask for Usman. You know? Get a big fight next. He’s No. 1 ranked. Like I said, there’s no point wasting time. Let’s jump up. Let’s go. Usman, if he’s happy to go, we go. Get that win, and then there’s no debate after that. It’s like no, I deserve the belt.”
The former Welterweight champion Usman ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ last stepped into the cage in 2023 when he replaced an injured Paulo Costa, to face Khamzat Chimaev in a middleweight bout at UFC 294.
Usman lost the fight via majority decision in what was his middleweight MMA debut.
Usman’s possible fight with Page could still take some time to come to fruition, but the Briton is so sure of his plans on beating his next opponent, Garry?
“I’ve got about ten different ways to hurt this guy, and they’re all horrible,” he said with a smile. “So he can pick.”
For insight into his lethal capabilities inside the octagon, Page referenced how he took care of business in his first UFC fight against the top rated Holland.
“You know, Kevin Holland as a first fight, for anybody, it’s a crazy first fight,” Page said. “People saw what I did there. I know my ability. I’m comfortable with anybody up there. So I’m just looking to just get up there as quickly as possible.”
“You can see [my] popularity has gone up. You see the respect level. Especially after that first fight and how I handled Kevin, who is an amazing athlete, high level. He’s come straight back, broke someone’s arm. He’s a tough competitor.”
‘Get Ready For 25 Minutes Of Pain’
“The way I handled him, they saw the frustration in his eyes and how he struggled to handle me,” he continued. “I think there’s loads of respect. But it’s interesting, I’ve been telling you guys this for a long time, you guys just don’t listen. Before, I was ‘crushing cans,’ and now everyone’s like, ‘Oh, you can actually fight.’”
Tag: #usman
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Zimbabwe’s MMA star Themba Gorimbo’s days of living in the gym are over — the UFC fighter now has his own place to call home, thanks to an incredible gesture from his idol, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The movie superstar and WWE legend surprised Themba at his gym in an emotional meetup last week, holding up on a promise he made after hearing the mixed-martial artist’s story about fighting with just 7 dollars to his name.
But, as it turns out, their interaction at the gym was just the beginning of their special time together because Themba’s hero had something else up his sleeve (even though he wasn’t wearing any).
The Rock initially said they were going to meet up with his friend, Jay, at his apartment in Miami, but once they got to the pad, Themba would soon find out there was no “Jay.”
After walking around and seeing framed family photos all over the place, Themba quickly realized he was standing inside his new apartment!!
“I was so moved by your story,” The Rock told Gorimbo. “When I found out you were sleeping on the couch in the gym, now there’s no more couch sleeping. This is your house. Welcome home!”
“Now you can bring your kids here, man, your family. This place is yours. You don’t have to think about anything. The only thing you think about is your family, getting them over here, getting them with you, training, and becoming a champion.”
Themba was overcome with emotion, thanking Johnson for the act of kindness.
“Thank you so much, man,” Themba said. “I will become a champion, trust me. Trust me, you can shake my hand, I will become your champion. Thank you. Thank you so much.” -
Nigeria MMA legend Israel Adesanya admits his emotions ran so high in the moment when he faced off against South African Dricus Du Plassis in the octagon post UFC 290.
Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) upset former champion Robert Whittaker with a second-round TKO at UFC 290, setting him up for a title fight against middleweight champion Adesanya.
Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC), who was in attendance, stepped into the octagon to face off with Du Plessis.
He threw racial slurs at the South African fighter, which led to plenty of criticism.
“He worked hard,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “I manifest for myself and I make sure I do the work to get that manifestation right. It’s not just sit there and ‘Kumbaya.’
“What’s going to happen? I do the work. Trust me: There’s levels … Even at the prep point, I was giving him energy. Like f*ck yeah – positive affirmations, like ‘Let’s go.’
“But yeah, when (the faceoff) happened, I just lost my sh*t.”
Adesanya’s intensity stems from Du Plessis’ comments on how winning a UFC title would make him a true African champion since he still trains and resides in Africa.
It’s not the first time Adesanya has taken matters personally in a fight.
After he regained the title from Alex Pereira by knockout at UFC 287, Adesanya taunted Pereira’s son, who mocked him years ago when he was knocked out by Pereira in kickboxing.
But the finish, overcoming adversity and his post-fight speech had plenty of people admiring him.
He may not be receiving love with how he’s handling the Du Plessis situation, but Adesanya says at least he’s capturing everyone’s attention.
“After my last fight (against Pereira), I grabbed the mic. People say it’s the best post-fight speech in history of the company, ever,” Adesanya said. “I grabbed the mic after his (Du Plessis) fight and people feel like, ‘Ah, it’s cringe.’ Bad look. This and that. Either way, I make you feel something.
“When I grab the mic and I really speak from the heart, or speak from my gut, I really make you feel something. Whether you love me or hate me, you will feel something. I’m not trying. I wasn’t. I just make sh*t happen because that’s how I feel, and I want to make it happen. I want to make him feel me. He doesn’t understand. … People say I turned heel. It’s not heel. I can just feel myself switch and the beast comes out.”
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Nigeria MMA stars Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya(middleweight champion) are respectively ranked 7th and 5th in the latest UFC Pound For Pound Rankings while retired fighter Amanda Nunez remains number one in the women’s version.
Speculations were rife that a bout between Usman and the Chechen Wild Wolf Khamzat Chimaev could be targeted for UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi this October.
But UFC president Dana White shot down the premature reports, telling TSN: “Completely not true. It’s bullsh**t.”
Usman could be worried about his P4P ranking spot as Charles Oliveira shares the number 7 position with him after the Brazilian Lightweight contender dismissed Top 5 contender Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 last Saturday night (June 10, 2023) at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Amanda Nunes remains the women’s pound-for-pound champion in the UFC’s updated official fighter rankings after last weekend’s UFC 289 event where she defeated Irene Aldana via unanimous decision and used the post-fight octagon interview to announce her retirement.
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Alexander Volkanovski
3. Islam Makhachev
4. Leon Edwards
5. Israel Adesanya
6. Aljamain Sterling
7. (T) Kamaru Usman
7. (T) Charles Oliveira +1
9. Brandon Moreno
10. Alex Pereira
11. Jiri Prochazka
12. Max Holloway
13. Dustin Poirier
14. Jamahal Hill
15. Robert WhittakerWOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Alexa Grasso
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Weili Zhang
5. Rose Namajunas
6. Julianna Pena
7. Carla Esparza
8. Erin Blanchfield
9. Jessica Andrade
10. Yan Xiaonan
11. Manon Fiorot
12. Amanda Lemos
13. Taila Santos
14. Holly Holm
15. Raquel Pennington -
The trilogy fight between Nigeria MMA middleweight champion Israel ‘The Last Stylelbender’ Adesanya and Brazilian Alex ‘Poatan’ Pareira could after all be bubbling in the pipeline.
Adesanya was able to defeat Pereira in a thrilling fashion at UFC 287 to avenge his previous losses and reclaimed the UFC title.
While some fans were hoping for a trilogy bout between the long-time rivals, Pereira has since moved on to light heavyweight.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, The Last Stylebender’ revealed the only condition that will make him share the cage with ‘Poatan’ once again:
“If he wins the 205 belt, maybe… If I’m going to bet money on it, no, because 205, I’ve been there, it’s hard. It’s not an easy task, but if he wins the 205 belt though, and they might give him a fast track like they did with me, then they’re going to have a magic, crazy f**king epic fight at 205 with me and him, and that will be us for the fifth time. Isn’t that wild?”
The middleweight champion also discussed his iconic celebration after knocking out Alex Pereira at UFC 287.
‘The Last Stylebender’ used his long-time rival’s bow and arrow celebration against him before returning the favor to taunt Poatan’s son who was cage side with his mom.
“I took his whole s**t. Now, bow and arrow is synonymous with me… It’s no beef. I wasn’t, for the last six years, like ‘F**k, I’m going to get this kid,’ but I just knew I’m going to get him because when it happened I said, ‘If my son did that to someone I just knocked out, I’d be like what the f**k are you doing? Apologize to that man because I didn’t raise you that way.’
Adesanya explained further:
“Then when he’s in the car making light of it with his son, and they’re talking s**t, it’s like whatever, okay, cool, bet. I just noted that. It’s not too personal, but at the same time it’s just business.”
Adesanya and Pereira faced off two times in kickboxing.
‘Poatan’ won the first meeting in a closely-contested decision victory before picking up a late knockout in the second bout.
He would then claim the middleweight title with a fifth-round TKO in their first mixed martial arts meeting at UFC 281.
Despite seemingly being ahead in all three fights, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was unable to figure out his long-time rival until UFC 287 when he landed a second-round knockout.
Pereira is scheduled to face No.3-ranked light heavyweight Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291.
If he is able to emerge victorious, he will quickly be in the title picture, opening the door for a trilogy bout with Adesanya. -
Making his mixed martial arts debut at the One Fight Ultimate OFU Fight Night 2, Philemon Jeb Junior claimed a technical knockout victory over Opara Goodluck at Redbar Lagos in Lekki.
Ecstatic Jeb Junior after beating Opara Goodluck at OFU Fight Night 2 in Lagos.
The 19-year-old was the underdog against Goodluck who won a gold medal at the last edition of the National Sports Festival in Delta State, but all that did not matter in the cage as Jeb claimed a first round TKO, silencing critics and leaving the audience shocked as he accomplished the unexpected in the lightweight bout.
Prior to that, Chukwuemerie Okoli earned a split decision win against Geoffrey John in the flyweight matchup of the competition’s opener, which proved cagey with both fighters very cautious as the crowd yearned for more action.
In the women’s kickboxing bout, Nwankwo Faith showed her superiority in the aggressive contest, winning by unanimous decision against Bello Omolola in their flyweight clash after three rounds.
Faith Nwankwo aka Faith 1 throws a kick at Bello Omolola in the women’s kickboxing bout 
And the winner, Faith 1.
Another knockout was witnessed by the MMA fans in the welterweight clash between Sammy Black Samuel Ogedengbe and Ozioma ‘Muay Thai’ Orji as Ogedengbe broke Orji’s nose, sending his opponent tumbling to the floor to set the tone for the main event.
De Dragon Ebenezer Imbu (l) with a straight left jab at Nani Chima Young Nightmare in the main event.
Welterweight fighters Ebenezer Imbu and Nani Chima clashed in the main bout in the last fight of the night and both served up a heated contest.
Imbu however would be the eventual winner through a submission in the second round despite Chima being the aggressor in the first round of the bout.
It was an electrifying atmostphere as OFU continues its commitment to host a fight night once a month and the fans would be anticipating next month’s event.
The founder/CEO of OFU, Ife Obiudo revealed that he was happy with the success of the event saying, “I feel so overjoyed. The event was exactly what we expected with fight fans having a good time watching some of Nigeria’s finest MMA talents.”
Chief Obiudo said that the goal now was to position the promotion as Africa’s biggest MMA brand while also working on advancing the grassroots:
“We recently launched a new OFU logo which is a true reflection of our resolve to reposition the promotion in order to attain the number status as Africa’s biggest MMA brand.
Also part of our goals is to make Nigeria the hottest bed for MMA talents by providing opportunities for the country’s budding talents at the grassroots,” he said.
“The grassroots has been our biggest concern as a body, reasons why from inception we decided to create a project fully dedicated to spreading the combat sports gospel to the grassroots.
The project, OFU Street Fight, takes place outdoors at venues located in areas with high population density or have a history of massive sports following.
OFU Street Fight 1 held at the national stadium in Lagos while OFU Street Fight 2 took place in the sprawling city of Ajegunle.” -
The Nigerian Nightmare Kamaru Usman’s back to back losses in the UFC have cost him places in the promotion’s latest Pound For Pound rankings.
Usman, who once held the No.1 pound-for-pound position, slid further down the list to 8th position from 5th, after his second defeat at the hands of Edwards at UFC 286 at London’s O2 Arena last weekend.
Kamaru’s drop proved to be a boon for another Nigerian UFC fighter Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira, and Aljamain Sterling, who gained a spot each.
New heavyweight champion Jon Jones remains number one in the rankings after submitting France’s Ciryl Gane at UFC 285.
Alongside its weekly-updated rankings for each weight class, the UFC has its own pound-for-pound rankings, containing 15 names – as with each list for every division.
Rankings are generated by a voting panel made up of media members who are asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound.
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Alexander Volkanovski
3. Islam Makhachev
4. Leon Edwards
5. Israel Adesanya +1
6. Alex Pereira +1
7. Aljamain Sterling +1
8. Kamaru Usman -3
9. Charles Oliveira
10. Brandon Moreno
11. Jiri Prochazka
12. Dustin Poirier
13. Jamahal Hill
14. Robert Whittaker
15. Max Holloway -
Dana White, president of the UFC, is under fire after being caught, during an argument at a year-end party, assaulting his wife with several slaps.
In the images, released by ‘TMZ’, a brief exchange of words between the two is visible, until Anne White strikes her husband in the face.
Dana responds aggressively, ending up slapping the woman numerous times.
To the American website, Dana White has already apologized for what happened, even assuming that he was “embarrassed” by the “horrible” moment he starred in.
“I’ve been told for years that there is no excuse for a man to hit a woman. And now here I am, talking about exactly that”, Dana began by saying.
“People are going to have their opinions about this and those opinions are correct, especially with regard to what I did. There’s never a reason to hit a woman,” he assured.
Anne White assured that both had “drank too much”. “Unfortunately, things got out of our control, it was an end of year party. Let’s talk about this as a family and let’s apologize to each other.”
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MMA Champion Israel Adesanya of Nigeria says people are making too big a deal over previous fights with Alex Pereira ahead of their meeting on 12 November in New York.Pereira won both fights, in 2016 (decision) and 2017 (knockout), but they were kickboxing, not MMA.
The undefeated UFC middleweight champion Adesanya posted an overall kickboxing record of 75-5, while Alex was 33-7.
Both fighters’ middleweight showdown on 12 November will not be in kickboxing, instead in MMA where Adesanya is promising a different fighter after a rewatch of the previous losses to the Brazilian.
“I’ve looked back at them and I’ve taken a few things away from them but it is a different fight. I’m not the same guy, he’s not the same guy either, but again, I’ve been doing this a lot longer and people forget,” Adesanya told TMZ Sports.
“100%, even though the way you defend is different, the way you attack is different. It’s kinda stupid sometimes. No disrespect to kickboxing.”
Izzy ‘The Last Stylbender’ insists without disrespecting his opponent that he’s at home in MMA:
“I always felt my striking was better suited for MMA, for the glove size but also the way, the freeness of attacking, I can clinch someone and trip ’em down. I can elbow, things like that and I know he’s good at stuff like that as well but I’ve been doing this a lot longer.”
To whip up some frenzy ahead of the fight at UFC281 the 33 year old MMA superstar Izzy got into his usual trashtalk mode:
“I want to make this a horror movie.
“I want to be the first person he sees when he wakes up. I want to make sure I’m right in his line of sight so he’s looking at me.”
Adesanya and Pereira will headline the November 12th card — with two title fights and a Michael Chandler-Dustin Poirier matchup — which will go down inside the world famous arena, Madison Square Garden.
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The much anticipated Mixed Martial Arts MMA extravaganza tagged #ofufightnight2 is whipping up super charged reactions from fighters in Nigeria.
All eyes are expected to be on the prized diamond studded bantamweight belt, jealously guarded by the holder The Knockout Machine Emma Bernard, who landed the first knockout punch in the history of One Fight Ultimate, OFU, to defeat Egyptian, Hassan The Viper Mandour, in last year’s championship in Lagos, Nigeria.
In post contest reactions, The Viper and The Knockout Machine have been trading war stories, with each fighter dissecting the last title bout with knowledgeable and powerful opinions.
While Mandour is calling for a rematch, Bernard is challenging whoever cares to listen that come Ofufightnight 2, scheduled for the first quarter of 2022, his belt isn’t leaving his waistline any time soon:
“Am truly looking forward to the next OFU FIGHTNIGHT with excitement.
“My training regime has redoubled and toughened up and I can confidently say my belt isn’t going anywhere.”
The police constable made the vow when he paid a courtesy visit to the OFU boss Chief Ifeh Obiudo at the brand new OFU office in Lekki which will be equipped with state of the art facilities to make FIGHTNIGHT 2 a huge success.
The office when completed will boast of a top class MMA gym comparable to any in the world.
Fighters registered with the gym are promised multi-disciplinary coaching, well researched nutrition programme, proper and durable equipment like mats, heavy bags, grappling dummies, boxing gloves, shin guards, target shields, headgear etc.
The CEO of OFU Chief Obiudo couldn’t contain his excitement at the structural growth of the the brand, ahead of the next FIGHTNIGHT:
“The OFUFIGHTNIGHT 2 is gonna be the bomb.
“Everything required to make the event a huge success story is in place.
“I am driven by the passion to give back to the society especially the numerous youths in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa who have taken the game of MMA as a means of livelihood.
“As the first indigenous MMA organisation in the country, am calling on corporate Nigeria to join hands with me so that we can push the sport into producing the next Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya n Francis Nganou who have become role models to so many people.”
All activities of OFU including the build up to the next FIGHTNIGHT can be found on the brand’s web page: http://www.ofumma.com or http://www.ofuentertainment.com.
Giving the social media handles of the organisation, OFU_MMA_ on twitter and OFU_MMA on Instagram, a follow, guarantees followers premium combat sports content and massive engagement.
woramangra 