When the Kaseya Middle went black and the bell tolled, a roar got here from the UFC 299 crowd in Miami two weeks in the past.
As “MVP, MVP, MVP” chants have been heard, Michael “Venom” Web page walked out with a black cloak and smoke bellowing from behind him. For those that know WWE, the signature music within the background as he walked into the sector confirmed him clearly paying homage to The Undertaker together with his now-iconic entrance in his UFC debut towards Kevin Holland.
Web page is all about entertaining. Whether or not it is the suspense of seeing his entrance, the dancing throughout his stroll to the ring, or his favourite half — placing on a present for the group within the octagon — he is aware of followers will bear in mind him regardless of the place his title is on the combat card.
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Michael “Venom” Web page of England prepares to face Kevin Holland in a welterweight combat throughout the UFC 299 occasion on the Kaseya Middle in Miami on March 9. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC through Getty Photographs)
The 36-year-old has actually fought lengthy and arduous to get right into a UFC octagon, the place he’s now 1-0 after defeating Holland by unanimous choice. However, similar to the UFC 299 broadcast mentioned, Web page’s title is thought all through the combating world.
Fox Information Digital met up with Web page whereas he was in New York to speak about that leisure aspect, and when the Undertaker introduction was introduced up, it was clear he’s an enormous WWE fan.
Nevertheless it wasn’t simply wrestlers like The Undertaker that helped Web page develop his model within the sport.
“For me, The Rock is one of the best in terms of crowd involvement and things that he does,” Web page, who’s 22-2 in his combined martial arts profession, advised Fox Information Digital concerning Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. “I haven’t watched anyone else that could do that. WWE as a platform in general is something that does that regularly. Incorporate the crowd, the crowd loves it. The villains, the heroes, all that kind of stuff.
“So I sat down for hours — and the factor was I used to be watching him from about 10 or 11 (years previous). The ‘Attitude Era’ was my period. Stone Chilly (Steve Austin) and Goldberg have been my favorites, then The Rock and Eddie Guerrero.”
RISING UFC STAR MICHAEL ‘VENOM’ PAGE TALKS UNCONVENTIONAL STYLE THAT ANGERS SOME IN FIGHT COMMUNITY
When Web page determined he wished to compete professionally in MMA, he knew that branding can be key.
“I feel it’s simply one thing that’s at all times been vital to me basically,” he said. “So, after I first mentioned to myself, ‘I want to get into MMA,’ [and] I told my family this was 100% what I was going to do, I was also, like, ‘Well, how do I market myself?’ As a result of I hearken to sure folks on the mic, and so they can’t speak particularly after that pleasure, burst of adrenaline. You simply knocked anyone out and also you simply don’t hear something. I need to be that man that delivers clear traces, and it’s one thing followers can bear in mind as nicely. I’m occupied with every thing.
“Things that I say, how I deliver it, body language, things that I do where people can go, ‘Ah, I remember that guy because he did that thing.’ You’re watching 16, 17 bouts in a day. What makes me the one that stands out?”
So, a then-24-year-old Web page would sit down and watch The Rock for hours, writing down how he would deal with the group and his opponents.
Michael ‘Venom’ Web page of England prepares to face Kevin Holland in a welterweight combat throughout the UFC 299 occasion on the Kaseya Middle in Miami on March 9. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC through Getty Photographs)
“I didn’t even know I was going to fight. I was just making the transition,” he mentioned. “I always think about the whole picture.”
Greater than a decade later, Web page did precisely what he meant to do in UFC 299, right down to the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, who was shocked to see how calm he was after beating Holland.
Regardless of the grand entrances and unconventional combating fashion, which incorporates dancing within the octagon, Web page’s persona is one he is crafted for fairly a while.
And like all artist, he additionally will get “random spots of inspiration,” similar to earlier than he knocked out Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos in Bellator in July 2016.
Web page was together with his household — as certainly one of 9, they’re at all times round to bounce concepts off — when his brother thought the nickname “Cyborg” for Santos seemed like a Pokémon. On the time, Pokémon Go was an enormous fad.
So, when a flying knee landed completely on Santos’ brow to knock him out, Web page rushed to his workforce and bought a Pokémon hat and Poké Ball to “catch” him.
It was an entertaining end to an entertaining bout. And although some view Web page’s combating fashion and flashy entrances as cockiness, he views it as years of arduous work which permit him to specific himself how he sees match.
Michael “Venom” Web page of England poses for a portrait after his victory throughout the UFC 299 occasion on the Kaseya Middle in Miami on March 9. (Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC through Getty Photographs)
That is why loads of thought was put into the Undertaker entrance, although he admitted desirous to do one thing associated to a magic trick as an alternative.
“Speaking to the family, I was like, ‘I kinda want to do like a magic trick-style kind of thing,’ because I want to make the entrance really crazy,” Web page mentioned. “But I know UFC is going to be a bit tentative about what [you’re] allowed to do. So I was, like, let me try to make it as simple as possible for them, but still have a good effect. They still chopped quite a few big bits away, but I still managed to kind of land with something still to entertain the fans.”
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Within the octagon, Web page is at all times going to offer it his all. However win or lose, there is no doubt in his thoughts that followers will depart glad due to the leisure worth he brings with him, regardless of the opponent.
The UFC can definitely odor what Michael “Venom” Web page is cooking.
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