Michael Page ridicules Paul Daley following win in UK grudge match

Michael ‘Venom’ Page claimed victory in his eagerly anticipated grudge match against countryman Paul Daley on Saturday night in the main event of Bellator 216 and ridiculed his adversary’s decision to wrestle throughout the 25-minute affair.

Billed as the biggest fight in the history of UK MMA, the meeting of the two rivals had been called for by fans for almost two years before they finally came face to face in the Connecticut main event.

With the win, undefeated British striking supremo Page booked his place in the semi-final of Bellator’s welterweight tournament against former champion Douglas Lima on May 11. 

Michael Page claimed victory in his grudge match against Paul Daley on Saturday night

The winner of the tournament is set to cash in on a $1 million prize, as sponsored by celebrity patron 50 Cent.

Speaking after the win, Page claimed that Daley didn’t come to fight on the night:

‘He didn’t come here to fight,’ he said in his post-fight interview. ‘MVP came here to fight. 

‘He was bragging about being a knockout artist and he was doing more takedowns than he ever has in his career’.

Daley displayed some of his lesser-known qualities, scoring takedowns in every round apart from the first, which saw Page land unanswered single punches as he dictated the distance between the two.

When the action resumed on the feet at the end of the second, Daley looked to land his patented left hand, which MVP managed to evade the brunt of. 

Daley landed some big shots from top position at the end of the third, but ‘Venom’ sprang in the action as soon as he got back to his feet in the fourth, landing a crisp knee before finishing the round with grounded shots.

Page ridiculed his opponent Daley’s decision to wrestle throughout the affair

‘Semtex’ wasted no time in taking the action to the canvas in the final round, but Page reversed the situation with a deft back take with two minutes left on the clock, locking in a rear-naked choke that he later gave up on. 

As Daley looked to take him down again, Page landed consecutive elbows to his foe and finished the round in strong fashion, landing punches on the downed Daley.

All three judges scored the fight 48-47 after five rounds.

The potent shots of legendary heavyweight Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic were enough to secure him victory in his Bellator debut and revenge for his 2011 loss to Roy Nelson.

‘Cro Cop’ blasted the body of Nelson was his infamous left kick in the first and began to chop his lead leg down and land crisp uppercuts from the clinch in the second. 

Nelson managed to wrestle the kickboxing great to the ground in the final round, but it wasn’t enough to secure ‘Big Country’ the win.

With the win, the 44-year-old Croatian is now 7-0 in rematches.

Cheick Kongo exploded into action in the final seconds of his heavyweight bout with returning former champion Vitaly Minakov, which helped him hand the Russian his first professional loss in his first appearance under the Bellator banner in five years.

Minakov suffered a couple of low shots in the first round, which may have explained his tentative showing over the first ten minutes. 

Kongo picked his moments to burst into action, including a damaging shot he landed at the end of the second, which he failed to follow up with any fight ending intent.

Despite his eight-fight win streak with Bellator, Kongo’s showing will do little to intimidate recently crowned heavyweight champion and light heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader.

Ukrainian prospect Yaroslav Amosov took a second consecutive big name opponent out in as many tests under the Bellator banner with a dominant decision win over UFC veteran Erik Silva. 

The 25-year-old out-grappled the Brazilian, underlining his dominance in the wrestling exchanges with a number of slams over the final two rounds. He improves to 21-0-0 with the victory.

Taekwondo sensation Valerie Loureda blasted the wind out of opponent Colby Fletcher’s sails with a well-timed body kick to claim a first-round finish in her professional debut. 

The 20-year-old prospect thanked her father and Taekwondo master in an emotional post-fight interview.