Michael Page may have fallen short against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 303 , but that doesn’t mean he came away impressed by what he saw from the cocksure Irishman. Page dropped a hard-fought unanimous decision at the June 29 pay-per-view, outclassing Garry on the feet but ultimately losing two rounds on the scorecards after succumbing to Garry’s grappling-heavy game plan. Afterward, UFC CEO Dana White publicly stated that the bout felt like a draw , much to Garry’s chagrin .
But even despite the setback, Page’s takeaway was unequivocal when asked Wednesday on The MMA Hour whether Garry is championship martial in the talent-rich UFC welterweight division. “Not all. No,” Page said.
“Because if that’s the game you’re going to go [to] when you get a decent striker, then Leon [Edwards] is going to kill you anyway, then Shavkat [Rakhmonov] is going to kill you anyway. There’s a few guys in there that I just don’t see him surpassing. Related “Even in some of the areas, he didn’t feel massively strong.
I’m not even trying to be disrespectful to him, because again, he’s done his job, he was smart about how he kind of went by it. But for me, regardless, this game for me is about combat. It’s about fighting.
Not about stealing wins. Even like I said, that last round, I didn’t necessarily need to stand up or need to let him stand up. I could’ve stayed there and just dragged it out and potentially got a better score in the third round and maybe that would.
