Michael Page mercilessly booed in UFC London homecoming in ‘worst fight’ of all time

Boos mercilessly echoed around London’s O2 Arena throughout Michael ‘Venom’ Page’s winning UFC return on Saturday night.

Page met fellow Briton Sam Patterson high up the bill at UFC London in what many fans had tipped to win the promotion’s $100,000 Fight of the Night bonus.

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However, both men struggled to land during the 15-minute fight and fans are now slamming the welterweight clash across all platforms.

Page, arguably the biggest name on the card, wasn’t even offered a post-fight interview with Michael Bisping after being victorious in his first fight back in England in four years and his first-ever UFC contest on home soil.

Dana White, who had a front row seat for the fight, didn’t look happy either and it will be interesting to see how the UFC CEO responds.

Page, who had fought at middleweight in his previous two fights, won a unanimous decision after judges scored the fight 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 in his favour.

But to say those that attended the fight were disappointed would be an understatement.

Reacting to the fight on X, one fan wrote: “Probably the worst fight in UFC history.”

Another added: “I’m certain Patterson vs Page is the worst fight I’ve ever witnessed in all my years of watching UFC.”

While a third said: “That fight was trash.”

This X user simply stated: “That has got to be the worst fight I’ve ever seen.”

What happened in Page vs Patterson?

The London fans spent most of round one whistling at the lack of action from the welterweight stars.

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‘MVP’ went straight on the offence in his typical karate style, looking very loose, but the MMA veteran didn’t open up much as Patterson tried to find his distance, landing only very briefly.

Page landed a right hand and connected again, but it was nothing to put Patterson on red alert as more of the same developed then in round two.

Patterson then played the aggressor in further exhcnages and grew in confidence as the fight went on.

However, the Watford man continued reacting to most of Page’s faints, which meant he couldn’t fight his own game.

In the final round, Page landed a big right hand early as Patterson followed up with a swing and a miss.

Both men then entered the clinch, and with Patterson in control, more of the same backing off and dancing around the Octagon played out.

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UFC London: Results

So far...

Main card

• Luke Riley def. Michael Aswell Jr via unanimous decision
• Michael Page def. Sam Patterson via unanimous decision
• Iwo Baraniewski def. Austen Lane via first-round KO
• Christian Leroy Duncan def. Roman Dolidze via unanimous decision
• Danny Silva def. Kurtis Campbell via second-round TKO (punches)

Preliminary card

• Mason Jones def. Axel Sola via unanimous decision
• Nathaniel Wood def. Losene Keita via split decision
• Mario Pinto def. Felipe Franco via unanimous decision
• Mantas Kondratavicius def. Antonio Trocoli via unanimous decision
• Brandon Pericic def. Louie Sutherland via first-round TKO (punches)
• Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady def. Shem Rock via unanimous decision
• Shanelle Dyer def. Ravena Oliveira via second-round TKO (punches)

Fans were desperate to see either fighter land something as the bout came to its conclusion, but were left utterly disappointed as Page had his arm raised.

Speaking to the media after his fourth UFC win, Page effectively blamed the average fight on the promotion for not giving him a big name.

He said he was been ‘actively trying to get good fights’ to no avail ever since his win over Cannonier last year.

Page, who trains at London Shootfighters, had moved back down to 170lbs for the battle of the Brits, having been frustrated at the lack of options presented to him at middleweight.

The No. 13-ranked welterweight defeated Jared Cannonier at UFC 319 in August, having snapped the undefeated streak of Shara Magomedov six months prior.

His only defeat in White’s promotion came to current welterweight title hopeful Ian Machado Garry in June 2024.

The 38-year-old told talkSPORT.com and members of the media this week that he found his placement on the UFC London card disrespectful.

However, fans are now saying that the fight should’ve been even lower down on the bill due to both men’s performances.

Elsewhere at the O2 Arena, Paddy Pimblett‘s teammate Shem Rock suffered his second consecutive UFC loss and no doubt angered his bosses after hitting his opponent after the bell.

Iwo Baraniewski scored an epic 28-second KO over Austen Lane to remain undefeated.

And Briton Christian Leroy Duncan moved into the middleweight rankings with a unanimous decision win against Roman Dolidze.