The UFC is coming to London on March 21st with an electric card. To rock the O2 Arena, Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev will collide with a potential title shot and their undefeated record on the line. However, while the main event is captivating enough, fans aren’t thrilled about the entire card. Why? It’s because the promotion made some strange placements, especially involving a top UFC star.

After a prominent Bellator career, Michael ‘Venom’ Page carved out an impressive path in the UFC. With a 3-1 record under Dana White’s banner, the Englishman remains a highly captivating fighter, and fans have shown real fondness for his fighting style. But despite maintaining that reputation, ‘MVP’ finds himself opening the main card, even though many believe he deserves the co-main slot. What’s the reason? It turns out his relationship with the promotion may be starting to sour.

It’s not alright between Michael Page and the UFC ahead of London event

“I definitely don’t feel like I’m in good favor with the UFC at this moment. Yeah, I think it’s who I drew as an opponent. It even came down to when I saw the fight card. It’s interesting because Lerone Murphy massively deserves this position. He’s been on an absolute killing spree. But then you look at the co-main event and it’s like… you look at the card in general and it’s not the most exciting,” Page told MMA Junkie.

As the UFC star pointed out, Murphy and Evloev definitely deserve the position as they carry the highest stakes on the card. The winner of the undefeated showdown will likely receive a title shot against Alexander Volkanovski next. But the co-main? That’s where fans have real questions, as it doesn’t look befitting for the promotion’s 17th visit to England, especially since the promotion had a completely different main event than what fans initially expected.

Michael Page, with wins over middleweight standouts like Shara Magomedov (UFC Saudi Arabia) and Jared Cannonier (UFC 319), remains a perfect contender to co-headline the event. Fans also floated Stephen Thompson’s name as they dreamed of a proper barn burner. But the UFC ended up giving him up-and-coming Sam Patterson, while booking Luke Riley vs. Michael Aswell for the main card, a placement ‘Venom’ clearly finds odd.

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“I would’ve felt that a name like myself being on that card, I’m definitely gonna be positioned as… I’m always gonna go and show out and make noise like I’ve always done. But I’ve been positioned on the card in a weird way, and I’ve been given an opponent who’s a bit of a risky one as well. I’m just waiting to fight. I didn’t really wanna wait. But yeah, it feels like I’ve upset somebody,” Page added.

Now, for an accomplished star like the Westminster native, feeling left out of a co-main event opportunity in his hometown would definitely sting. However, the question becomes: What happened between him and the UFC that led to this breakdown in communication? The 38-year-old also touched on that.

Reason behind Page upsetting the top brass: Not fighting at 185lbs?

Michael ‘Venom’ Page is one of the fighters who can flow between two divisions. As a pro-MMA fighter, ‘Venom’ has performed at both 170 and 185 lbs and looked phenomenal. But clearly, the UFC wants him to stay at middleweight, likely based on the Englishman’s recent outings. However, Page wants to fight at his natural welterweight, even though he feels the division is moving slowly.

“I feel like I have been pushed to doing… I feel like they wanted me to do more middleweight. But even with this fight, it kinda got to a point where I’m giving names. I was given names in both divisions. It’s because welterweight just seems like a slow division at the moment. But at the same time, looking at me personally, I’m naturally a welterweight,” ‘Venom’ further revealed in the MMA Junkie interview.

With UFC wanting him to fight at middleweight division, ‘MVP’ clearly mentioned going back to welterweight even before beating Cannonier at UFC 319 last year.

That said, if Venom secures a win on March 21, would he land a ranked 170 lbs opponent like Jack Della Maddalena next? Or someone from the 185 lbs mix? Let us know in the comments section below.