In the world of professional MMA, the journey from negotiation to contract signing can be as intense as the fights themselves…
And this was certainly true for Michael “Venom” Page, who recently underwent a grueling 48-hour negotiation period with the UFC.

Page, a standout star in Bellator MMA for a decade, found himself a free agent this summer. His next move was highly anticipated, with various options on the table.
However, his preference was clear, as he stated in a recent episode of The MMA Hour:

The top choice was definitely the UFC, but at the same time, it was nice to feel wanted, shall I say.

Negotiating a UFC contract, however, was not straightforward.
Page wasn’t an “ordinary” free agent and had high expectations:

I know for a fact that I’ve created a lot of hype and made a lot of noise outside — the media in the MMA world all know who I am.

You can get a sense of that when I go to certain places and people recognize me, and it’s interesting that I could be in the same room as another UFC fighter, and a lot of people are more interested in seeing and meeting with me, which is nice.

The final stages of negotiation involved intense communication with his manager, Audie Attar, and staying up late due to the time difference:

I genuinely had zero sleep in 48 hours.

I’m staying up because, obviously, the time difference, so Audie is messaging me: “This is what’s being said”, and I’m messaging him back, and it was just back and forth.

I had a long day Saturday in the day with my family and everything, announcing to my family, look it’s confirmed, it should be announced after the UFC.

And then I stayed up to watch the UFC because we had the trailers that we wanted to put out as soon as he said it.