No training! No MMA! What does Michael Venom Page do on his day off from the UFC? Elz The Witch took MVP out in London to …
I hate this guy I’m going to be happy to kick this guy in the face what’s up guys it’s Al here and today I meeting London’s finest Mr MVP Michael Venom page and he’s going to show me what he gets up to on his day off on today’s episode MVP takes us to laziz a Turkish food spot in North London owned by his friend burko where we chop it up about his life as an MMA fighter and how he likes to relax when not on the road before we go head-to-head in a battle of Champions to find out how good MVP is at us C 5 and what his plans are for the year ahead that and more on this episode of UFC’s day off Michael talk to me we’re here in laziz restaurant why did you pick this restaurant I’ve been coming here since I was like I want to say like 1920 when it was just like a little Kebab shop like everyone just knew it’s open late so everyone it’s one of those ones where you know we start going raving after a night out after a night out we was like yeah Char Co is the spot that used to come to it’s it’s kind of a nice little partnership cuz I feel like I’m I’m growing in my career they’re growing with what they’re doing and it’s it’s nice so talk to me about then a day off in your life so nothing to do with fighting what’s a day off in MVP’s life I like doing like switching off MMA completely um I’m very into just general business stuff anyway do a lot of work with my family as well so we’ve run kickboxing schools for a long time we also have a school in the states cuz I got siblings over there as well so we hands down martial arts over here and over there this is a representation of where my style comes from and how I fight which is why we call it hands down my path I can already see is going to be like in the acting World okay before that I’ve I’ve just been writing script ideas I’m just a very creative mind like my mind just doesn’t switch off so I’m always kind of like thinking of something I’ve always write another like short story ideas um open in a production company just just to be able to just do work cuz anything that comes to mind I like to just write it down and then I want to just I like bringing things to life so the script writing then can you give us an idea of sort of the things that you write about uh without saying too much obviously the general concept is uh the PowerHouse that China is have basically taken over the whole world mhm is basically what that looks like now like so we’re still in modern day we’re still doing normal stuff like now but what does it look like what does it mean that everybody is raised with Kung Fu as a as a martial art what does it mean that um you know just everything that is around is under one order and then we we you know we follow a specific protagonist and go go go from there I was always raised on Kung through movies loved what I saw the the style of fighting just just everything but the one thing I was not familiar with with was the settings because that wasn’t where I lived right let’s talk food then because obviously we’re in the restaurant what is your ideal meal in New York I fell in love with and I legit fly back for the day just to have this it’s mad it’s a cross on like it’s so banging okay I’ve never had it yeah yeah I I turn into like schmigle like my CR as a foodie then when you’ve got a you know trained for a fight you’re on a diet how do you deal with that when the Cravings maybe for the unhealthy food the want to beat my opponent just way outweighs you know um anything else so it’s it’s just not worth it it’s like and I know I’ll come back to it that’s when I’m really happy like I beat you but and I’m happy that I beat you but now I get to eat so now I’m really happy you obviously away a lot for fighting and training what’s it like when you come back not specifically to London cuz I know you go back over to the states to see your family but just coming back to a base where your family are literally the best part of the Journey of a fight is celebrating with my family Afters they’re all mad like we’re all like even the last one we did like a dress up party like a 80s dress up party afterwards we did karaoke what’s your um karaoke song then cuz I take it quite serious mine’s Tony braxon Unbreak My Heart big it’s a big song you can you sing though in the shower I get stage fright in front of people so for that one I just end up screaming so it’s probably awful but m one was um I think there so many though can’t remember done Cisco yeah man you got that’s a that’s a scream the best ones are the ones you least expect and then everyone just yeah well after the next fight I’m inviting myself to come and do karaoke as long as that I need to hear that Tony back someone yeah I don’t know if anyone needs to hear it we need I want to perform it yeah yeah just cameras and everything I’m de very creative mind I always come up with ideas of like my walkouts are very you know people know me for my walkout people know me for my celebrations I don’t even know what drew me to undertak a a theme song but I would just like it’s my first one I am the underdog but I’m that kind of scary Underdog everyone’s seen me do crazy like flashy stuff but not necessarily believe in it yet what I liked about that walk out actually was like as you said it’s you were scary people are scared of you but then you flipped between being scary and then you were dancing and having fun with it I think quite good it’s just me enjoying myself you know I mean it has nothing to do with opponent ahead of me I’m just having the most amount of fun and it’s already a stressful situation it’s already a stressful enough situation somebody in there is trying to take your head off choke you out break something knock you out I don’t need to add any extra stress by worrying about those things I I work hard in my training I know I do every single day and this is the the time I get to say just let loose and just enjoy the efforts that I’ve put in there’s no stress even in the gym it’s it’s difficult to cuz your coach is screaming at you trying telling you to get it right and that’s this the one time I don’t have to be perfect I’m to just be myself if somebody new has come to an MMA show you’re watching you know 16 to 20 fights so many different Fighters what makes you stand out everyone’s doing everyone trains roughly the same you’re you’re hoping for a knockout or something that makes you stand out and even then not just a knockout but the best knockout of that night because you can knock somebody out and then it’ be forgotten because the a fight later on stood out more it was a bit more exciting and it was a bit something bigger happened but what else can draw you kind of help somebody remember you specifically it’s like oh that guy that did this and he did that thing after and he did that thing before it’s those moments I feel a lot of Fighters kind of fail to utilize is there anything you’re thinking of doing in the future yeah keep cuz um there there going to be something I can’t tell you exactly what yeah get you up on the DJ deck yeah a rolling I should give you a shout out at the end yeah thanks a witch for that one I’ll be the MC be on got Tony braon yeah yes saying I do a little remix [Laughter] [Music] version right you’re competitive AR you somewhat I guess we have to be in our game yeah it’s true so I think we should step into my world cuz I’m a big gamer I thought you going to say single C well no that’s yet to be determined we are going to head to Zombie Cafe and play some UFC 5 yeah who do you think is going to win though well if you beat me on camera we’re going to have a problem we’ll see after leaving laiz I wanted to find out how MVP was finding his transition into the UFC now at the top of the MMA Mountain how was he finding his new home within the Pinnacle of the sports I wanted to ask you so obviously you’ve spent a lot of years working on your craft in the fight scene but you’ve now crossed over to UFC how does it feel to finally sort of be at that Pinnacle it feels like it’s it’s always been destined for me I just decided to kind of take my own path like a lot of people I reckon I definitely could have been in the UFC a lot earlier um but there were there were weird enough there was a lot of benefits to not have gone like gone there that early um including the my negotiating power at this point because I’ve established myself um but either way I was destined to to be there I think all all stars were allowing for me to be there now um and I’m just happy to kind of be able to show my showcase my skills at the highest level possible there’s a lot of uh young hungry you know really talented Fighters but they don’t have the same maturity uh to compose themselves uh in these big moments I’ve done this so many times uh on a big scale with loads of thousands of people watching um and I’m comfortable here and I think that is a key to be able to perform at that level and it feel comfortable what would you say then is sort of the main difference between the UFC and other things you’ve done before so the main differ is I I discuss is this I think it’s funny my mom said this actually uh UFC is kind of like the Harvard of uh this sport she’s right in in that sense it really is like the top of what our sport is historically speaking but also Talent level as well we’ve arrived to Zombie Cafe here so now all the Talking was done it was time for MVP to step into my octagon as we went head-to-head on UFC 5 to find out who the real MVP [Music] was right this is my world now yeah I mean I say that I haven’t actually played this before so are you good at fighting games yes but I I Buton I’m a button Masher so we’ll just see okay we’ll see how it goes oh I hate this guy I’m going to be happy to kick this guy in the face Colby comington yeah I find him fake he just doesn’t seem like a a nice guy and with all the stuff that came out um last time about what fighter should should and shouldn’t be allowed to talk about with regards to people people are like going deep now they’re talking about each other’s wives and okay moms and dads and like he’s he was very much into it I just didn’t like that I come from a like a martial arts background so it’s very that’s not that’s not the way we do things M I think he’s trying too hard to stay relevant as much as we are you know a tough sport we want to show that we’re you know we’re true Sportsman so given the opportunity you’d like to fight Colby oh yeah 100% to get competitive I really saw loser just so you know yeah I Lose I’m going be upset I’ll let you [Laughter] win so on your days off yeah are you a big gamer you into it much it’s I go in and out of phases man like I think the last time I was like proper on it was again like Co when um like is a war zone oh yeah yeah I was like me and my boys were just C each other up team team battles and just get get busy online yeah growing up is yeah definitely I I I loveed it um again a lot of the war Games medal of honor um if I go way back golden I I have golden eyee in my living room I my Nintendo I love that golden eye was so sick great game and you could do reu with the the big head the bubble head on the gold gun yeah yeah yeah one shot this isn’t good right give me a break no no you got rock I got attack that’s the best just k i train with you yeah yeah yeah he’s been training a gym for a while now and like everyone’s got their um like views on YouTubers and this this world of like now everyone getting into fighting but my thing is everybody’s respected if you can do the work my gym is known for being a really tough gym so any I respect anybody that can come and to our gym and actually put in the work necessary so and he he does that he has to go free nobody gets any special treatment so and I’ll tell you I keep telling people that that feeling of walking out into a crowd uh a fight finish an opponent in front of a crowd is addictive there’s nothing else like it you know those dreams where you’re run you’re trying to run oh you can’t run fast that’s what I wanted head shot head shot bang I lasted to round two this time we were practicing and I didn’t even get to the end of round one I can’t help but Mark it’s just it’s just in my nature this is this is not your game no as our day off was coming to an end I thought this was my opportunity to delve a little deeper into the mind of MVP and find out what makes him tick and what his plans are for the future it’s been great I was going to say great but I just lost three times on that game and I’m still upset about it but I think we should talk about the future because we’ve got 304 in the summer mhm yeah is that something that you want to get involved in I feel fresh after my last fight more than willing to go I think there is definitely a want for me to be on that card it’s just who’s ready uh it seems that everyone’s got um hamstring issues and stuff all of a sudden so we’re just trying to get it just seems like we’re trying to get an opponent nobody seems to be [Music] ready and it will be Manchester so how will that be sort of being back in the UK obviously your first UFC fight was in Miami so being back on UK soil your first UFC fight what do you think the atmosphere would be like for that I think it’s going to be crazy to be fair because I think there was still a bit of UN the people were unsure about how I was going to do in the UFC so you know even even the people that were supporting me they were still unsure and then after my first performance everyone was just like wow like yeah they now they’re going to be more excited to just enjoy what’s going on those questions are being answered now I can sit back as a fan and just enjoy I’ve already proved that I’m supposed to be at that level let me just enjoy the the next show which means I could just spend more more time just making noise and just you know what I mean I think yeah I think there atmosphere is going to be incredible and then we’ve also got 303 with Connor yeah yeah what we feeling about that one I just want to see what Connor we have back I’m hoping you know he shows Connor of old um and what we you know what we what we’re used to seeing from Connor but he’s been out a long time um where where has his Focus been um um you know like you know how has that time off been spent he’s a person that he kind of has it all at the moment doesn’t really need to kind of put the same effort into his training I think it can change a person um when you when you get to that kind of level you really are your own boss I think I couldn’t be my own boss and be at the level that I need to be and if you are your own boss you you will just kind of you know it’s easier to opt out just go back to just enjoying life especially when life is good you know CU he’s doing so well I’m just hoping that’s not the case and we see old school Connor talk about his weight class cuz he could be in yours but he’s a bit on the Lighter Side would that be a fight that at one point you would look to do at all I’m about the competition I don’t care enough to just get in just for the sake of scalping the name I don’t feel the need to prove myself that way if he looks good and I’m like yeah that’s that could be a good tough fight yeah then I’m on it then you know I’m game I want to challenge myself if he doesn’t look like it there’s going to be so many people that’s going to want to fight him just to say that they beat him but I’m not I’m not that type of fight out I don’t really care so I know your dad used to train you how do you think that he would feel seeing what you’ve achieved now yeah he he’d love it he’d be absolutely over the mve I think he was a good coach because he knew what he couldn’t do and I think that’s important uh as a coach uh I what I mean by that is when I said to him like I’m looking to get into the Mixed Martial Arts world he was like well I can’t help you anymore you need to find someone that can take you the rest of the way and he was just like like you know full confidence in me you know he’s like but you need to find somebody uh to kind of take you to that point he had one conversation with my coach and stayed out of his way that was it like he had a conversation he’s like yep you’re with the right person and he didn’t bother us again which again I said is a sign of a good coach um my mom used to compete as well so I it’s just in the family and you know everyone is is uh massively proud so um and he he definitely would as well what is your ultimate achievement then with within this sport uh I think the main goal is to to inspire many in that especially people one that come from areas like I came from two that came from the sport that I came from you know and I want to do it and get to the highest level so I want to get that belt after I’ve gotten a Bel I just want to show people that look look at the journey I’ve come from I come from where you guys have come from and the steps that I’ve taken to get to to this location and this place and inspireing saying it can be done so for me just seeing others following my footsteps U and understanding there’s a pathway from where you know from fighting in you know Sports Halls to fighting on a big stage you know in front of many people around the world well I look forward to hopefully seeing you at 304 yes yes and we’ll have to go for karaoke afterwards oh I’m I’m telling you I’m down I’m telling do not make sure you remind me I’ll remind you I’ll remind you I’ve got a Tony Braton record already ready just ready so there we have it that was Michael Venom Pages day off I’ve been ‘s and I will see you in the next one for