UFC’s Michael ‘Venom’ Page reveals where he got his iconic nickname and fighting style from

Michael Page got ‘Venom’ nickname when he was 9 years old

London’s Page has been doing martial arts from a very young age.

Page apparently had a tenacious fighting spirit long before he was fighting professionally in Bellator MMA and UFC.

“‘Venom’ came from when I was nine,” Page said on The Joe Rogan Experience.

“The only kids that were in my dad’s class at the time mainly are a few others because at the time we did it, it was basically one class. He didn’t really separate the kids and adults. Just one class.

“I’m trying my best. I’m throwing everything to hit adults. I’m trying my best to just get some kind of reaction. And then when I started hitting people my own size, even though I was losing because they were they just obviously, I was tall for my age as well, so I was fighting kids slightly more naturally developed than me. But I had a whack on me.

“Even though I wasn’t beating these guys. These guys were just way too fast for me. But when I hit them, they felt it,” Page added.

“It was one of my [coaches], Marvin [Francis] was literally just like, ‘You got some venom in you, man.'”

And that’s how Michael Page became the ‘MVP’ we know today.

Michael ‘Venom’ Page based fighting style off kung fu movies

Page is one of the fastest and most unorthodox fighters in MMA.

A former kickboxing champion, Page says he took inspiration from old school kung fu movies and applied it to his fighting style.

“We [were] very into kung fu movies back in the day,” Page said.

“Creative mind. I learned a jab like this, and now I have to add something. I can’t do things conventional.
I’ve never liked to do it. If everyone’s walking that way, like, I wanna see what’s over there…

“I don’t know what is wrong with me or what’s right with me. I was curious and creative.

“There’s a film called the Five Deadly Venoms, old school kung fu classic. And [my coach] would be like, yeah, Five Deadly Venoms, let’s make a move for each thing because he’d be like scorpion or toad.

“I would make up weird moves and try to add it into and that was always my thing. I’d see something in the movies, and I’m like, I’m gonna try it in there…

“This is all while I’m still getting beaten up, by the way. But that never left me. So even when I started beating all these people now, I’m doing it with the style and flare of, like, what more can I do?” Page said of his unique fighting style.