4. Michael Page
The endlessly flamboyant and exciting “MVP” lands at a highly respectable fourth place here. Page fights unlike any other mixed martial artist on the planet. He has his hands down the whole time, moves in and out of range with ridiculous speed despite being an enormous 6-foot-3 welterweight with 79 inches of reach, more than many heavyweights. He will throw crazy spinning kicks, axe kicks and flying knees, but his most dangerous weapons are his hands, which connect with blinding speed against an opponent's chin as Page continues jumping in and out of range. And Page has solid grappling, able to stuff most takedowns, get back up and even score submission victories. There have been complaints about his level of competition, but Page has defeated plenty of good opponents and been fighting better foes recently. He's dominated a slew of UFC veterans like Ricky Rainey, Charlie Ontiveros, Nah-Shon Burrell and Shinsho Anzai. He's also defeated much better opponents like a brutal knockout of Dave Rickels, breaking Derek Anderson's nose to force a stoppage at the end of the first, decisioning the talented Ross Houston, and winning a close five-round grudge match against bitter enemy Paul Daley, who we've already discussed. And while he wasn’t the best opponent, who can forget Page's flying knee that broke Evangelista Santos' skull and retired him?
Page's best win came against welterweight great and former Bellator champion Douglas Lima, who had handed him his first loss via knockout in 2019 with an iconic uppercut. Page showed that he had improved a lot when they rematched in late 2021, winning a close decision. Page's next fight was for the Bellator interim welterweight championship against Logan Storley, merely one of the best wrestlers in MMA. While many expected an easy win for Storley, Page showed far improved grappling and had plenty of striking success. Storley took a split decision where plenty of fans and media alike scored it for Page. It may be difficult for Page to climb this list given that he is already 35 and has a large interest in both traditional and bare knuckle boxing, but don't let his ostentatious personality and showmanship obscure that he is an excellent fighter with an impressive series of accomplishments.
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