While he managed to pick up three wins and kept his undefeated streak going in 2016, Bellator welterweight Michael Page spent the whole of 2017 on the sidelines due to injury.
According to Page, the biggest problem with his injury wasn’t so much the injury itself, but rather waiting to get back to fighting and the toll it can take on staying motivated.
“When your job is to fight and you’re not fighting, it can go very slow,” Page told MMAWeekly.com. “It can make it very hard to want to keep pushing and inspiring yourself to train.
“It’s part of the journey of life, so I got through it and got back on track. I started training slightly different. I sorted my injury out, I sorted a couple of other things out, and now we’re here.”
Along with the waiting, another problem Page faced while recovering was pushing himself to come back too early, which resulted in him aggravating things and further delaying his return.
“It didn’t take too long to get back, but when you should be continuing to take it easy, as soon as it feels good, you want to jump back into training and do the things you were doing before,” said Page. “That’s a mistake and you should keep taking things easy.
“I’d end up pushing myself a bit too fast and then it goes (worse) again. I did that a few times, which was annoying, but I had a lot of help from the coaches, fighters and (physical) therapists here.”
After a year and a half away, Page (12-0) returns to action on Friday in London, England, to take on David Rickels (19-4) at Bellator 200.
“I’ve just to use my style, make sure I’m in shape and I’m myself,” Page said. “I have to make it so (Rickels) doesn’t know where every punch is coming from, where every kick is coming from.”
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Should Page pick up his eighth straight win in Bellator on May 25, he could set himself up for a welterweight title shot. Rather than focus on that possibility, however, Page just wants to get back to fighting and doing what he does best.
“Nothing has to happen,” said Page. “I don’t care much for the belt. I only care about going out there and putting hands on people – that’s my belt.”
