Michael Venom Page says Dricus du Plessis is nothing special: 'He's just a tough guy'

01/28/2025 02:07 PM

Ahead of his return at UFC Saudi Arabia this weekend, Michael Venom Page has dismissed the skillset of current middleweight kingpin, Dricus du Plesis — claiming beyond being a “tough guy”, the South African gold holder is far from special.

Page, a former Bellator MMA title challenger, makes his third Octagon appearance this weekend in Riyadh, co-headlining the promotion’s return to the region in a high-stakes pairing with the highly-touted, Shara Magomedov.

And making an impromptu middleweight move, British striker, Page has been sidelined since last summer, where he featured at UFC 303 during International Fight Week, suffering a one-sided unanimous decision loss to Irish contender, Ian Garry.

Debuting in the Octagon after years of speculation in April of last year, London Shootfighters star, Page turned in his own dominant unanimous judging win over veteran challenger, Kevin Holland.

Michael Venom Page calls into question Dricus du Plessis’ ability

However, ahead of his mark in middleweight waters, Page has questioned the ability of Pretoria native, du Plessis — claiming the current divisional kingpin is far from special.

“When I look at DDP [Dricus du Plessis], I… I don’t — I’ve never looked at him and thought anything special of him,” Michael Venom Page told Inside Fighting during a recent interview ahead of his return at UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia. “But he always seems to just win.

“One thing he just knows how to do is scrape out the win, regardless of how he performed,” Michael Venom Page explained. “Because I’ve seen him do some technically really, uh, bad things during the fight. But still, like I said, he just knows how. He’s just a tough guy. He just knows how to grind out the result.”