Michael ‘Venom’ Page says MMA fighters need to form a union and “move as one” if they want to secure better pay in the sport.
The 39-year-old signed a deal with Misfits Boxing earlier this month after leaving the UFC.
Page, better known as MVP, won five of his six bouts in the UFC after debuting in 2024 but was critical of the money its fighters earn, compared with top-level athletes in other sports.
After joining Misfits, where Page says he will earn “a lot more” than he did in the UFC, the Briton wants to use his platform to empower fellow fighters.
Page points to the Muhammad Ali Act – a 2000 US law designed to protect boxers’ rights and combat potential monopolies – as something which he’d like to replicate in MMA.
“It’s less about speaking out now, it’s more about forming a union and coming together. We have to move as one,” Page told BBC Sport.
“If all fighters said ‘we’re not gonna do it’, then UFC doesn’t exist. That’s the important thing for fighters to remember. It’s not just the machine of UFC, you guys are the nuts and bolts that help the machine move.
“A fighters union is what’s important – the Muhammad Ali Act is what has allowed boxers to be paid well and the same thing needs to happen in MMA.”
Fighter pay has been questioned by athletes and the media this year after boxer Conor Benn signed a reported £11m one-fight deal with Zuffa Boxing.
Zuffa Boxing is owned by UFC president Dana White, so critics have asked why the 57-year-old isn’t paying similar amounts to his MMA fighters under contract.
White has repeatedly defended fighter pay in the UFC, referencing the promotion’s £5.7bn broadcast deal with Paramount.
Last week, after criticism from UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, White pointed to the American signing a new contract in May.