Given how he performed at UFC 303, welterweight contender Michael "Venom" Page says he wouldn't have wanted his hand raised.
Page had his plans for a quick rise toward an all-English championship showdown with Leon Edwards stalled by Ian Garry at the International Fight Week pay-per-view late last month in Las Vegas.
The pair opened the main card, going the full three-round distance in a fight that left many in the community disappointed and less than satisifed.
That sentiment is shared by Page himself, a former Bellator veteran who was left frustrated with some of the decisions he made when sharing the Octagon with "The Future" at T-Mobile Arena.
Despite that, "MVP" was competitive throughout and even had some backing him to earn the nod on the scorecards. For UFC CEO Dana White, the bout played out in a manner that would have left a draw as a fair result.
Page, however, would have been unhappy to have been given anything but a defeat on the scorecards...
Page Relieved Not To Have Won With UFC 303 Performance
During an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani last week, Page looked back on his sophomore display in the UFC, which came four months on from a successful debut at the expense of Kevin Holland in Miami.
The Londoner acknowledged that some thought he did enough (42.5 percent of 372 submitted fan scorecards on MMA Decisions). But Page says he would not have been in a celebratory mood had the three judges cageside seen things the same way.
It's nice to hear people kind of rooting for me," Page said of those who scored the bout in his favor. "But regardless, I didn't perform well. So if I somehow managed to get the win, I wouldn't have been happy with that anyway. If it was somehow a draw, I still wouldn't have been happy with that.
I focus on me, and I did not perform the way I should have performed. I made so many mistakes; just silly things," Page continued. "Yeah, so I wouldn't have been happy with that. For me, I lost the fight. That's the reality of it, regardless of what everyone's saying. I should have done X, Y, Z, and I'm just eager to get back in.
With that, Page will look to emerge victorious with an emphatic performance next time out. And given the extra motivation he's touting post-UFC 303, he's seemingly looking to return to winning ways and get his title ambitions back on track before the end of 2024.