Michael ‘Venom’ Page Reveals Shara Bullet Magomedov’s Callout of Israel Adesanya Forced Him to Step Up

Michael ‘Venom’ Page might be the first man in recorded history to have intentionally taken a stray ‘Bullet’. After his spectacular KO of Armen Petrosyan at UFC 308, Sharaputdin Magomedov had randomly claimed he would smash former middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. Adesanya probably wouldn’t have entertained the idea but MVP felt like he had to take one for the team.

Shara ‘Bullet’ is undefeated in his UFC campaign so far. But he’s only just found himself a spot on the rankings and is far away from challenging the likes of Adesanya. So upon hearing the call out, all Izzy could do was giggle and enact a couple of memes.

However, MVP stepped in and asked Shara to leave his ‘boy’ Izzy alone so that he could work his way back to the middleweight title. At the time he didn’t believe anything substantial would come out of it, but with the fight approaching, he has now revealed that his response was certainly a bit opportunistic.

“I simply heard Shara calling out my boy Izzy and I thought, let me just intercept… I threw it out to the universe and then I got a call back from the UFC asking if I was really interested in this fight. And now we have landed here. “

It is certainly fortuitous but given how MVP’s progress in the UFC has been, he would not mind. He has fought twice under Dana White’s banner and both fights have gone to the judges. Granted, he defeated Kevin Holland on debut but that is almost a rite of passage for every promising candidate.

His next fight was against Ian Garry, which was a shockingly slow grappling battle. Why shockingly? Well, both of the fighters are strikers! A win against Garry at that point could have propelled his career but that was not to be.

However, with Shara’s stock on the rise, it seems Page has found himself in possession of another great opportunity.

Why MVP needs to stop Shara

To this day, Shara’s double-spinning KO of Petrosyan randomly pops up on Twitter. That’s how unique and memorable that KO was. Page will be hoping for something similar against him. And it’s not beyond the realm of possibility for him either.

He was touted as one of the most stylistic strikers during his time at Bellator, where he honed his skills for a decade and built a reputation for flashy finishes. For instance, at Bellator 292, he destroyed Goiti Yamauchi’s knee in just 26 seconds.

And it’s not just style. There’s a lot of substance and grit in him as well. He made his bare-knuckle debut against BKFC legend Mike Perry. After the judges couldn’t separate the two despite a 5-rounder, they had to call for a ‘sudden death’ round. Eventually, they came to a decision, and Page lost, but not before receiving an ovation from all those in attendance.

However, this style and grit have been missing from his UFC journey. His first two matches have been devoid of any of this action or excitement. Granted, it’s only been a couple of minutes since he arrived, but it has to be taken into consideration that he was a marquee signing.

This is why he needs to win this fight against Shara.

‘Bullet’ has been on a tear since making his debut in the UFC. His unique hairstyle and eerie one-eyed pirate persona stand out. It also helps that he is one of the few Dagestani strikers around in the sport. Even though he doesn’t speak the language, Shara has managed to garner a fan following with his performances.

At this point, in his career, he is expected to at least challenge for the title in the next couple of years. He’s already calling out top contenders in the division. So when the octagon gates lock in, MVP should expect an all-out striking offense from Shara ‘Bullet’. But ‘can he take it?’, is the question that needs to be asked. He has to!

With this much buildup already into the feud that he started, MVP needs to stop Shara for the sake of his own career.  If he does, he will not only have killed the hype around his opponent but also proven that he can hang in with the big fish in the big pond. If not, he will have just witnessed another one of his peers move ahead in the UFC, while he’s again become a chapter in theirs.