It was called the biggest fight in UK MMA history and billed as the biggest grudge match ever in Bellator but ultimately Michael Page vs. Paul Daley was, in a word, forgettable.
Page who scored the unanimous decision victory over Daley now improves to 14-0 and will face Douglas Lima in the semifinal of the Welterweight Grand Prix.
The Londoner, who has a human highlight reel second to none, shared his frustration, reflecting on the fight and his own performance and speaking candidly on the Helwani Show this past Monday.
"It was very frustrating for myself," Page told ESPN's Ariel Helwani on his podcast.
"One, I performed horribly in the other areas of my game and it was a shame that I couldn't demonstrate things. I felt seconds behind in my takedown defence, in my grappling. I just felt very blurry in that area, but I didn't expect to have that fight at all."
Page feels as though Daley didn't live up to his end of the bargain, having promised a knockout in multiple interviews leading up to the fight.
"He claimed to be one of the best stand-up fighters in the game and can knock out anybody that decides to stand with him, and he turned into a wrestler," Page explained.
"I think that's almost a compliment to my abilities and my stand-up. Either way, the W is the most important thing and even if I have to crawl across the finish line, advancing in this competition is the most important thing and that's what I did."
"I wasn't feeling as confident as I normally feel. I just thought it was because of how anxious I was to get into the cage. I was even cussing myself as things were happening. He took me down a couple of times and as he was taking me down, I was cursing myself. I could see this stuff and just wasn't responding to it. I feel like he came in with a very tactical and very safe game plan and he wanted to sneak a victory and it worked against him."
On Boxing Day 2018, Page's father, coach and mentor, Curtis Page passed away and it's been an emotional time for the London Shootfighters welterweight to say the least. It's something he had to deal with in camp and played a factor on fight night.
"Even after the fight I was very emotional from the journey I've been on," Page said.
"I'm lucky I have a lot of support around me. There's a lot of people that really care about my success and I don't think I would be able to make it in this sport without these people around me, especially after losing my dad. He is the person that allowed me to do this. The only reason I have the abilities that I have is because of him.
"It's been very difficult, and it did affect my performance, but I don't want to use that as an excuse. The fact is, he [Daley] came in with a very good game-plan. I think it was the best Paul Daley I've seen in a very long time, but he went with plan B. He is very scared of me and my stand up and who I'm about and it showed in how he tried to win this fight."
After the fight, Daley has thrown wild accusations at Bellator claiming they are protecting Page and to say he disagrees with the scorecards is an overstatement. Page sees things a little differently.
"He's going to have an excuse," Page said. "The fact is, why did you not go in there and be yourself? Why did you not go plan A and actually go strike for strike. Let's actually see who has the best stand up in the mixed martial arts world. All the complaints aside, it's your own fault, you kind of have to blame yourself."
The silver lining is that aside from the win and advancing in the tournament, Page got 25 minutes under his belt, having gone the distance in his first 5-round fight.
That, and a will to somehow grind out a result, is something he's not had to do before until now.
ATTN Chicago!@MikeChandlerMMA puts his belt on the line against @PatricioPitbull Saturday, May 11th at @AllstateArena!
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) 19 February 2019
The #BellatorWGP continues with @PhenomLima vs @Michaelpage247!@AJMcKeeJr vs @PatCurranMMA.
Plus, the return of @RealJackSwagger! Presale tomorrow 10am CST pic.twitter.com/iCK30Cvhcl
"It's quite a high expectation for me, because of how I can fight but at the same time I am proud of myself," Page explained. "It was a difficult fight. I'm proud of myself that even when I wasn't at my sharpest, I kept grinding and hustling right the way through and got back up after every single round, feeling confident.
"A lot of people questioned my fitness and I feel like people can see how tired he was compared to myself. I was still in the fight after five rounds and he wasn't."
So with a win over his rival Daley, is that it? Is it finally over? Not for Page who's not shutting the door on a sequel, under the right circumstances of course.
"There's no way this beef is going to end," Page said.
"I have zero respect for that man, even more so now because all that talk about knocking me out, it might have been a tactic, but I think it was stupid. You just showed the world that you have to fear my stand up. So thank you but I have zero respect for you."
"The only reason why I may give him another chance is purely because I feel like the fight should've happened in the UK and because of how close the fight was now, there's obviously a reason for it to happen again.
"It just depends on where our paths go. Where does he go from here? Who does he fight now? I've got a very difficult opponent now in Douglas Lima. If I'm able to overcome that and move on and become champion, then I don't feel like you deserve to have a rematch."
For now, his attention turns to Lima who will be, by far, his toughest opponent to date. That fight will serve as a featured bout on Bellator 221 which goes down in Rosemont, Illinois on May 11.
"The fact is, yes, Douglas Lima is an amazing athlete, aside of my development, he's always going to be a difficult task but he's not unbeaten," Page said. "People have answered that question with him before so it's definitely possible so I'm just looking forward to the challenge."