UFC: Anderson Silva Can't Be Compared To Michael 'Venom' Page, Big John Says

Seasoned UFC referee “Big John” McCarthy explained why Michael “Venom” Page is still far from being the next Anderson Silva.

In present day MMA, there’s an interesting comparison going on – Bellator’s Page is widely being matched with UFC star Silva. It wasn’t hard for MMA fans and experts to see “MVP” as the next Silva due to the evident resemblance of their fighting style. Just like Silva, Page likes to keep his hands down taunting his opponents to attack before hitting them back with flashy strikes.

However, McCarthy, a veteran MMA referee who has officiated some of the biggest MMA fights in history, commented on the issue and said that Page and Silva aren’t the same. It was during Page’s recent KO victory over Shinsho Anzai at Bellator Japan where McCarthy ignited the said comparison. Fans didn’t like McCarthy’s comments saying Page is still far from Silva’s career but the 57-year-old stood by his ground and clarified his comments during an appearance on “ Weighing In podcast. ”

According to McCarthy, the comparisons should only be limited on Silva’s first 17-18 fights (Page’s total fights). Diving into the first 18 fights of both fighters, McCarthy thinks that Silva and Page have both faced “good competition.”

“I’m not talking about Anderson over his entire career. If you want to break his career into sections, I can say this and say at the beginning, his first 16, 17, 18 fights, Anderson Silva had decent competition at times, good competition at times, and bad competition at other times,” McCarthy said.

“MVP has fought one fighter with a losing record his entire career and that was his second fight. Every other fighter he’s fought has had a winning record. So you can’t sit there and say they’re giving him cans,” McCarthy continued.

However, McCarthy suggested that the difference was that Page had bad fights not because of the opponent but because he “didn’t do what he’s supposed to do.”

“He is exciting to watch. He is fun to watch. He puts on a show. Now has he had bad fights? Yeah. He had fights where he didn’t do what he was supposed to do,” McCarthy noted.

In the end, McCarthy stated that Page’s18 fights and 17 victories are still not enough to make any definitive conclusions that Page is on his way to becoming the next Silva.

“It matches up very well. It does not mean that MVP’s career can be matched with Anderson’s career at this moment,” McCarthy pointed out.