Leon Edwards believes the highly anticipated showdown between Ian Garry and Michael Page could be a lackluster affair.
Garry and Page are scheduled to meet on Saturday at UFC 303 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While Garry is known for his clean, accurate striking, “MVP” has built a career in Bellator MMA with highlight-laden knockouts.
However, Edwards is concerned that a Garry vs. Page bout would be a tepid affair due to the clash of similar styles. “Rocky,” who has sparred with both Garry and Page, believes the taller striker would hesitate to make the first move and end up spending most of his time finding the distance.
“It’s certainly interesting because it’s kind of a bit of a fencing match with both of them trying to get the distance… so I don’t know if it’s going to be a boring fight, they’re both trying to get the distance but nobody is going to go first,” Edwards told Red Corner MMA. “Or it’s probably going to be a great striking session… they’re both similar, they’re both tall strikers, kickboxer-like styles, not very good at grappling… I’m interested to see how they both approach it. I’ve trained and sparred with both of them so it’ll be interesting to see how it unfolds.”
There does not appear to be any serious feud between the two, but Garry and “MVP” have been trading harsh words in promoting the bout. Garry, who is not impressed with the matchup, has vowed to ruin Page’s promotion by using him as an example, while Page has repeatedly disparaged Garry’s online persona and promised to beat the Irishman.
Garry is on a seven-fight winning streak at UFC, capping it off with a split decision victory over veteran Geoff Neal at UFC 298 in February of this year, while Page made his promotional debut a month later at UFC 299, scoring a spectacular unanimous decision victory over Kevin Holland.
