Michael 'Venom' Page has reacted to the news he will face Paul Daley in the first round of the Bellator welterweight tournament.

Bellator MMA made it official yesterday; Michael “Venom” Page will take on Paul Daley in the first round of the Bellator welterweight tournament later this year.

Contracts have been sent out to Daley and Page multiple times previously without both parties ever agreeing to sign on the dotted line. Thankfully, the wait now appears to be over with the announcement of the opening round fights of the Bellator welterweight GP and speaking exclusively to MMANytt.com this morning, Page reacted to the news that he will finally get the opportunity to fight Daley.

“I’m happy now, he’s got nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide,” Page said. “He’s got no excuses anymore and everyone will know. He can’t pull out because it would be stupid to do that in such a big competition. I feel like it’s definitely happening now and I’m happy.”

Whilst the fight has been announced, fans are still awaiting to hear when and where it will be taking place. According to Page, no dates have yet been suggested, but he’s adamant the fight has to happen in the UK and that he wants it to go down sooner rather than later.

“They’ve still got to confirm a few things because of the new DAZN partnership,” Page said. “It’s all a bit rushed at the moment and there’s a few things that still need to fall into place. In my opinion, there’s no way we can have this outside of the UK. It has to be in the UK. I don’t believe they would want to do it anywhere else. We have to do this here for the UK fans. I’m not sure exactly when, but I’m almost certain it will be before the end of the year. “I want this as soon as possible, it really doesn’t bother me. If you tell me it’s happening next week then great, that just means I’ll be punching him in the face sooner rather than later.”

Ask a fighter how they want a fight to go and they’ll usually respond by saying “a first round finish.” This isn’t how Page wants his fight with Daley to go though. The London Shootfighters man wants Daley to pay for what has gone down previously and that involves making Daley well aware of the skill discrepancy between the pair of them.