UFC Fight Night: Michael Page vs Nursulton Ruziboev Preview & Prediction

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A middleweight featured fight pits two of the longest men in the division against each other, as Michael Venom Page returns to 185 pounds to face the surging Uzbek finisher Nursulton Ruziboev.

Michael Page vs Nursulton Ruziboev facts

What time are Michael Page and Nursulton Ruziboev expected to walk out? 5 September 2026 at 9:45 pm

Where is UFC Fight Night: Hooker vs Parnasse? Accor Arena, Paris, France

Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night: Hooker vs Parnasse? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC Fight Night 287

What TV channel is UFC Fight Night: Hooker vs Parnasse on? UK – TNT Sports / USA – Paramount

Where can I stream UFC Fight Night: Hooker vs Parnasse? UK – TNT Sports can stream the event online via the TNT Sports website and HBO Max / USA – Paramount+ & UFC Fight Pass

UFC Fight Night: Hooker vs Parnasse main card

Dan Hooker vs Salahdine Parnasse (Lightweight)

Fares Ziam vs Axel Sola (Lightweight)

Michael Page vs Nursulton Ruziboev (Middleweight)

Daniil Donchenko vs Punahele Soriano (Welterweight)

Kurtis Campbell vs Trevor Peek (Featherweight)

Losene Keita vs Muhammad Naimov (Featherweight)

UFC Fight Night: Hooker vs Parnasse prelims

Morgan Charriere vs Felipe Lima (Featherweight)

Mario Pinto vs Ryan Spann (Heavyweight)

Oumar Sy vs Modestas Bukauskas (Light Heavyweight)

Nathaniel Wood vs Pavel Andrusca (Featherweight)

Michael Aljarouj vs Fabia Sintes (Flyweight)

Nora Cornolle vs Klaudia Sygula (Women's Bantamweight)

Matthieu Letho Duclos vs Luis Felipe Dias (Middleweight)

Delphine Benouaich vs Sofia Montenegro (Women's Strawweight)

Michael Page:  “Venom” back at middleweight and looking to silence the critics

Michael Page (25-3) is on a three-fight win streak and 4-1 in the promotion, having beaten Shara Magomedov and Jared Cannonier at middleweight before dropping back to welterweight in March to get the decision over Sam Patterson. The 39-year-old is arguably the most elite point striker in MMA, fighting almost exclusively on the outside, staying out of range unless he has initiated the exchange and blitzing in with a feint jab step-in straight from a karate stance. These days he showboats, throws very little volume, and wins rounds by landing the cleanest shot of the round, often a straight or overhand followed by a push to the canvas.

Nursulton Ruziboev: A seasoned wrecking machine with 21 submissions

Nursulton Ruziboev (37-9-2, 2 NC) celebrated his 50th pro fight in June by choking Andrey Pulyaev unconscious inside the first round, his third straight win since returning to middleweight. The 32-year-old Uzbek is 5-1 in the UFC, with a first-round KO of Brunno Ferreira, a TKO over Sedriques Dumas and Eric McConico, and a decision over Dustin Stoltzfus to his name. 21 of his 37 wins have come by submission and 26 of them wins have come inside the opening round. He stalks with patient pressure, stays light on his feet, has fast kicks and heavy hands, and is very dangerous when the fight hits the mat.

Michael Page vs Nursulton Ruziboev prediction

Ruziboev just fought a slower version of this puzzle. Pulyaev is the same archetype, tall, awkward on the outside, hard to pin down and not much of a KO threat coming back. Ruziboev solved it by catching a kick, taking him down, and finishing it with a rear naked. The obvious difference is that Page is far faster than anything Pulyaev offered.

That kick catch matters, because Ian Garry found the same route to taking down MVP at UFC 303. Garry also found the clinch easily off Page’s feint and overhand entry and pushed him to the fence, and Page couldn’t work his way back up once he was down there. That’s the blueprint. Page is too quick to be chased down, so Ruziboev has to use that speed against him and take hold on the entries.

MVP’s submission defence is solid, but he hasn’t faced a grappler of this calibre in the octagon. Kevin Holland took his back and threatened a submission on just two takedown attempts, and Holland is a smaller man using grappling opportunistically. Give Ruziboev a grappling focused night and he can bank control time at minimum, with the rear naked always live.

MVP has made so many opponents look amateur on the feet, and that remains the highest possibility here, but Ruziboev is the better price with more ways to win.

Prediction: Nursulton Ruziboev to win by submission