Bellator lightweight Fernando Gonzalez figures he’s being used by the promotion to bring Michael Page back to earth. Why else, he wonders, would he get the call to fight Page after the undefeated phenom asked for more money?
“No more protection – time to take an ass-whipping,” Gonzalez (25-13 MMA, 5-0 BMMA), who meets Page (11-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) at Saturday’s Bellator 165, told MMAjunkie.
That’s fine, he said, as long as he benefits from the result, which he expects to be the first correction on Page’s meteoric rise in the Viacom-owned promotion.
“I deserve a title shot after this,” Gonzalez said. “I should’ve had it already. I don’t see why they wouldn’t give it to me now.”
When Page appeared on an Internet radio show and made it known was asking for bigger fight purses, Gonzalez did not hear a fighter doing what’s best for his career. He interpreted it as an admission that he was going to get beaten soon, so why not cash out?
Page, for the record, was arguing for compensation commensurate with his ability to draw more eyeballs to the Viacom-owned promotion, which is easy to see given the highlight-reel knockouts and mainstream interest he’s garnered.
Gonzalez doesn’t see that, but then again, he doesn’t see much of what his opponent says in a favorable light. Maybe that’s just what happens when you’ve spent six months training for a guy who doesn’t think much of you.
On three occasions, Gonzalez has put in a training camp for Page. The first two times, they traded withdrawals. He’s over the whole experience.
“It’s a pain in the butt that should have been done already,” he said.
Page has said Gonzalez isn’t on his level and should retire after they fight on the Spike-televised main card of Saturday’s event a SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. Obviously, that doesn’t sit well with the 33-year-old fighter nicknamed “The Menifee Maniac.”
“All he’s doing now is running his mouth,” Gonzalez said. “I’m not saying I’m not going to take damage. In order for me to get to him, I’m going to get hit. That’s part of the game. As a mixed martial artist, I’m better than him.”
It’s more than a difference in skills, though. For Gonzalez, Page is the symbol of the unfairness that comes with star treatment. The Brit has gotten an easy road, fighting unranked and unheralded opposition, while he’s fought and beaten a series of tough veterans without much fanfare.
While Page has racked up knockouts, Gonzalez has quietly amassed a five-fight streak, taking out tournament champ Karl Amoussou, would-be UFC champ Karo Parisian, and former DREAM champ Marius Zaromskis.
“He is a talented fighter,” Gonzalez admitted. “I can’t take that away from him. But in my opinion, he’s been carried along and pampered, and I think that’s going to hurt him tremendously. It was good to get his name out there, but it’s going to hurt him now, because he’s got a stiff test.”
To hear Page tell it, he’s suffered from a lack of marquee opponents because he simply can’t get any to sign on the dotted line. It’s hard to convince a star to risk the possibility of winding up on a highlight reel, and so he’s been forced to fight a series of short-notice fights.
One of them, of course, was supposed to be Gonzalez. They were scheduled to meet at Bellator 158 before Gonzalez withdrew from the event. Page went on to literally break the face of veteran Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos.
But for Gonzalez, a fighter who seems to have a larger-than-usual chip on his shoulder, Bellator has been taking it easy on Page. Now, they’re bringing in a real opponent to downgrade his value.
“If they promoted me like they should, people would know this is a really stiff test for him, and he’s in trouble in this fight,” he said. “But at this point now, it’s go out and have fun.”
Such is the motivation for a fighter who’s looking for his big break. It’s easy to see the world pushing against you, to imagine that knocking down the big star is the thing that brings a sort of justice to the fight game, even though that’s not always the case. Gonzalez certainly stands to benefit enormously if he’s able to stop “Venom.” He could also wind up being another highlight reel. But the amount of time he’s lived with this fight, he sees no scenario where that’s possible.
He can’t wait to show the world what he believes to be the truth about Page, and to step into the spotlight that’s left empty. He’s tired of how people see him.
“There’s so much hype and media behind him, once I beat him, everybody’s going to know who I am,” Gonzalez said. “Until now, I’m still in the underdog guy.”
For more on Bellator 165, check out the MMA Rumors section of MMAjunkie.
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