We already had a hunch UK MMA fighter Michael “Venom” Page was a huge nerd, albeit one who could kick our asses in many ways and disciplines. He loves comic books, pro-wrestling, and earned his nickname based on a Shaw Brothers cult film (and not, as we might have guessed, from a symbiotic Spider-Man foe). And we knew he wanted to be the very best, like no-one ever was. Just maybe not this literally.
On Saturday night, he certainly demonstrated the power that’s inside, as seen in the video above. After knocking out opponent Evangelista Santos, Page made his intentions clear by rolling a Pokeball towards his fallen foe, donning a signature red-and-white hat, and striking a Pokemon trainer pose. In the real world, of course, Santos will never fit inside that ball. But Page made it clear that when it comes to opponents, he’s gonna catch ’em all…off guard.
Page has previously borrowed celebratory gestures from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but frankly, any athlete can take a phrase like “Layeth the smacketh down on your candy ass!” and make it intimidating. Taking a taunt from a cartoon character (Ash) who is arguably the least intimidating anime protagonist ever, unless you’re a weird cartoon animal he enslaves? Only a guy who can seriously bring the pain and back up the taunt is going to do that. In literal and figurative ways, you could say, he has balls. Red and white ones.
MMA’s not all that unlike Pokemon, when you think about it. It’s almost like humans who compete in it ARE Pokemon. Whoah. All the time we thought we were training them, they were training us.
What would your nerdy victory pose be, if you had one? Leave your thoughts in comments so we can have a peek-at-you!
Featured image: Bellator MMA
