UFC Paris adds several bouts, including Michael Page’s surprising middleweight return

Michael Page is returning to middleweight to face Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC Paris on September 5 at Accor Arena, with the event streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. The bout marks an unexpected shift after Page's recent welterweight campaign: he had gone 2-0 at middleweight with victories over Shara Magomedov and Jared Cannonier before requesting a move back to 170 pounds. The UFC granted that request, and Page defeated Sam Patterson at UFC London in March in a largely uneventful performance. Now he steps back up to face the surging Ruziboev, who holds a 5-1 UFC record with his sole loss coming in a welterweight appearance against Joaquin Buckley at UFC St. Louis in May 2024. The card also adds several other bouts: a light heavyweight contest between Modestas Bukauskas and Oumar Sy; Losene Keita's octagon return against Muhammad Naimov; a heavyweight fight pairing Mario Pinto and Ryan Spann; a middleweight bout featuring France's Matthieu Duclos in his UFC debut against Luis Felipe Dias; and a women's bantamweight matchup with Nora Cornolle, fighting at home, against Klaudia Sygula.