From UFC Connected, lightweight legend Jim Miller looks back at the top 5 fights in his record-breaking career ahead of facing …
every time Jim Miller steps into the Octagon he’s making history the New Jersey native currently owns the records for the most fights and the most wins in the UFC this tough nose soft-spoken fighter a master reel of highlights over more than 15 years we tasked Miller with looking back over his impressive body of work to choose five of his all-time favorite belts [Applause] I was born to be a fighter I was made to do this I was made to be in this type of rough and tumble life I’m a big fan of Jim Miller that kid’s a Savage he is gritty as they come I’ve been able to hang around for about 14 years now thus far and make the walk to the Octagon so many times when I look back on my UFC career and I look at how many times I fought and all the opponents that I fought it makes proud to have gotten this far and to have been able to hang on this long 40 fights into his UFC career still getting it done it’s definitely cool to have been a part of so many great events and so many great fights what a fight I’m Jim Miller and these are my top five fights coming in at number five is my fight with kamalarus at UFC 128. that was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do on that day my brother Dan and I were both on the main card Dan been his brother had a couple of savages the fabulous fighting Miller Brothers the day that we fought would have been my late niece’s second birthday and seeing my brother fight with a broken heart and lose all I wanted to do was give him a hug and uh it’s time for me to walk he is as game as they come just like his brother Dan will fight anyone I had to push it down then go out and fight honestly I think it was one of my best performances I’ve ever had [Applause] and I feel like I did so as quickly as I could so that I could go back and I could talk my brother it’s something that I’m never gonna forget coming into number four is my first fight with Charles Oliveira that was at UFC 124 I was a little bit pumped up going into that fight because there was a lot of talk and a lot of Buzz around Charles his Jiu Jitsu is top of the food chain and everybody was telling me how are you gonna deal with the Jiu Jitsu and I remember thinking like I’m a black belt I had this feeling like when I grabbed the hold of him I was going to overwhelm with my strength here we go I went out there and I knew he was going to be aggressive I knew he was going to come at me got into a little bit of striking with them pressed him took him down and Miller’s not going to take him down now and I knew it was going to be dangerous off the ground Miller’s going to be very careful aloe vera attacking from his back he threw up some attacks I was able to fend them off pretty easily and I saw the opportunity to swing for his leg and just attacked and was able to secure the knee bar and get the submission [Music] wow that is a huge feather and Jim Miller’s cap coming into number three was my fight with Fabricio camos at UC 168 early in my career I fought very intensely as I’ve been able to kind of control that intensity throughout the years the calmer I am the more dangerous I am I came out of the fight with Fabricio and you know I was calm and was kind of feeling him out we got into a little striking exchange they battled in the middle of the octagon and he ended up taking me down come on takes him down swung with his left hand when he did he opened his hips up so I swung for the armbar and curled my heels to my butt and he stood up and I was able to hook his ankle with my right arm it didn’t take very long for me to be able to extend my hips and get the submission [Applause] pretty quickly into the first round to Mid a third degree black though our finished Jim Miller coming in number two is my UC Davis UC 89 against David Barron it was the first time that I ever fought outside of the state of New Jersey I ended up hiding in England against the guy who was actually ranked in the top five in the world at welterweight he was a very conditioned athlete very tough guy I just knew I had to overwhelm with my pace and my pressure and I just pressed hard from the get-go real good pressure from the top by Miller and was able to win a lot of the Striking stages use my wrestling to take him down and dominate the ground game as well he’s real confident with his top game I felt him start to slow down a little bit and was able to take his back got my arm under his chin and was able to secure the rear naked choke that’s deep that’s it it is all over I was able to get a submission of the night bonus in my USA debut which was extremely impactful on my life and my career that fight definitely set me up to compete with the best in the world my number one pick is my first fight with Joe Lauzon at UFC 155 and I was fighting a guy that I’ve been super friendly with you know since the beginning and finally had the opportunity to share the octagon with them and we went out and put it all out there [Music] I knew that he was going to come at me hard for the entire 15 minutes blows on forever game keeps pressing forward there’s no quitting him and he definitely proved it he can’t question the heart of Joe Lauzon the first round of that fight I kind of dumped everything into it I ended up Landing an elbow and once that first one landed it was just game on to just keep throwing them he’s going with the elbow now and I remember hitting him and him opening up huge cut on the grill of Joel ozon my game plan originally was not to take it to the ground and then in the second round I was exhausted so I ended up out of instinct shooting and take him down and I was trying to pass them out so that I could set up a submission in the process we ended up bumping up into me and I kind of fell back to try to get a joke and it potentially cost me the round on the judge’s card to round two for Joe Lauzon during the minute breakdown between rounds I can still hear the crowd the crowd certainly appreciating the effort here of both men with short time left on the clock I knew how tired he was so I would press forward and me stopping forward exhausted he threw up the heel hook so Low’s not dropping down for you I was able to shrink my knee pretty quickly and it wasn’t too much of a danger and then as we scrambled up together he wrapped up my neck and with how sweaty and bloody we were and exhausted it wasn’t really close at all wrote out the position and didn’t want to get myself any deeper what [Applause] I remember standing up after the fight hearing the Roar of the crowd that caught a standing ovation from the crowd here that was a special fight we both put on a gritty performance really amazing to be a part of that the appreciation that we got from the fans that night was amazing that’s one of the fights that I feel that should definitely end up in the Hall of Fame just an absolutely fantastic fight I’m Jim Miller and those are my top five fights [Applause] foreign