Athletes
Jim Miller Is Always Going To Bring The Fight
Veteran Lightweight Jim Miller Only Knows How To Seek A Finish, And He’ll Look To Do As Much At UFC Fight Night: Kara-France vs Albazi
Not much changes for Jim Miller these days, which is more or less how the UFC’s all-time leader in fights and wins likes it. Miller has fought about three times per year for the majority of his 18-year career, including his now 15 years spent fighting in the Octagon — striking consistency in a sport infamous for its unpredictability.
However, the 39-year-old is not immune to the inevitable struggles of approaching middle age, which is to say: Jim Miller is rocking a mullet these days.
It’s a hairdo he flirted with in his loss to Alexander Hernandez in February, but the lettuce up top has “A-10” looking like an 80s rockstar. Miller jokes that it’s less of a midlife crisis but rather a “two-thirds life” crisis, an exaggeration in the context of a regular lifespan but perhaps an underestimation when compared with the usual career-span for a fighter. Regardless, he wears it well.
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“I'm going to be 40 this year, and it's still here, so we might as well let it grow out,” Miller told UFC.com. “I think I think I started to wear (down) my wife a little bit, and she yanked on it once or twice, and she's like, ‘You know what? Keep it.’”
Jim Miller: History Is Made | UFC 30th Anniversary
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Jim Miller: History Is Made | UFC 30th Anniversary
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With spousal approval in tow, Miller approaches his 42nd fight in the Octagon at UFC Fight Night: Kara-France vs Albazi, where he will face UFC debutant Jesse Butler, who is replacing Jared Gordon (who replaced Ludovít Klein after he was forced to pull out of the bout).
The fight is a chance for Miller to bounce back from his decision defeat to Hernandez. The result was Miller’s first loss since April 2021, and surely a disappointment considering he was coming off three consecutive second-round finishes. All told, he is letting it slide off his back rather easily.
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“It still kind of cements who I am and what I do,” Miller said. “I don’t fight for the judges. I don't fight to score points. I fight to finish the fight. I understand that the fights aren't scored in that way, but that's why I fell in love with this sport 20 something years ago when I first started watching. It was that aggressive style of fighting. I feel like I had a lot closer opportunities to finish the fight than he did, (but) the judges went the other way.”
Miller admitted he kind of enjoys the nervous energy that comes with fighting someone early in their UFC tenure due to the unpredictability factor.
“I do enjoy kind of the nerves that I get a little bit sometimes from fighting these unknowns,” he said. “It's a little bit harder sometimes to fight the guy that's only got a couple of fights in the UFC (than a veteran).”
On his latest three-fight streak, Miller started with a couple knockout wins (his first in five years) over Erick Gonzalez and Nikolas Motta — a pair of debutants when they competed. All told, Miller could snatch another good win to extend his all-time record and perhaps break that tie with Cowboy Cerrone for finishes.
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Miller has a handful of milestones in his sights, as well. One of them is to fight at UFC 300, which would make him the only fighter to fight at UFC 100, UFC 200 and 300. He is also still eyeing the finishes record, which Charles Oliveira currently holds with 19 total. At the moment, Miller is tied with Cerrone for second, but taking that place for his own would certainly add a nice cherry on top of a potential bounce-back win over Butler.
“I'm confident that if I can create those opportunities, create some scrambles, I can submit anybody,” Miller said. “That’s what a Jim Miller fight is, just trying to land a couple of good strikes, make somebody panic, and pounce. Just make it a make it a fight that the people watching the card remember.”
If the fight goes the way Miller wants, it certainly will be memorable – if not for the result, at least for the glorious hairdo flapping along while he does his work.
UFC Fight Night: Kara-France vs Albazi took place live from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 3, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
