Jim Miller continued defying the odds with his latest submission win over Jared Gordon at UFC 328 and he’s not done yet.
He already owns a multitude of records in the UFC and he’s still going strong at 42 years old. After his 47th fight in the promotion, Miller also inked a new five-fight deal so he can reach his ultimate goal for 50 fights in the UFC — a record that could potentially stand forever.
Of course, Miller recognizes that it seems like he’s doing the impossible by not only staying on the UFC roster this long but he’s still winning fights at this stage of his career, which is a feat many top fighters of the past have tried and failed at previously. That said, Miller knows he can’t fight forever, which is why he set that goal for 50 fights and then he’s calling it a career.
“It’s a day to day thing,” Miller said after UFC 328 on Saturday. “There’s this thing that I deal with right. There’s this pretty famous college professor, Henry Jones Jr., you might know him as Indiana — he said it’s not the years, it’s the miles. I’ve got a lot of miles on the body. I want to get to 50. I don’t want anything stupid to happen. That’s why I train with the team that I do. They’re awesome guys. I don’t get all the looks in the room. It’d be nice to have particular body types and styles but I have a group of guys that I can trust, that trust me. We can do what I need to do to prepare and they give me the looks that I need. I can do it in a safe way.
“I think way too many careers in this sport are cut short by silly injuries and preventable injuries that happen inside the room. So I want to get to 50 and then be able to sail off into the sunset.”
While he’s never been big on callouts during his career, Miller admits there are still plenty of challenges for him before retirement.
He previously called Justin Gaethje a dream fight just because Miller knows that would be a slugfest from start to finish. But Miller admits there’s another name out there that would definitely interest him and it would undoubtedly be the biggest fight of his Hall of Fame career.
“Whoever,” Miller said about who he wants next. “Unfortunately, I think I might have broke my left hand in the four minutes that we were fighting. But I hear there’s an Irishman looking for a fight. I think that would be a fun one.”
The Irishman is obviously Conor McGregor, who has been plotting his comeback with UFC CEO Dana White recently announcing that he expected the former two-division champion to return “this summer.” Rumors are swirling that McGregor could potentially face Max Holloway as soon as UFC 329 on July 11 but no deal is done yet for that fight.
If that matchup happens, McGregor’s future may largely be tied to the result because with generational money already in the bank, he already doesn’t need to fight again.
But with three fights left until he hangs up his gloves, Miller loves the idea of having some interesting matchups along the way and McGregor obviously qualifies. More than anything, Miller just wants to get to 50 fights unscathed so he can walk away with his head held high.
“Now it’s like OK let’s get to the point where we’re satisfied with fighting and the numbers are kind of one of my things,” Miller said. “So yeah, I want to get to 50 [fights].”
As far as that final tour before retirement, Miller plans to celebrate every step of the way and he doesn’t mind that he’s going to face a lot of similar questions about his storied career.
In fact, Miller says he’s going to embrace every second of it whether that’s interacting with fans, media or the UFC putting the spotlight on him when he finally gets to that 50th fight. After battling back from Lyme disease — an affliction that nearly ended his career — Miller is thankful for every moment he still gets to step in the cage and compete.
“I’m excited for that,” Miller said. “I was so close [to retiring]. When I fought Diego [Sanchez] at [UFC] 196, I was so close to retiring at UFC 200. I was training for that fight at 196 and I was like I need to get through this and I want to get to 200 because it’s like hey you fought on [UFC] 100 and 200 and that’ll be cool. I think going through what I went through made it a lot easier for me to talk about it.
“I already dealt with it. I already had a camp where I couldn’t do anything. I was so broken down that the guys would be sparring and I’d be trotting on the treadmill because if I even thought about doing live [sparring], I was banged up for three days. I’ve already gone through it. I’ve already dealt with those demons and I conquered the ego with it.”
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