UFC 300
Athletes
The Eternal Jim Miller Keeps Making History
Lightweight Jim Miller Reflects On His Record-Breaking Career Before Adding Another Accolade To His Belt At UFC 300
In February of 2020, I had a chat with Jim Miller about his upcoming fight with Scott Holtzman. He was 36, had won three of his last four, with the only defeat coming in a rematch with future lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.
In other words, he was in a good place in his career, while also knowing that it wouldn’t last forever. So he had a goal in mind when it came to making a graceful exit.
“UFC 300 is not that far away,” he laughed. “Might as well go 100, 200, 300. That would be the top. If I make it to UFC 300, I’m going to demand to be on that card and that will be the last one.”
Fast forward a little more than four years. Miller is 40, he’s the UFC’s all-time leader in wins and fights, he’s won five of his last six, and he landed his spot on Saturday’s UFC 300 card against Bobby Green. Recently, I read him the above quote and simply asked the question:
Is this the last one?
“No, it's not the last one,” said Miller, and with that, the fight world can exhale, knowing that we will still see the Jersey standout making the walk to the Octagon for the foreseeable future.
“Things change and I feel like I got a handle on being an old timer in there,” he laughs. “I just kind of figured it out, it seems.”
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It has to be annoying for Miller to get those retirement questions over and over and over again. Yes, it’s understandable for a 40-year-old prizefighter to be asked about the end of the road, but it’s not like Miller has been slipping or riding a long losing streak. He’s won five out of his last six, finishing each victory, with the only defeat coming in February of 2023 against Alexander Hernandez. He’s still Jim “F**king” Miller, and with his usual class, he doesn’t hold it against anyone asking him about retirement.
Catching Up With Jim Miller | UFC 300
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Catching Up With Jim Miller | UFC 300
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“No, it doesn't bother me,” Miller said. “The thing is, I've been open talking about it, and a lot of athletes aren't comfortable talking about it because they feel like it's a chink in their armor. But I was so close, I had made the decision back in 2016 that I was ready to retire at UFC 200. And making that choice and then figuring out that I had Lyme disease and dealing with these other things, it was a long f**king road out of Lyme. But knowing that I was dealing with something that was beatable and fightable and curable, and not just miles on my body, it was like, okay, we’ve got something and we’ve got to deal with it. And I changed my lifestyle, and I changed the way that I do things. But yeah, I was ready. I was preparing myself to be done. And, in some ways, I feel like it's kind of lifted that little bit of weight off my shoulders where it's like, well, I am comfortable having this conversation. But you know what? Sometimes when it's like every fight, it's like, okay, let's move on.”
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Miller laughs, but life around the spring of 2013 was no laughing matter when he contracted Lyme disease. From that time until UFC 200, he was only able to compile a 3-4, 1 NC record, and he felt like the end was near because he didn’t know why he didn’t feel the same in the gym or the Octagon.
“Lyme is one of those things that it's very personal,” Miller said. “It's very unique to the individual, the way that it affects you, and I've met a lot of people who I feel had it way worse than I did, but it wasn't easy. And that's the thing, I was fighting every day. I was fighting it every single day. And for a bit there, I didn't know what I was fighting.”
He wasn’t the only one in the battle, either, as his wife Angel was fighting with him.
“I was essentially dealing with Alzheimer's because of it,” he said of the Lyme disease. “I would go into a room and I would get lost. I would just freeze. And I can't imagine what my wife had to go through at that time. She doesn't get enough credit.”
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Once the couple and their children figured out the cause, the Millers got down to business.
“Once I learned that I was getting my ass kicked by something that could be beaten, it was like, okay, now I'm going to knuckle down and take it head on.”
Diagnosed and treated, Miller felt like his old self again. At UFC 200, he halted former PRIDE star Takanori Gomi in less than three minutes and added two more wins over Joe Lauzon and Thiago Alves. There would be ups and downs over the next seven years, but Miller wasn’t out of his depth. Again, he was Jim “F**king” Miller.
These days, he’s as good as he’s ever been, as mentioned earlier he’s got a couple records that have not been easy to come by in most fights (43) and most wins (26) in UFC history. And on Saturday, he’ll be the only fighter who has competed on UFC 100, UFC 200 and UFC 300. So should we ask that question about the “R” word again?
“Like I said, I think that I've put myself in a unique spot in that I'm open and willing to talk about it,” said Miller. “I think that a lot of other fighters would just shut it down. They're not comfortable with it. But my whole thing has always been that fighting is just something that I do. It's not who I am. I am a father to four children and a husband to my amazing wife before anything else. And I know that I can't continue to do this forever. And there's definitely going to be life after fighting So I'm playing it by ear. And I will say this, and you can hold me to this one. If we are talking before my 50th UFC fight, that will be my last one.”
UFC 300: Pereira vs Hill took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 13, 2024. See the final Prelim and Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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