Close but no cigar – That is the best way to sum up Jim Miller’s chase for the ultimate prize for his spoils of war, a UFC championship. On two separate occasions the New Jersey native has been on the fringe of title contention before being knocked off his perch and back to the bottom of the 155-pound logjam.
Last time he tasted defeat, to UFC lightweight kingpin Benson Henderson he quickly got back up from the pavement, brushed himself off and got back on the horse. This time an unfortunate injury to former title-challenger Gray Maynard opened the door for a fight that made grappling purists salivate against Joe Lauzon. He spoke with MMASucka.com about his upcoming fight.
“I was actually in the woods doing a little hunting when my manager called me with that fight offer so it was sort of funny with where I was in the middle of nowhere but as soon as I heard it, I was ready to go and get back into the swing of things,”
Lauzon, an eleven time fight bonus winner and jiu-jitsu wizard is fresh off one of his most high-profile victories in his career. On the big-stage on FOX Lauzon had an all-out war with Jamie Varner as both men firmly placed their named in the ‘Fight of the year’ bag.
The unfortunate part of being in the hurt business and being two of the good guys of the division, you’re probably going to have to punch each other in the face one day. Miller and Lauzon have had a friendly relationship for years but on December 29 that all goes on the backburner, at least for 15 minutes.
“Joe is a great guy, we’ve had quite a few conversations. We took some talks together for some sponsors so I’ve spent some time with him and he’s a real great guy but when it comes to fight night it’s a fight,” he continued “I beat the guys up in this room, my friends and my brother and give them bloody noses and hurt them so come the 29th it really doesn’t matter who steps in front of me, I’m there to win and win dominantly”
‘J-Lau’ feels that his submission skills are savvy enough to force the top-ranked lightweight to submit but Miller is opting to throw game plans out the window and prepare for the best Joe Lauzon we’ve ever seen.
“For me, I try not to really have much of a game plan because as the famous saying goes ‘Everyone’s got a game plan until they get punched in the face’ and Joe is a really aggressive fighter and I can count on that, so technique wise and what he’s good at or bad at doesn’t matter. We’re all training hard and trying to improve so I can’t expect him to make the mistakes he’s made in the past”
Miller and Lazuon will serve as the co-feature of the UFC’s annual year-end card and if you like watching awesome, talented and unpredictable dudes fight then you better be excited for this one folks.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Follow @justinfauxmma on Twitter and keep up with the latest news by following @MMASucka on Twitter and on Facebook
