“Taliban, Taliban, Taliban, Taliban.”
That is how my interview with Jason “Mayhem” Miller kicked off. “I feel like they’ve been forgotten about. I really think the Taliban, everyone needs to remember they’re still out there.”
When you go by the name “Mayhem,” things seem to just sort of follow you. One of those things is the media. Over the last four years, Miller has not stepped foot inside a mixed martial arts cage, but has instead been arrested on a number of occasions.
At one point in his career, he was widely considered one of the best middleweight fighters in the world. His status has since changed, as has his reputation. Unfortunately for Miller, that could take some time to recover from.
“I got a bad rap and everybody lies and lies and lies,” Miller told MMASucka.com. “These lies are definitely hard to scrape off — they’re like barnacles at the bottom of a pirate ship. I’m saying that my life is a pirate ship and there are some barnacles to be scraped off. I just think in time people will realize that all this media hype was just garbage.
“I never said that I was a librarian, I never said that I was a priest or the greatest Samaritan, but man I do my part and it’s being overlooked. And that’s OK with me, that’s fine. I’m not supposed to be any of those things that I mentioned. I’m supposed to be a dude that punched, kicked and chokes people. And that’s what I’m gonna do, that’s my job, I’m really good at it and that’s the main thing that people have forgotten — is that I’m really good at fighting.”
A lot of articles on the internet are considered “click-bait.” And when Mayhem gets into some trouble with the law, the web goes crazy with articles stating that he is high on drugs, insane, drunk off his rocker, bi-polar and many other things. To Mayhem and some of his friends, though, the media has spun things in a way that has made him look a lot worse than he actually is.
“That’s the reason I’ve been arrested so many times is because of the media. Everybody likes to point a finger and say Mayhem’s the bad guy. I ain’t no bad guy, but I didn’t do anything to stop everyone from thinking that. That’s where I’m changing things up. Nowadays I’m just going to talk to people and let everyone decide if I’m really a bad guy. I know who I am and I know the just blatant lies that have been in the media this entire time. I made a big mistake, I got mad at the media and said alright, they’re gonna lie about me, so go fuck yourself then and I didn’t talk to anyone. So now there’s only one side of the story out there. Now I’m gonna be talking to you guys all the time.
“I’m not too good with public relations. I haven’t been and that’s mostly because I didn’t feel like talking to the media at all. I got a bad shake from ’em and now suddenly I just realized that, alright, fine, instead of not talking to the media I’m gonna get out in front and talk to you guys and make sure that the true story gets out there. It’ll take some time to repair all this mud slinging that’s been done, but I’m very confident in the future.”
On May 21, 2016 Miller will step back inside the cage for the first time since 2012. With a record of 28-9, 1NC, the 35 year old will look to add another championship to his mantle against Luke Barnatt at Venator FC 3 in Italy.
“I’m looking to cement my legacy. First of all with stomping this dude’s head — wait, that’s illegal. Can’t stomp the guys head, but I can punch the guys head into the mat, which is great. And I like how everybody is already overlooking me.”
When all is said and done with fighting, Mayhem looks to continue winning, but not with anything to do with combat sports. He and his company, Mayhem Miller Industries, has started a charity organization to help youth with childhood cancer. Finally — a positive spot for Miller.
“The one major thing that I’m really trying to get off the ground is Mayhem Videodome. It’s a charity for kids with cancer. We go there, furnish them with Xbox, Playstation 4 and just try to get them high energy happiness for children struggling with leukemia and these childhood cancers. That’s like kind of my focus for these past few months is trying to get that one up and running so that we can make Mayhem Miller Industries a leader in not only mixed martial arts, but also charitable contributions.”
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On his fight with Luke Barnatt…
“I actually just found out that he is an actual person that is different than Josh Barnett this week. I thought for sure we were putting on a big show. Josh Barnett is a friend of mine and he was the one that broke the news to me that we weren’t fighting. At first I was really broke up about it, but then I figured hell, this guy is way smaller than Josh Barnett.”
On his Real Sports interview with Bryant Gumbel…
“It wasn’t even Bryant Gumbel, it was a bootleg impostor of Bryant Gumbel. Eight, nine, ten hours… It was like an interrogation and he never got the answers he wanted, so instead they just edited me funny.
“They tried to portray me as some monster. The truth is they were barking up the wrong tree for that one. It was ridiculous, trying to compare me to damn War Machine or some ridiculousness. It’s like what the fu*k — you see what that guy did to her, I used to beat that kid up every single day.”
On being famous, but not for MMA…
“I’m arguably the most famous MMA fighter in the world, not necessarily for the championships I’ve won. But I get some press.”
On drugs and the fact that he has never been on them…
“Everyone forgets that I was this crazy way long time ago. Everyone’s gonna blame CTE, LMNOP, PCP, DMP, HIC, I don’t know what the fu*k kind of drugs they were saying I was on — crack, cocaine. Everyone had their own opinion on the fu*king internet and I was cracking up because I don’t even do those drugs.
“What do you mean now? I don’t do drugs. I’m just insane. I picked a career path where I got to fight other men. All of my buddies think that I’m pretty wild and insane in a fun way, not in a dangerous, like I should be in jail way.”
On whether the bad media ever gets to him…
“I’m a sensitive flower underneath this gruff exterior. I do a lot of positive things and I’m just shocked that everyone wants to take a chunk out of you. When you’re famous, everyone just wants to take a bite out of you whenever they can because it furthers their agenda and I’ve learned that the hard way over the last three years. I’ve really figured it out that when you’re on top, you’re flying high, it’s really hard for them to bite you. But when you have a bad run, everyone out there is just trying to take a chunk and cook it up.”
On fighting for a promoter who actually cares about his fighters…
“It’d be great to have some more meetings with Frank (Merenda – Venator FC President). He’s very adept. He’s one of the smarter ones. He definitely made a good move with me being part of his roster, because I put butts in seats — even in Italy. I’m worldwide famous and it’s just shocking that here in America I feel like I can never get a fair shake from those guys. Part of that is our history and I’ve always disagreed with how mixed martial arts has been handled here in America. I feel like they’re missing out on opportunities to do things a lot better than they could and that comes down to, what’s the chubby bald guy’s name? Yeah, that guy, it’s probably his fault. I get it, heavy is the head that wears the crown, but I feel like consistently that guy makes bad decisions.”
Listen to the entire interview with Jason “Mayhem” Miller on this week’s episode of Sucka Radio HERE.
