8. Jim Miller vs Bobby Green
Jim Freakin’ Miller, indeed. No legend on the card, perhaps none active in the UFC today, are more deserving of respect than Jim Miller. A consummate professional, gentleman, and ferocious finisher, Miller’s decision to show up to UFC 300 media day wearing his fifteen-year old, exclusive UFC 100 jacket shows exactly why fans are so excited for him this week: he is the only many to compete at UFC 100 and 200 both, and will complete the triple crown when he fights this week. Bobby Green is a fan favorite in his own right, but everyone outside of his circle will be rooting for ‘A-10’ on Saturday night in Vegas. Miller’s leg kicks were chopping down the trunks of foes since the mid-aughts, and he has been snatching necks since then too. He became the first man to beat Charles Oliveira, way back in 2010 when he knee-barred the submission artist, and two years later had his first ‘Fight of the Year’ contender against Joe Lauzon, which he repeated when he won their rematch in 2016.
Other ‘Fight of the Night’ bonuses came against Matt Wiman, Pat Healy, Michael Chiesa, Scott Holtzman, and Dustin Poirier, who he almost defeated on Poirier’s lightweight rise by brutalizing the Diamond’s legs. He earned eight more bonuses for ‘Performance’ and ‘Submission of the Night’ victories. Combined he has fifteen post-fight bonuses, tied with his rival, Joe Lauzon, for fourth-most in UFC history. All this illustrates that his longevity and winning ways are accompanied by a resume of pure action, but the most impressive things about Miller are his records for wins and bouts in UFC history, sitting in sole possession of first place for both with impressive totals of 26 and 43, respectively. His first UFC fight was in 2008; averaging over two and a half fights and one and a half wins per year for sixteen years in a sport this difficult is absurd. It becomes even more absurd when you realize that Miller contracted Lyme disease, which wrecks one’s muscular system and even gave him a few years of memory loss, from a tick bite in 2013 that he did not get diagnosed until 2017 and properly treated until 2018.
Miller is now going on forty-one years old and still going to war with younger skilled fighters like Alexander Hernandez and Gabriel Benitez, as well as making DWCS signings look like they don’t even belong in the UFC by knocking them out with one punch, something he has done three times in the last six fights. He has not been finished since he battled Lyme in 2018, when ranked contender and future champ Charles Oliveira got revenge by submitting Miller, and has fought some of the best fighters in the lightweight division, from the aforementioned Poirier to Anthony Pettis, Clay Guida, Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, and ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. While several generations of fighters have came and went, Jim Miller has remained inevitable.
This section was not meant to be merely gushing about the legend of Jim Miller, as Bobby Green is a great and entertaining fighter in his own right, but it does feel appropriate. The swagger, reflexes, and timing of Green’s high-paced boxing style present a tough matchup for Miller, but Jim’s leg kicks, grappling proficiency, and sheer grit may earn him the victory. If he does, the crowd in T-Mobile Arena will surely erupt as they may not for the entire rest of the night, even though this is only the second fight on the early prelims. That is simply a testament to how stacked UFC 300 is.
Fight Rating: 8/10
