Mayhem Miller says he’s been arrested several times ‘because of the media’

Jason Miller discusses finding out he isn’t fighting heavyweight Josh Barnett and being a ‘sensitive flower’ underneath his ‘gruff exterior,’ and also blames his tarnished picture on the media.

“I’m arguably the most famous MMA fighter in the world, not necessarily for the championships I’ve won. But I get some press.”

The above is a comment from Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who returns to active mixed martial arts competition at Venator FC 3 against fellow UFC veteran Luke Barnatt in May. Miller has been out of action since 2012 when he was released  from the UFC.

Miller has been a troubled character, to say the least, for his entire 15-year career. Most recently, the 35-year-old was arrested earlier this month in Santa Ana, California for a January incident that involved allegedly vandalizing a tattoo parlor and was released on a bail of $1,000,000.  Mayhem was also arrested in February for suspicion of DUI.

Despite the recent arrests, Venator FC President Frank Merenda still appears to be on board with allowing Miller to compete in Venator FC 3’s co-main event. Merenda has continuously supported Miller throughout his experiences with the law, to many people’s surprise.

In a video Miller posted when his fight with Barnatt was first announced, he was referring to his opponent as Josh Barnett, who of course is a current UFC heavyweight fighter. Was it a joke? Was Mayhem just trying to be funny? Apparently not.

“I actually just found out that he is an actual person that is different than Josh Barnett this week,” Miller told MMASucka.com earlier 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.”

Miller believes his picture has been tarnished over time because of the “Mayhem act” and his outside personality, but claims everyone has taken it too far when it comes to making him look like a bad person.

“I got a bad rap and everybody lies and lies and lies. 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 okay 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.”

More specifically, Miller blames the media.

“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.”

“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.”

Miller also added he thinks it is wrong for the public to blame drugs for his bad behavior, when they don’t know his side of the story — and when he doesn’t do many of the drugs the public thinks he does.

“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 f-ck kind of drugs they were saying I was on — crack, cocaine. Everyone had their own opinion on the f-cking internet and I was cracking up because I don’t even do those 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.

“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.”

According to Mayhem, the support between him and the Venator FC President is mutual. He plans to go in there on May 21, pick up a victory over Barnatt — not Josh Barnett — and see where the wind blows him.

“It’d be great to have some more meetings with Frank, 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.”

Jason Miller discusses finding out he isn’t fighting heavyweight Josh Barnett and being a ‘sensitive flower’ underneath his ‘gruff exterior,’ and also blames his tarnished picture on the media.

“I’m arguably the most famous MMA fighter in the world, not necessarily for the championships I’ve won. But I get some press.”

The above is a comment from Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who returns to active mixed martial arts competition at Venator FC 3 against fellow UFC veteran Luke Barnatt in May. Miller has been out of action since 2012 when he was released  from the UFC.

Miller has been a troubled character, to say the least, for his entire 15-year career. Most recently, the 35-year-old was arrested earlier this month in Santa Ana, California for a January incident that involved allegedly vandalizing a tattoo parlor and was released on a bail of $1,000,000.  Mayhem was also arrested in February for suspicion of DUI.

Despite the recent arrests, Venator FC President Frank Merenda still appears to be on board with allowing Miller to compete in Venator FC 3’s co-main event. Merenda has continuously supported Miller throughout his experiences with the law, to many people’s surprise.

In a video Miller posted when his fight with Barnatt was first announced, he was referring to his opponent as Josh Barnett, who of course is a current UFC heavyweight fighter. Was it a joke? Was Mayhem just trying to be funny? Apparently not.

“I actually just found out that he is an actual person that is different than Josh Barnett this week,” Miller told MMASucka.com earlier 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.”

Miller believes his picture has been tarnished over time because of the “Mayhem act” and his outside personality, but claims everyone has taken it too far when it comes to making him look like a bad person.

“I got a bad rap and everybody lies and lies and lies. 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 okay 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.”

More specifically, Miller blames the media.

“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.”

“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.”

Miller also added he thinks it is wrong for the public to blame drugs for his bad behavior, when they don’t know his side of the story — and when he doesn’t do many of the drugs the public thinks he does.

“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 f-ck kind of drugs they were saying I was on — crack, cocaine. Everyone had their own opinion on the f-cking internet and I was cracking up because I don’t even do those 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.

“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.”

According to Mayhem, the support between him and the Venator FC President is mutual. He plans to go in there on May 21, pick up a victory over Barnatt — not Josh Barnett — and see where the wind blows him.

“It’d be great to have some more meetings with Frank, 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.”