Saturday’s UFC on FOX main event between Jim Miller and Nathan Diaz could end up having big implications in the lightweight division.
Champion Benson Henderson and Frankie Edgar will likely tie up in August, which means a title fight for the winner of Miller/Diaz is still a ways off. And Anthony Pettis is still in the mix, adding further to the logjam that has accumulated at the top of the UFC’s lightweight division over the past year.
Diaz noted last week on a conference call to promote the FOX event that he’d been told that the winner of his fight with Miller would get a title shot. That might be the case, or it might not.
Things change so quickly, especially in a sport where legitimate new contenders seemingly emerge overnight.
Even if the winner of the FOX main event does secure a title shot, they’ll have to wait awhile. And so, for now at least, Miller is completely focused on Diaz. That’s a smart move. Diaz has proven that he’s a force to be reckoned with at lightweight, as evidenced by his dismantling of Donald Cerrone at UFC 141 late last year.
Cerrone was the potential contender with all of the momentum in the world and was just one win over Diaz away from becoming a bonafide title challenger, but Diaz derailed those plans in a hurry.
Miller is confident going into the fight, telling Heavy.com MMA‘s Duane Finley that he feels he has several distinct advantages over Diaz:
I see wrestling being one advantage. I’m comfortable anywhere, and that seems to have been the downfall for some of these guys – that they are tentative to go to the ground with him. They are not fighting as complete fighters. I fight with reckless abandon, too, and while the ground is a dangerous place to be with Diaz, as long as I’m being the aggressor then I’ll get after him and beat him up.
Miller is slightly more than a 2-1 favorite according to Vegas sportsbooks, and rightly so. He’s a better all-around fighter than Diaz and has the kind of wrestling game that can nullify much of what Diaz enjoys doing on the feet and the ground.
The key for Miller is to avoid playing the distance striking game with Diaz, because that’s where the Stocktonian truly excels. Just ask Donald Cerrone how that game worked out.
Miller needs to get inside and make it a grind. He needs to make it ugly. And ugly doesn’t always make for the most exciting fights in the world. But knowing Miller, he’ll figure out a way to thrill the fans, because that’s what he always does.
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