It was shocking to fans and media alike last August who witnessed former WEC champ Ben Henderson virtually manhandling Jim Miller (20-3) at the UFC on Versus 5 event in Milwaukee.
Many considered Miller the No. 1 contender for the lightweight strap before the bout, but after the unanimous decision loss to Henderson the New Jersey based fighter has to rebuild his standing among the worlds top 155-lbs fighters.
Miller is set to headline this Friday’s (Jan. 20, 2012) UFC on FX 1 event against Melvin Guillard at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
In a recent interview with MMAMania.com, Miller discusses his upcoming fight versus Guillard and, not one to make an excuse, reveals just how ill he was against Henderson when asked.
(MMAmania.com): That’s completely understandable, now going back to you, it came out recently that before your fight with Ben Henderson, you were dealing with mononucleosis. You even found out you had a kidney infection. I know you’re not a guy who is all about excuses, otherwise this would have been out there much sooner, but do you feel like if some of those ailments hadn’t been there, the fight could have been completely different?
Jim Miller: I try not to think about it like that. The way I look at it is, I should have adapted to it. I kind of felt something was wrong warming up. I was just getting really gassed out just moving around, warming up for the fight. I didn’t really feel that rush of energy that I normally feel so I kind of knew that I wasn’t 100 percent and I was stubborn and bullheaded and continued to try to fight the same way that I always fight and at first, I was like, “That’s ok, that’s a good thing. That’s who I am and how I fight,” but when I think about it more and more, I should have adapted to it, fought a little more to gain dominant position. I felt like I had a technical advantage over him. I was able to put him in danger quite a bit but not able to put a stamp on it. I feel like I should have adapted to it and changed the strategy of the fight and the style of my fighting accordingly to deal with it.
(MMAmania.com): You had multiple submission attempts in that fight and do you credit the fact that they didn’t get finished to Henderson’s toughness, his ability to not get submitted, or was it more of a lack of energy thing?
Jim Miller: He is a very tough kid to submit. He’s flexible and tough and not getting freaked out from some close calls. The kneebar, I’ve never had one that deep that I didn’t finish and he ended up getting out of it because I couldn’t hold on with my arms anymore but I should have been able to use better technique. It was a whole bunch of things and the way he fought me definitely didn’t help my situation either. He put on a hell of a show and kept the pace up and took advantage of it.