Fighting is a family affair for the Millers. Both Dan and Jim epitomize the old school mentality of “anyone, anytime, anywhere,” so when Dan pulled out of his UFC 152 fight against Sean Pierson you knew there had to be a legitimate re…
Fighting is a family affair for the Millers.
Both Dan and Jim epitomize the old school mentality of “anyone, anytime, anywhere,” so when Dan pulled out of his UFC 152 fight against Sean Pierson you knew there had to be a legitimate reason for that withdrawal.
There was. Miller dropped out as his son, Danny, perhaps the toughest fighter on Team Miller, was readied for a long-needed kidney transplant.
That transplant, which had originally been scheduled for early this year but was postponed when Danny fell ill, finally took place on Thursday. From all accounts Danny, as well as the donor—his aunt Kathy—were both doing well during the recovery stage of the transplant.
The two-year-old has been battling Polycystic Kidney Disease since March 2010. The PKD caused Danny’s kidneys to fail, resulting in the youngster having to undergo multiple dialysis treatments each week since being diagnosed with PKD.
The successful surgery had the Miller brothers taking to twitter to share their joy:
Surgery went well today, never thought I’d be so happy to see some pee!
While the surgery was a success, Danny will need extensive and costly aftercare, something the good folks at FundaFighter.com have set up a donation page for.
Please visit the site if you are interested in donating to Danny’s care.
On June 22nd, 2012, Dan Miller returned to the octagon for the first time in nearly a year against Ricardo Funch at UFC on FX 4. Winless since 2010, it looked like Miller’s UFC future could possibly be hanging in the balance if he did not turn in a successful performance in front of his hometown crowd. But as is the typical attitude of the Miller family when approaching any fight, Dan left it all in the octagon, battering and blistering Funch en route to a third round guillotine choke win.
As it turns out, the victory was more than just a step in the right direction for Dan’s MMA career, it was an indication of where things were headed in his personal life as well.
As you all know, the reason for Miller’s prolonged absence from the octagon last year was that of his infant son, Danny Jr., who had been diagnosed with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, a condition that would require a $100,000 surgery and $10,000 a month in medication for at least the first year in order for Danny to stand any chance at recovery. The response from the MMA community was almost immediate, with everyone from the Firas Zahabi-founded FundaFighter program to former CP Sergeant-at-Arms Mike Russell establishing avenues for MMA fans around the world to contribute to Danny Jr.’s cause. Unsurprisingly, the most significant donations to the Daniel James Miller Foundation came from UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and president Dana White.
Well, Potato Nation, we are proud to report that not only was Danny Jr.’s surgery a success, but he is recovering smoothly as well, and has regained kidney function for the first time in over two years.
On June 22nd, 2012, Dan Miller returned to the octagon for the first time in nearly a year against Ricardo Funch at UFC on FX 4. Winless since 2010, it looked like Miller’s UFC future could possibly be hanging in the balance if he did not turn in a successful performance in front of his hometown crowd. But as is the typical attitude of the Miller family when approaching any fight, Dan left it all in the octagon, battering and blistering Funch en route to a third round guillotine choke win.
As it turns out, the victory was more than just a step in the right direction for Dan’s MMA career, it was an indication of where things were headed in his personal life as well.
As you all know, the reason for Miller’s prolonged absence from the octagon last year was that of his infant son, Danny Jr., who had been diagnosed with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, a condition that would require a $100,000 surgery and $10,000 a month in medication for at least the first year in order for Danny to stand any chance at recovery. The response from the MMA community was almost immediate, with everyone from the Firas Zahabi-founded FundaFighter program to former CP Sergeant-at-Arms Mike Russell establishing avenues for MMA fans around the world to contribute to Danny Jr.’s cause. Unsurprisingly, the most significant donations to the Daniel James Miller Foundation came from UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and president Dana White.
Well, Potato Nation, we are proud to report that not only was Danny Jr.’s surgery a success, but he is recovering smoothly as well, and has regained kidney function for the first time in over two years.
Danny’s mother, Kristen Miller, broke the great news over her Facebook account:
In March of 2010, he lost all kidney function. Today, September 6, 2012, Danny is now peeing again! Words can’t describe the emotion that we are feeling right now.
He’s still in the OR (operating room) but will be headed to his PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) room shortly. His new kidney function will be monitored extremely closely.
Kristin was sure to thank Kathy Miller, who donated her kidney to Danny Jr. to make the entire operation possible:
Kathy is recovering in her room. We love you so much Kathy and can never thank you enough. Xoxo Daniel James..we love you so much!
The Miller brothers were more succint with their celebrations, sending out the following tweets:
Dan: Surgery went well today, never thought I’d be so happy to see some pee!
Jim: The word is that everything has gone well with my nephew’s transplant. Both Danny and my Aunt came out strong. TY everyone for the support. Pee! My 2 1/2 yr old nephew has kidney function for the first time in over 2 years. 1 hurdle cleared, many more ahead.
Words can simply not express how elated we are here at CagePotato to hear this news, and wish the Miller family the best of luck in the future. But like Jim said, there are still many hurdles to clear for Danny Jr., so if you’re feeling particularly generous today, head over to Dan Miller’s FundaFighter page and make a donation. In the meantime, send a picture of you, your girlfriend/wife, or your smokin’ hot mom donning the Chocolate Al shirts you received to our Facebook page to show your support!
The UFC has seen more than its fare share of fight cancellations as of late, with the biggest and far from best being the decision to scrap the entire UFC 151 fight card last week. With all the negativity flying around about that card being scrapp…
The UFC has seen more than its fare share of fight cancellations as of late, with the biggest and far from best being the decision to scrap the entire UFC 151 fight card last week.
With all the negativity flying around about that card being scrapped, it was refreshing to hear that a fighter had withdrawn from a scheduled bout for a positive reason.
That fighter was Dan Miller, and to call the circumstances of his withdrawal from UFC 152 unique would be an understatement.
Miller is known as one of those fighters who will take a fight against anyone, any time and anywhere. He fights—it’s what he does, and it’s who is his.
However, Miller can be excused for taking his leave from the Sept. 22 fight card because he will be doing so to care for his son, Danny Jr.
The two-year-old was born with a polycystic kidney disease, a disorder that results in enlarged kidneys and eventual kidney failure. For Danny Jr., that kidney failure came quickly; he lost kidney function when he was just two-and-a-half months old.
Since that time, Danny Jr. has had to undergo daily dialysis treatments. Luckily, he will be undergoing a kidney transplant in mid-September, per Mike Constantino of AMA Fight Club. Constantino revealed the great news to BloodyElbow.com via text message.
Miller was slated to face Sean Pierson on the UFC 152 card. Pierson will now face Lance Benoist.
Danny Jr. is expected to need a great deal of aftercare following the transplant, and to help ease the financial burden on the Miller family, the folks over at FundaFighter.com have set up a fundraising page for those wishing to make a donation.
Featuring a main event clash between top lightweight contenders Clay Guida and Gray Maynard, the UFC on FX 4 card is really starting to take shape, adding four more fights in the welterweight division last night. It seems a little odd that this plethora of fights have been added when the UFC on FX 3 card, which goes down two weeks earlier, has confirmed only two fights thus far. Then again, if we were in charge of matchmaking, Pat Barry would fight every weekend and Rousey/Caraway would already be booked.
But back to the welterweights. Yes, it appears that our buddy Dan Miller will be back in action at UFC on FX 4, and in fact will be making his welterweight debut when he takes on Ricardo Funch. Miller has not fought since his clusterfuck of a fight against Rousimar Palhares at UFC 134 that saw Palhares leap onto the cage in premature celebration, only to be talked off the proverbial tower by Herb Dean. Upon re-entering the octagon, Palhares was almost immediately KO’d by Miller, but managed to gather the few remaining marbles in his brain to pull out a unanimous decision victory. The loss was Miller’s second in a row and fifth of his last seven. But given Miller’s tendency to put on exciting fights, we don’t imagine a loss here will cost him his job. The same cannot be said for Funch, however, who has dropped all three of his UFC appearances to Johny Hendricks, Claude Patrick, and Mike Pyle.
Also set for the fourth FX card will be a welterweight tilt between submission specialist T.J. Waldburger and manscaping aficionado Brian Ebersole. Waldburger has scored a pair of brilliant back-to-back victories in his last two UFC appearances, leaping into a triangle against Mike Stumpf in September before notching a lightning quick armbar of Jake Hecht at UFC on FX 2: Kampmann vs. Alves earlier this month. He will be facing a tough test in Ebersole, who is riding a 10 fight win streak including three straight in the UFC over Chris Lytle, Dennis Hallman‘s balls, and Claude Patrick.
Featuring a main event clash between top lightweight contenders Clay Guida and Gray Maynard, the UFC on FX 4 card is really starting to take shape, adding four more fights in the welterweight division last night. It seems a little odd that this plethora of fights have been added when the UFC on FX 3 card, which goes down two weeks earlier, has confirmed only two fights thus far. Then again, if we were in charge of matchmaking, Pat Barry would fight every weekend and Rousey/Caraway would already be booked.
But back to the welterweights. Yes, it appears that our buddy Dan Miller will be back in action at UFC on FX 4, and in fact will be making his welterweight debut when he takes on Ricardo Funch. Miller has not fought since his clusterfuck of a fight against Rousimar Palhares at UFC 134 that saw Palhares leap onto the cage in premature celebration, only to be talked off the proverbial tower by Herb Dean. Upon re-entering the octagon, Palhares was almost immediately KO’d by Miller, but managed to gather the few remaining marbles in his brain to pull out a unanimous decision victory. The loss was Miller’s second in a row and fifth of his last seven. But given Miller’s tendency to put on exciting fights, we don’t imagine a loss here will cost him his job. The same cannot be said for Funch, however, who has dropped all three of his UFC appearances to Johny Hendricks, Claude Patrick, and Mike Pyle.
Also set for the fourth FX card will be a welterweight tilt between submission specialist T.J. Waldburger and manscaping aficionado Brian Ebersole. Waldburger has scored a pair of brilliant back-to-back victories in his last two UFC appearances, leaping into a triangle against Mike Stumpf in September before notching a lightning quick armbar of Jake Hecht at UFC on FX 2: Kampmann vs. Alves earlier this month. He will be facing a tough test in Ebersole, who is riding a 10 fight win streak including three straight in the UFC over Chris Lytle, Dennis Hallman‘s balls, and Claude Patrick.
Two welterweight wrestlers will be looking to rebound from losses when Rick Story takes on Rich Attonito. Story, who rebounded from a UFC debut loss to John Hathaway at UFC 99 by going on a six fight win streak, has dropped two straight to Charlie Brenneman and Martin Kampmann at UFC Live 4 and UFC 139, respectively. Attonito, on the other hand, has gone 1-2 in his last three, sandwiching a win over Daniel Roberts in between losses to Jake Hecht and Dave Branch.
And finally, after emerging victorious from a three round slobber-knocker against Henry Martinez, a win that snapped a two fight losing streak, it looks like Matt “Deep Waters” Riddle will be looking to make it two in a row against Nova Uniao product and Shooto veteran Luis Ramos. You might not remember Ramos’ only UFC appearance–a first round TKO loss to Brazilian prospect Erick Silva at UFC 134–as it was over before it started, ending in just 40 seconds. Riddle has fought all nine of his professional fights under the Zuffa banner, but nearly all of his six wins have come against fighters no longer with the promotion, so it looks like he’s a lock for this one. Sorry, Luis.
UFC on FX 4 goes down from the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey on June 22nd.
(Today’s required viewing: “Fight Factory” goes deep inside the world of American Kickboxing Academy. Props to nuvoTV via BloodyElbow. Skip to the 12:43 mark to see Phil Baroni’s infamous bodybuilding video get a different reaction than he was looking for.)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…
(Today’s required viewing: “Fight Factory” goes deep inside the world of American Kickboxing Academy. Props to nuvoTV via BloodyElbow. Skip to the 12:43 mark to see Phil Baroni’s infamous bodybuilding video get a different reaction than he was looking for.)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…
Filed under: UFC, News Daniel James Miller, the one-year-old son of UFC middleweight Dan Miller (pictured, right), recently suffered an infection and a stroke, pushing back a kidney transplant procedure previously scheduled for Jan. 25.
On Monday, Dan’s younger brother Jim told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that Daniel faced the setback over a week ago.
“He’s had a rough road,” Jim Miller said of his nephew. “Unfortunately the transplant is on hold at the moment. You’ve got to take it one step at a time with him and deal with everything linear. And hopefully he’s going be fixed and come right around and get that transplant. Still trying to be positive. He’s a tough little kid so I’m sure he’ll beat it.”
Daniel undergoes daily kidney dialysis to treat polycystic kidney disease and will be able to regain proper kidney function once he receives a kidney transplant.
For more information on polycystic kidney disease, click here. You can support the Daniel James Miller Foundation with donations or by participating in this online fundraiser.
After his win over Melvin Guillard last Friday at UFC on FX, Jim Miller took to the mic with announcer Jon Anik to show his gratitude towards fans and the UFC during this trying time for the Miller family.
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, from my family,” Miller said. “We love you guys. Thank you so much for your generosity.”
Daniel James Miller