MMA Legacy 10.05.09: Jason 'Mayhem' Miller
Posted by Bill Wannop on 10.05.2009
With his upcoming fight with Jake Shields, MMA Legacy follows the career of one of the most entertaining fighters of all time, Jason 'Mayhem' Miller! From his early battle with GSP to his fights in DREAM against Jacare, join us as we relive these entertaining moments!
Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. This week we decided to focus on one of the most entertaining fighters of all time, both inside and outside of the cage/ring, Jason Mayhem Miller.! From his early battle with GSP to his fights in DREAM against Jacare, join us as we relive some of the most entertaining moments in MMA!
Early Life
Jason ‘Mayhem' Miller was born December 24, 1980 (making him 28 years old today) in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In his early life he loved to fight and in fact his first official fight fell on the same night as his high school prom. He had to make a choice, and he choose instead to take his then girlfriend to his fight instead of attending the prom. The choice was a wise one, and one that probably took little time for Miller to make. He has gone on to become one of the most popular and entertaining fighters, whether he wins or loses he loves to put on a show.
MMA Career
His first official MMA fight came on April 28, 2001 at Rage in the Cage 27 against Tommy Laguwans. He was able to end the fight by TKO in round 1. He would then defeat two other fighters both by submission, before facing off against current UFC fighter Chael Sonnen. In the highly competitive match up with Sonnen, Miller ended up on the opposite side of the decision giving him his first official MMA loss.
He would defeat both Toby Imada and Phil Ensminger by decision and submission before he would trades wins and losses with Todd Carney, putting his record at 6-2. He would then face another UFC fighter in Dennis Kang at Extreme Challenge 50 in the first round of a tournament. While the first round was pretty even, Miller was able to lock in a rear naked choke in 1:41 of the second round for the submission victory.
Later that evening in the finals of the tournament Miller was defeated by decision by Tim F. Kennedy. Following the defeat Miller would again go on a winning streak defeating Jay Buck, Mark Longworth, Sean Taylor, Egan Inoue and Ronald Jhun finishing all the fights with the exception of the Jay Buck which went to decision. After the Jhun fight, a riot would break out which would cause Miller to be punched in the back of the head by Mark Moreno, Miller would have to wait a little while to get his revenge however.
Following the string of victories by Miller, he would get his one and only shot in the UFC at UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2 against Georges St. Pierre. In what was a very entertaining fight thanks to the antics of Jason Miller, GSP would dominate the fight. Throughout the fight although taking a beating Miller played up to the crowd and went back to his corner with a smile on his face despite being beaten and losing a unanimous decision to GSP. At one point Miller would actually kip up off the ground only to be kicked right back down.
Following the loss Miller would go on a 4 fight win streak first defeating Mark Moreno in a grudge match after being punched in the back of the head during a riot after his fight with Jhun. In the fight, Miller would set up an arm bar giving the shaka sign (Hawaiian greeting) to the crowd before locking it in and finishing Moreno. He would then defeat Falaniko Vitale, Lodune Sincaid, and Stefan Gamlin all by submission. These wins would earn Miller a title shot against Robbie Lawler for the ICON Sport Middleweight championship at ICON Sport –Mayhem vs. Lawler. In what was a huge upset Miller was able to catch Lawler in an arm triangle for the victory and the title.
His first title defense of the ICON title was against Frank Trigg at ICON Sport Mayhem vs. Trigg. In the fight Trigg was able to use his wrestling to wear down Miller and eventually hit him with soccer kicks to finish him by TKO in the second round, in what was another huge upset. Miller would bounce back and defeat Hector Urbina, Hiromitsu Miura, Tim Kennedy, before making his debut with the DREAM organization. Miller would enter the Middleweight Grand Prix at DREAM 3 first facing off against Katsuyori Shibata who was a professional wrestler. Miller showed his showmanship, by starting the fight with his hands on his hips as well as posing for the cameras every chance he got. At one point when he reached mount Miller even gave a peace sign to the camera. Miller looked as though he could finish the fight at any moment and finally the reference called the fight, giving Miller the victory.
In the second round of the Grand Prix Miller was matched up with Ronaldo Jacare at DREAM 4. In what was a close back and forth fight that saw Miller out strike Jacare, but Jacare dominate the ground game with takedowns, positioning and submission attempts. The judges would give Jacare the decision eliminating Miller from the tournament. Miller would then defeat Kala Hose by rear naked choke before getting a rematch with Jacare at DREAM 9 for the DREAM middleweight championship. The fight would never get going however, as in the first round Miller would hit Jacare with an illegal kick, as he was on the ground cutting his head open. The doctors ruled that he could not continue and the fight was judged a no contest, as the kick was deemed unintentional.
Future Outlook Jason Mayhem Miller has had a entertaining career in MMA. While he has had many setbacks in his career he always aims to entertain, which makes his fights always exciting. His seems to be improving with every fight, and in the coming years he looks to face off against tougher competition, with his first real test coming November 7, at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers when he faces Jake Shields for the vacant middleweight championship. In the fight, I look to Miller to use his stand up to control the fight and eventually knockout Shields.
Various News
Kimbo eliminated from TUF 10 by Roy Nelson The result of this fight was not a huge surprise to anybody that knows MMA.I know that everyone who knows MMA knew that Nelson had the better ground skills and the perfect skill set to beat Kimbo, but who wasn't hoping that Kimbo could pull off the upset?. He has been portrayed as one of the nicest, standup guys on the show and you cannot help but root for him. Everyone is stating how Kimbo's ground game has not improved based of this fight, but I think that is vastly untrue. Nelson is a large heavyweight with a BJJ black belt. When he finally got Kimbo down he had he was simply too technical and had too much of a size advantage for Kimbo to defend. To Kimbo's credit he did almost manage a sweep by using the fence, which is proof that his ground game is improving.
Nelson's antics after the win were straight heel town, with him acting as though he had just won the fight of his life. The image of him standing there with his mouth open wanting Rashad to pour water in his mouth was hilarious. I don't know if Roy is trying to be the villain, but he is good at it.
Kimbo will most likely stick around in the UFC and will apparently fight in December at the TUF Finale. He has taken up camp at American Top Team with the goal of improving his ground game, which is good, but I still feel that perhaps Slice would be better off at light heavyweight. He is a small heavyweight usually weighing in around 230, so the cut to Light heavy is doable and then he will not have to deal with all the wrestlers in the heavyweight division. Plus we would get some great matchups at light heavyweight.
Evans vs. Silva for UFC 108
It is all but confirmed that Rashad Evans will take on Thiago Silva at UFC 108 on January 2. I am not a huge fan of Silva, as I think that he has gotten too much credit for what he has accomplished. In reality he has only fought 2 top fighters in Lyoto Machida, and Keith Jardine. It is hard to judge him based on these two fights, as Machida destroyed him, but he is Machida and defeats everyone, and he destroyed Jardine, but Jardine either wins a decision or gets knocked out. Finally he will be tested against Rashad, and I simply see Rashad running through Thiago, as Evans is much faster, and a good counter striker.
Lashley close to signing with Strikeforce The other big news involves Strikeforce and how they have almost struck a deal with Bobby Lashley. Under the deal Lashley will still be able to compete in TNA wrestling, and Strikeforce would like him for the November 7 show, to possibly add to the name value of the event and attract some more viewers. To me this doesn't make sense, as first Lashley does not have too much name value to begin with. He was never over in WWE, and has simply fallen off most people's radar. As well throwing Lashley in there on November 7 could be asking for trouble as it may be too much too soon for him. I have been a huge fan of Lashley's MMA career, and enjoyed the fact that he is taking things slow and improving his game with every fight, slowly increasing in competition with each fight. He may not be ready to be thrown right into the mix of a major show for Strikeforce. Of the 5 heavyweight Strikeforce does have I see them all causing trouble for Lashley.
Strikeforce definitely has been making moves lately, however I feel that they are trying to do too much too soon. They were doing an excellent job of slowly growing their company, but now they seem to be expanding too fast and throwing money around. First they signed Fedor, then they got the CBS deal, they signed Herschel Walker and know they are looking to sign Lashley. All of this is for the November 7th card, which truly limits the long term booking of the company as if you have all your stars on one show, which gives you nothing to promote for your future card. Strikeforce is looking more and more like Elite XC all the time!
Well that does it for another week of MMA Legacy. Next week with the build to UFC 104 we will focus in on the career of the undefeated light heavyweight champion, Lyoto Machida!
I saw Miller against GSP at UFC 52.He was terrible.
Posted By: Guest#5864 (Guest) on October 04, 2009 at 11:11 PM
GSP-Miller was one of the most entertaining one sided fights I can recall seeing, and it is in part due to Miller.
Great column.
Posted By: Samer Kadi (Registered) on October 05, 2009 at 04:45 AM
He went 3 rounds with GSP.
GSP could not end the fight you don't know what your talking about.
Posted By: Guest1111 (Guest) on October 05, 2009 at 09:49 AM
Miller is one of the most overrated fighters around. Annoying personality has garnered him more attention than he deserves. Like the obnoxious kid from high school, ignore him and hopefully he'll go away.
Posted By: JujiGatame (Guest) on October 05, 2009 at 09:54 AM
JujiGatame he's not going away as matter of fact he is getting better known than most MMA fighters. It will be just a matter of time before Dana has to pay him like Kimbo to come back to the UFC then we will see when he fights at 185 how good he is.
Posted By: MMAFAN (Guest) on October 07, 2009 at 04:49 PM
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Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. This week we decided to focus on one of the most entertaining fighters of all time, both inside and outside of the cage/ring, Jason Mayhem Miller.! From his early battle with GSP to his fights in DREAM against Jacare, join us as we relive some of the most entertaining moments in MMA!
Following the string of victories by Miller, he would get his one and only shot in the UFC at UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2 against Georges St. Pierre. In what was a very entertaining fight thanks to the antics of Jason Miller, GSP would dominate the fight. Throughout the fight although taking a beating Miller played up to the crowd and went back to his corner with a smile on his face despite being beaten and losing a unanimous decision to GSP. At one point Miller would actually kip up off the ground only to be kicked right back down.
Jason Mayhem Miller has had a entertaining career in MMA. While he has had many setbacks in his career he always aims to entertain, which makes his fights always exciting. His seems to be improving with every fight, and in the coming years he looks to face off against tougher competition, with his first real test coming November 7, at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers when he faces Jake Shields for the vacant middleweight championship. In the fight, I look to Miller to use his stand up to control the fight and eventually knockout Shields.
The result of this fight was not a huge surprise to anybody that knows MMA.I know that everyone who knows MMA knew that Nelson had the better ground skills and the perfect skill set to beat Kimbo, but who wasn't hoping that Kimbo could pull off the upset?. He has been portrayed as one of the nicest, standup guys on the show and you cannot help but root for him. Everyone is stating how Kimbo's ground game has not improved based of this fight, but I think that is vastly untrue. Nelson is a large heavyweight with a BJJ black belt. When he finally got Kimbo down he had he was simply too technical and had too much of a size advantage for Kimbo to defend. To Kimbo's credit he did almost manage a sweep by using the fence, which is proof that his ground game is improving.
The other big news involves Strikeforce and how they have almost struck a deal with Bobby Lashley. Under the deal Lashley will still be able to compete in TNA wrestling, and Strikeforce would like him for the November 7 show, to possibly add to the name value of the event and attract some more viewers. To me this doesn't make sense, as first Lashley does not have too much name value to begin with. He was never over in WWE, and has simply fallen off most people's radar. As well throwing Lashley in there on November 7 could be asking for trouble as it may be too much too soon for him. I have been a huge fan of Lashley's MMA career, and enjoyed the fact that he is taking things slow and improving his game with every fight, slowly increasing in competition with each fight. He may not be ready to be thrown right into the mix of a major show for Strikeforce. Of the 5 heavyweight Strikeforce does have I see them all causing trouble for Lashley.
