Tag: The Ultimate Fighter 14

TUF 14 Finale Results: Does Jason "Mayhem" Miller Have a Future in the UFC?

Once again, Jason “Mayhem” Miller got another chance to prove his worth in the UFC, and once again he failed to deliver. The big question now is what will Miller’s future hold for him in the UFC.Or to get even more specific: Will Miller have a future w…

Once again, Jason “Mayhem” Miller got another chance to prove his worth in the UFC, and once again he failed to deliver. The big question now is what will Miller’s future hold for him in the UFC.

Or to get even more specific: Will Miller have a future with the UFC?

In a post-fight interview with Heavy.com, UFC president Dana White stated, “I don’t know. We’ll see.” when asked if we would see Miller inside the Octagon again. White also stated that Miller’s loss to Michael Bisping was “one of the most lopsided fights I’ve ever seen”

For those of you who don’t remember, Miller made his Octagon debut at UFC 52 in 2005 against current UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. In that fight, Miller was handled by St-Pierre both standing and on the ground en route to losing a unanimous decision.

After the bout against St-Pierre, Miller went on to have success in various promotions including Icon Sport and DREAM. In his most recent bout before his fight Saturday night against Michael Bisping, Miller handily submitted a past-his-prime Kazushi Sakuraba in just over two minutes at DREAM 16.

Fast forward 15 months and Miller was given the opportunity to redeem himself inside the Octagon against Bisping. Many people believe that Miller won the first round, but then Miller completely gassed out. Until the referee finally stopped the beating in the third round, Miller did nothing but become a glorified punching bag for Bisping, and sprinkled in a takedown attempt here and there.

While Miller has a cult-like following and can draw in lots of fans, his recent performances have left much to be desired. When it comes to entertaining the fans, there aren’t many fighters out there who can do it better than Miller, but his in-cage performances have not been so good as of late.

Combine that with the fact that White isn’t sure about Mayhem’s future in the UFC and you shouldn’t be surprised if Miller’s second go in the UFC is just as short as his first.

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TUF 14 Finale: Where Does John Dodson Rank in the Bantamweight Division?

John “The Magician” Dodson won The Ultimate Fighter Season 14 bantamweight crown after removing T.J. Dillashaw from his senses. Dodson showed what many fans believed were his strengths which was his stand up and speed. He used both to end any hopes of …

John “The Magician” Dodson won The Ultimate Fighter Season 14 bantamweight crown after removing T.J. Dillashaw from his senses.

Dodson showed what many fans believed were his strengths which was his stand up and speed. He used both to end any hopes of Dillashaw grinding out a win on the mat.

For the first minute of the frame, Dodson seemed content to dance around the Octagon, waiting for Dillashaw to attack.

When Dillashaw finally pressed forward, Dodson countered him with some hard punches and pounced on the woozy fighter in quick fashion to win the bantamweight crown.

Besides the KO in the finale, Dodson also won by TKO to get into the house and finished teammate, Johnny Bedford to reach the finals.

After  winning TUF, it’s clear that Dodson is going to have a speed and punching power advantage over just about anyone he’s likely to face next.

Of course what’s not clear is what’s next for Dodson and how does he fit into the UFC bantamweight rankings.

Although Dodson has shown some potential, the UFC should bring him along slowly just as they would with any other prospect.

If the UFC stuck with their theme of matching winners with winners, a match up against Darren Uyenoyama would provide an interesting bout given Uyenoyama’s grappling skills.

It would represent the kind of fight Tony Ferguson, another TUF winner, just had against an experienced veteran in Yves Edwards.

Another possibility is Alex Soto. He may be coming off a loss but he has a military background that the UFC would like to build on (ala Brian Stann) and defeating a TUF winner would help his cause.

As far as rankings go, Dodson is either going to be very lucky or very unfortunate.

He’ll be lucky because the bantamweight division is relatively new to the UFC and there aren’t a lot of credible title challengers at the moment.

Or he will be very unfortunate because for that exact reason, he will be pushed to the top when he isn’t ready.

Dodson is in control of his own destiny after winning TUF. He has the skills and the personality to be a star, but can he survive against top-level competition?

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TUF 14 Finale Results: Mayhem Miller Is Still a Legit Contender

Jason “Mayhem” Miller did take his fight with Michael Bisping at last night’s Ultimate FIghter 14 Finale seriously, lest we forget.The weak attempt to get the crowd clapping and the moderate fist pumping Mayhem did before Bisping walked out to the Octa…

Jason “Mayhem” Miller did take his fight with Michael Bisping at last night’s Ultimate FIghter 14 Finale seriously, lest we forget.

The weak attempt to get the crowd clapping and the moderate fist pumping Mayhem did before Bisping walked out to the Octagon, combined with the rather cold stare from Mayhem and the expected refusal to touch gloves, should have been the dead giveaway to how seriously Mayhem was taking this fight.

Mayhem normally puts forth a stronger effort in his entrances and he’s normally a more joyful sort inside the cage.

So what happened, besides him looking at Bisping’s ugly mug?

Call it whatever you wish, whether it be over-training or underestimation, but when Bisping and Miller accidentally clashed heads, Mayhem was never the same, and that’s a shame when you consider the first round.

Mayhem actually looked quite able to secure takedowns and land significant strikes in round one. For a moment, it seemed like Mayhem would find a way to win, but once the two noggins clashed, Bisping found ways to put combinations together while defending the wild single-leg takedown attempts from Mayhem, who also found his nose busted open in round two.

The knees to the body that did in Miller once round three came along were pretty academic as Mayhem just looked to either gas out in round two or suffer from some sort of adrenaline dump.

Despite the loss, Mayhem remains a noteworthy contender in a Middleweight division that lacks an honest array of contenders outside of the recently-returned Chael Sonnen and potentially Mark Munoz.

Michael Bisping earned a win over Mayhem but he also acknowledged that a first round like the one Bisping had with Miller would not cut it against Silva, and Mayhem knows that nobody is going to resort to rounds two and three of Mayhem’s bout with Bisping in arguing for a title shot, just like everyone knows that Mayhem is not going to make any excuses for his performance tonight.

Mayhem will need to up his cardio, refine his technical striking and work on getting some nasty, slick footwork, or maybe just some creepy head and body movement, to possibly help him defend a strike or two.

Mayhem does have the diverse striking, he has the kickboxing, he has the Jiu-Jitsu and the ability to concentrate his energy properly when going for takedowns—he did it quite a few times against Bisping—so there’s no question about whether Mayhem has the tools he needs to make his own case towards title contention.

All it is is a matter of honing and refining his mastery of the martial arts to where he can effectively neutralize his opponents without tiring, much like he has done in the past.

We know the man can put it all together when it counts, but for almost 10 minutes, none of it was there, and until Mayhem sticks to his word and takes it there, he’ll be stuck with ten lousy minutes that say that Mayhem cannot last with the the big dogs when his shot counts.

Mayhem tweeted his frustration with what many believe was an adrenaline dump, and many believe that it’s not if he can come back stronger, but when  he will come back stronger.

I believe Mayhem can come back stronger after this experience, but it’s easy to talk about coming back stronger than ever; doing it is a whole other animal, so for Mayhem, there’s no time like the present to help himself to figure out how to get a little bit more mentally buff the next time out in the Octagon.

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TUF 14 Finale Results: What Did Jason Mayhem Miller Do Wrong?

Jason “Mayhem” Miller’s return to the Octagon last night, six years after losing to George St. Pierre, was soured by Britain’s best, Michael “The Count” Bisping.   Miller turned in a solid first round, landing more strikes than Bisping, scoring to…

Jason “Mayhem” Miller’s return to the Octagon last night, six years after losing to George St. Pierre, was soured by Britain’s best, Michael “The Count” Bisping.  

Miller turned in a solid first round, landing more strikes than Bisping, scoring to the head and body; additionally, Miller took Bisping down and had the British scrapper trapped against the cage taking punishment like vitamins.  

Bisping struggled back to his feet and finished the round standing. 

Attempting to recover, Miller was taking massive breaths in his corner between rounds; nevertheless, he came out in the second looking winded.  As his hands began to sag, Bisping picked up the pace.  The Fight Metric analysis shows that in the first round Miller landed 28 strikes to Bisping’s 17; in the second round Bisping completely turned the tables, out striking Miller at  a 10:1 ratio, landing 64 strikes to Miller’s six.  

Miller’s take down attempts had nothing on them and Bisping defended each with ease.  The fight would remain a striking contest for duration.

Referee Steve Mazzagati pulled Bisping off of Miller, who was turtled up on the canvas taking knees, at 3:34 seconds of the third round.   What could Miller have done to win the fight?  The man himself has already told us.

In his post fight interview with Joe Rogan, Miller apologized saying, “I got tired. I can’t make any excuses.” 

Ultimately Miller fell victim to returning to the the biggest stage in sport, in a highly publicized bout after a 10-month layoff and was undone for it.  

Mayhem’s first round demonstrates that he had the tools to beat Bisping, but was so amped from his success coming out of the first round that the adrenaline dump took his mojo for the remainder of the fight.

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TUF 14 Finale: Why Wanderlei Silva vs Jason "Mayhem" Miller Should Happen Next

At the Ultimate Fighter 14 season finale, coaches Michael Bisping and Jason Miller faced off in what was expected to be a close fight, but cardio issues caused Miller to slow down and Bisping was able to attack and get the TKO win.After the fight, Mill…

At the Ultimate Fighter 14 season finale, coaches Michael Bisping and Jason Miller faced off in what was expected to be a close fight, but cardio issues caused Miller to slow down and Bisping was able to attack and get the TKO win.

After the fight, Miller said that he is ready to put on a show and Dana White was interviewed and said that he didn’t know if Miller would be back. 

What should be next for Miller?

He is a money-maker. He has a cult following, and people love him. A fight with Wanderlei Silva would be a great fight for not only Miller, but the fans as well. 

Both men kind of train together when Wanderlei heads out to California to train with King’s MMA, but it doesn’t appear that there would be an issue between the two and that it would be a respectful fight. Both men are BJJ Black belts and are exciting to watch. 

Silva is coming off of his win against Cung Le at UFC 139, but lost his previous fight to Chris Leben by KO. Miller, coming off of a loss to Bisping, has solidified his status in the middle of the division, and while Wanderlei has the bigger name based off of accomplishments, they are both at about the same position in the division and would make for a perfect showdown. 

Both Silva and Miller’s futures are unknown with the organization. The UFC wants Silva to retire, and with his performance at UFC 139, that would not have been a bad fight to go out on, but with the new addition of Miller to the company and with the questions, this fight has so many positives about it.

Yes, it would be bad to be the loser in this fight, but all both men need to stay part of the organization is an exciting fight. 

While there is a chance that this fight will not happen, there are a few fights for Miller that could happen. He could face guys like Nick Ring, Tom Lawlor, Steve Cantwell, Dongi Yang, etc.

There is no telling what to expect the UFC to do regarding Miller, but at the end of the day he is a wonderful talent who had an off night. Wanderlei Silva vs Jason Miller in 2012? Sure hope so! 

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TUF Finale: Michael Bisping Forgets Playground Rule No. 1

Michael Bisping experienced a little bit of karma in his bout with Jason “Mayhem” Miller.Bisping, in his last bout, kneed Jorge Rivera in the head while Rivera was clearly down and showed no remorse for his actions afterward. It was clear that Bis…

Michael Bisping experienced a little bit of karma in his bout with Jason “Mayhem” Miller.

Bisping, in his last bout, kneed Jorge Rivera in the head while Rivera was clearly down and showed no remorse for his actions afterward. It was clear that Bisping did it intentionally as he took the time to wind up and pick his shot.

Against Miller, Bisping received an incidental headbutt along with an accidental eye poke as well.

After the two fouls occurred, Bisping made a clear indication to the referee as to what had happened. His yell about the headbutt was loud enough to be heard on a regular audio feed from one of the cageside cameras.

Maybe Bisping didn’t learn the same set of rules from the playground “across the pond,” but maybe someone should educate him.

For anyone who’s ever played basketball at your local YMCA or neighborhood courts, everyone knows just because you can call your own fouls, doesn’t mean you do.

Bisping seemed to even forget the rules himself as “Mayhem” jokingly asked for Bisping to attempt to knee him in the head while on the ground and Bisping took a head kick at the downed opponent instead.

If Bisping is going to clearly ignore the rules, then don’t be the loudest person in a fight to complain about something that is completely accidental.

He doesn’t have that many fans to begin with and his current attitude of only acknowledging the rules when it benefits him are likely to keep fans from backing him.

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