LAS VEGAS – Jim Miller won’t entirely rule out his chances against Brock Lesnar.
Anthony Smith turned heads when he said a fight between Miller and former UFC heavyweight champion Lesnar would be 50-50, and that he’d definitely pick Miller on the street.
When Miller was asked about Smith’s remarks, the long-tenured UFC veteran laughed, but wasn’t completely dismissive of his chances – even though he knows it very well could go south for him.
“Years ago, Ronda (Rousey) said she thinks she could beat Cain (Velasquez), and that’s a difficult fight, right?, Miller told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday for UFC Fight Night 234. “But the mentality has to be there. When you start walking to the octagon, it is the loneliest place on the planet. I firmly believe in training like you’re an up-and-comer, training like the guy you’re fighting is better than you and they’re doing more than you and doing it better than you are. The moment that it’s fight day and you start – you have to be the most confident person on the planet. Yeah, it would be scary as sh*t, but I’m going to walk to that octagon, hopefully, knowing that my bank account is going to get a big bump.
“Like, ‘Hey, we’re going to take this.’ I’ve trained with plenty of heavyweights through the years. My team now is a little bit smaller than me. Training is training, and I’m not a fan of keeping score, but I’ve trained with plenty of heavyweight world champ grapplers and stuff like that and I’ve subbed ’em out. So I know that if I can isolate something, I could kimura Brock Lesnar. I know that I could because I can lift enough. I can deadlift over 500 pounds. I can straighten the guy’s arm. He can’t single-arm curl 500 pounds. So it’s about isolating and stuff like that. It’s going to suck. I don’t want to be underneath him, but I appreciate the push. We’ll take it: 50/50.”
Miller (36-17 MMA, 25-16 UFC) returns to action in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 234 main card against Gabriel Benitez (23-11 MMA, 7-6 UFC) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.
