With injuries to lightweight champ Frankie Edgar and top contender Gray Maynard putting the lightweight division on hold, Jim Miller isn’t waiting for a possible title shot.
Instead, the rising contender will look to earn his eighth-straight and a shot at the 155-pound belt when he faces former WEC champ Ben Henderson at UFC on Versus 5 on August 14 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the UFC announced late Tuesday.
Miller (20-2) stopped WEC import Kamal Shalorus in March for his seventh-straight win and has only lost to Edgar and Maynard in his 22-fight career, while Henderson (13-2) topped Mark Bocek in his Octagon debut last month following a December loss to Anthony Pettis.
UFC on Versus 5 also includes Stephan Bonnar vs. Karlos Vemola, Amir Sadollah vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig and Cole Miller vs. TJ O’Brien.
For the latest UFC on Versus 5 news and UFC on Versus 5 rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
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I would love to see this fight, should be awesome.
Nice! Great fight!
I think it bears posting that not more than 36 hours after Dana WHite again publicly commented about how Rashad Evans was foolish for “waiting around” for a title shot, Jim Miller signs a tough fight with Bendo.
Not that Miller wouldn’t have cowboy’ed up anyway, but DW is making it pretty clear that he’s not a fan of contenders sitting out until they get their title fights, and it looks like at least some of the fighters are taking the hint…
Awesome fight. Miller is tough as nails
Agreed I think he should get his title shot should he win.
I think whoever wins this fight should get a title shot, personally, though a Pettis win over Guida would make that unlikely.
@dbiz
Anywhere else in the world these 2 guys would be fighting for either a title or title shot.
In the UFC’s standing room only 155 weightclass, both guys are still maybe 2 fights away from the gold…
Both are closer than you think. Winner of this is likely behind Pettis for next shot (assuming Pettis wins) or the next shot (if Pettis loses).
From my understanding, If Pettis gets past Guida he gets the next shot. No matter what Miller does. As it should be.
55′ers are just going to have to be patient for the next little while until the top of 55 gets sorted out a bit. In the mean time we can look forward to quality fights such as this. SO just sit back and enjoy these fights!
This is a very interesting fight. Henderson imo has established himself as a top ten ufc lightweight and if he can win here then he’s obviously ready for anything. should be a three round war.
The WEC merger has really added some extra intrigue to the UFC’s 155lb division..I like all of these fights
I’m curious, if Pettis does lose to Guida, does that make “The Carpenter” the new WEC Light Weight Champion in Zuffa-Land?
In a linear sense, yes. In reality, WEC belt ended the day the promotion folded. All the former Champs in the WEC technically were title holders on those days.
True, but being that the Light Weight division was the only division in the WEC which the UFC also employed at the time of folding, Pettis was to get an immediate “Champ VS. Champ” title shot (had the Edgar / Maynard fight hadn’t panned out like it did). The other weight classes were not in the UFC at the time, so those champs (Cruz, Aldo) were simply given their UFC title in return.
I guess that’s my point.
Actually, I do understand your point. It’s a lot like when the UFC folded 170 and 205 into the ranks(it didn’t apply to 185 because of Filho’s meldown), Cantwell and Condit both were the final champs but no belt was on the line when they face Al-Hassan and Kampmann(respectively).
What I think you’re referring more to is the UFC title shot being on the line, in 170 and 205… the list was so long of people over the WEC guys that it didn’t matter. For Pettis, it’s more he had a brilliant performance on a big stage and really lucked up into a shot at the title. Ben Henderson’s victory over Bocek definitely has legitmized that decision for the UFC.
To answer what you’re asking though, if Pettis loses to Guida, Guida likely will NOT get the shot. The winner of this fight will or the UFC will work hard to bring Melendez in. Guida still needs another win on top of beating Pettis to get a shot IMO.
This is a great fight and I assume it has to be the main event. I think if miller looks great and pettis is only average Dana may reward miller with the title shot. I’ve said this before but this is by far the deepest division in the UFC.
Change “Miller” to “the winner of this fight” and I think you’re dead on.