Jason "Mayhem" Miller retires after UFC 146 loss, explains "backstage incident" from event

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Jason "Mayhem" Miller's time in the UFC has come to an end following Saturday's UFC 146 event, and his time as an MMA fighter may be as well. Prior to the event, he said that if he lost to C.B. Dollaway, he would retire, and that's a statement he's planning on following through with.

"Yeah, I said I would [retire] and so I am," Miller said on Monday's MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani (transcribed by Brian Hemminger at MMAMania.com). "I didn't get the job done and that's what I'm saying. I'm done for right now. Who knows what the future holds but at the same time, what's the point?"

A poor performance against Dollaway, along with what UFC President Dana White described as a "backstage incident," led to his release from the UFC. White wouldn't go into what happened when he mentioned it after Saturday's event, but Miller explained what happened from his side of things.

"It was my mask [from my walkout]," Miller revealed. "Burt [Watson] suddenly started yelling about my mask. I had a gas mask for the troops underneath my paper bag, and Burt started telling me right as I'm walking out for the fight. I'm trying to get focused instead of arguing about a paper bag. Maybe it was my fault. I thought we had an understanding once I start walking out to the cage and then now I'm working, but obviously we're not on a playing field of mutual respect."

"I wish I would have heard about it before so it would be easier to deal with. But here I am walking to the cage, and suddenly I started getting yelled at. I'm like 'what, I'm trying to focus here.' Whatever. Things don't always go the way you want. That's life and you have to deal with it."

Despite the disappointment in his performance and how things went down on Saturday night, Miller is taking this retirement as a positive, and is excited for what the future holds.

"I feel free in a weird way," he said. "Like in the strangest way, I feel free and I know that sounds strange when I've devoted my entire life to fighting, but I feel like my life is unlocked for a whole other set of adventures. I don't feel the need to super-impress one person in particular, make them happy. I can focus on making myself happy and I don't have the pressures of a commissioner chasing me around with a piss cup or the pressures of everyone verbally abusing me for my missteps via social media. I feel like a weight is lifted."

Penick's Analysis: Miller's walkout wasn't shown on Saturday night, so I'm not entirely sure what it entailed or how the gas mask played into things, but however he reacted backstage didn't go over well. For Miller personally, hopefully walking away does give him a new outlook on the rest of his world. He's already had some outside exposure with "Bully Beatdown" on MTV, and he may make a better television personality than he was a fighter anyway. His performances in the Octagon didn't hold up with his contemporaries, and walking away at this point may end up being the best decision for him. Whether it sticks or not is anyone's guess - retirements in MMA rarely do - but for now, at least, he'll be stepping aside.

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