UFC on Fox 3's Jim Miller tired of title shot talk, plans to dictate pace against Nate Diaz

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Jim Miller's sick of talking about title shots. The 28-year-old lightweight has arguably one of the best UFC records for a fighter who hasn't yet competed for a title, but with every fight he takes inside the Octagon, he's more concerned with defeating the opponent in front of him than where it will get him.

"The way it is right now, there's no one that's really set themselves apart and has that winning streak against top guys that really could be the No. 1 guy. I think a win here definitely does put me ahead of most guys, but I'm not worried about it. I'm actually sick of talking about it to be honest," Miller said in an interview with MMAWeekly.com. "It comes up in just about every interview I do, guys with a handful of fights in the UFC are bringing up title shots, every press conference, every other question to every other guy is about title shots."

"This is an opportunity to be No. 1 and it's not something that you should get fights just asking for it. It's something that should be earned. Something that I hold very dearly. Something that I've invested a lot of time and work in to earn that opportunity. I'm kind of getting tired of everybody talking about it."

Still, it's on the minds of fans, with UFC President Dana White saying this week that Miller's UFC on Fox 3 opponent, Nate Diaz, would get a title shot with a win over him. However, Miller's got a plan for this fight to make sure that doesn't happen.

"If you let them dictate the pace, they not only beat you, they make you look bad," Miller observed. "That's what I try to do to. If somebody's going to let me play my game, they aren't going to survive very long in the Octagon with me. With him, I don't want to play his game. I want him to fight my fight. He's been beaten by guys who out wrestle him, but it's still a tough fight. It's still going to be tough to beat him even fighting my fight. My game plan is to make them deal with me and definitely fight my fight."

"If I dictate the pace and do what I want to do, nobody's going to beat me at that. You're not going to beat me being defensive the whole fight."

Penick's Analysis: The entire lightweight division is jumbled with fighters who have partial arguments for a title shot, yet no one with a clear claim to that slot. It's one of the reasons the UFC went ahead with yet another rematch on top. For Miller, he knows he's just got to keep performing well, and if he avoids a setback loss like he had against Ben Henderson last summer, his shot will come. He is a very smart fighter, and obviously has an idea for what he wants to do against Diaz on Saturday night. Now it's up to him implement that gameplan and make sure Diaz fights at his pace for 25 minutes.

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