UFC lightweight legend Jim Miller has another grizzled veteran in mind for his next fight. Keeping very active in 2024, the winningest competitor in UFC history, Miller (38-18-1 NC MMA, 27-17-1 NC UFC) continues to add to his record-setting amount of promotional wins at 27.
Starting off his year with a face crank submission of Gabriel Benítez back in January, “A-10” picked up another stunning victory this past November, submitting Damon Jackson with a first-round guillotine. Despite being 41 years old (an age where most athletes are considered past their primes), Miller has seemingly never looked better in recent years. Since October of 2021, the New Jersey native has won six out of his last eight fights.
Jim Miller Eyeing Cub Swanson in the Future
While a late career title run doesn’t appear to be very likely, this hasn’t stopped Jim Miller from becoming one of the top fighters outside the 155-lb top 15. However, for his next outing to the cage, the perennial lightweight mainstay actually has his eyes set on another proven Octagon scraper from a weight class below him, Cub Swanson.
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Miller discussed the possibility of fighting Swanson. Although he doesn’t tend to think too hard on who he is going to lock horns with, Swanson stands out as an opponent that Miller would love to clash with.
“I try not to get hung up on it. I can have preferences,” Miller began. “I am a huge, huge fan of Cub Swanson. I would love to fight that guy. I know he’d be coming up in weight class. I think it’d be a fight that would get some draw. He’s super dangerous everywhere. If there’s time on the clock, he’s fighting hard. He’s not giving up.”
Jim Miller proceeded to talk further about how much he would enjoy throwing down with Swanson, however, he did not issue a specific place for their potential meeting, as he does not know “Killer”’s current situation. “I’m a huge fan of his. I would love that fight. I don’t know what his schedule looks like. I don’t know what his body’s like. I don’t like asking for people at certain times because I don’t know what the **** they’re dealing with or if they’ve got other fights and all that stuff.”
Looking at Cub Swanson Ahead of a Potential Fight vs. Jim Miller
Making his UFC debut back in 2011, Swanson had become a staple of the featherweight division’s upper echelon, collecting staggering wins against future lightweight champions in Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira. While he never competed for company gold, he has accumulated some sterling records, such as most Fight of the Night bonuses in UFC/WEC history (12) and being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame for his UFC 206 contest with Doo Ho Choi. The Californian was last seen in action this past Saturday where he scored a highlight reel knockout of Billy Quarantillo.
Should Swanson decide to accept Jim Miller’s invitation to scrap, he would be moving into unfamiliar territory, as he has never competed at 155-lb before, In fact, other than a failed one off bout at bantamweight against Johnathan Martinez in 2022, Swanson has never ventured outside of featherweight. This is in stark contrast to Miller, who has fought before at 145-lb, and even as high as 170-lb when he won USKBA Welterweight Championship back in 2007.