LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – “The Irish Dragon” might have one more fight in him.
Jim Miller picked up his 26th UFC win last night at UFC Vegas 84 (Sat., Jan. 13, 2024) when he tapped Gabriel Benitez in the third round with a nasty face crank from inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas (watch highlights). Miller received this 15th Performance of the Night bonus with his submission win.
After his win, Miller did what the world wanted when he called out Paul Felder, who was cageside, for a possible fight at UFC 300.
Felder gave Miller time to shine, but after the event concluded, he went back to speak with the media during the UFC Vegas 84 post-fight press conference (watch here) about the call out.
“Anybody that knows me or talks to me knew that Jim was the name that I was like; if I’m going to do it, I want it to be against a guy like Jim, somebody that’s around my age that’s been in the game for a long time,” Felder said. “Recently, I’ve been back on a triathlon kick. And I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I want to come back anymore. And when we talk to Jim in the fighter meetings, obviously, the people around me are kind of egging it on and pushing me, and I was like, ‘if you call me out, Jim, it’s something that I’d be interested in doing.’ He’s like, ‘If you get me a job sitting next to you at the desk, we’ll make it a deal.’ And I think there’ll be calling him for at least an audition coming up soon. So when he said that, you know, it’s, it’s like, fu-k, now he’s setting me up all the things that I said.”
Felder also said he doesn’t know if the promotion is interested in the possible fight.
“It’s also up to the UFC, right?” Felder said. “So I got to see if they are even interested in that fight happening. But to do it on a legendary card like that would be incredible. I got to talk to my wife, too. I already messaged her, and I was like, ‘Jim called me out.’ She just sent me back the face-on-hand emoji. But of course, all my friends, all the teammates, all those people, even Twitter, I had people sending me what people are saying about it. So it’s definitely a possibility.”
The one thing that is really tempting for Felder to return to active completion is having another fight in front of a sold-out crowd. His last fight, which ended up being his retirement fight, was at the Apex against Rafael Dos Anjos, and it wasn’t memorable.
“And that’s why it’s so so tough, right? And so tempting. And, you know, [I’m] leaning towards wanting to do it because it’s Jim, as he wants to be called at UFC 300, Jim fu-king Miller,” Felder said. “I mean, he’s awesome. He fights awesome. Especially, I get to see that fight right in front of my eyes, right where it’s a leg kick battle. It’s a stand-up battle primarily, obviously finish them on the ground, as Jim can do. But I mean, if it’s going to be a fight like that, then I think the fans would eat it up because, you know, I’m not shooting any takedowns in there, especially against Jim.”
Felder vs. Miller seems like the perfect fight to make, especially because they were supposed to throw down way back in 2015, which makes the story that much better.
For complete UFC Vegas 84 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
