Jim Miller plans to force Chase Hooper to fight him at UFC 314: “I’m going out there to fight him and make it a Jim Miller fight”

Jim Miller is eager to share the Octagon with Chase Hooper.

Miller wasn’t sure what would be next after his last win over Damon Jackson. But, after Hooper mentioned Miller as a possible opponent and he got the offer from the UFC which he jumped at.

“It’s a little bit later. I kind of put the hard deadline for myself at 50 fights. I’m 41, I’ll be 42 in August, and I don’t really want to still be doing this at 43. I’d like to be able to maintain a decent pace… He called me out after he beat Clay, and my phone buzzed right away, my coaches liked it. He was the one and only name Sean gave me,” Miller said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPenn.com.

Miller will also make his return on a stacked UFC 314 card. With Miller’s career nearing the end, he says he asked the UFC for his final fights to be on big pay-per-view cards.

“It’s exciting. That is one of the stipulations when I e-mailed Sean and said I have max five fights left, and I felt like all of them should be on big cards,” Miller said.

When Jim Miller does take on Chase Hooper at UFC 314, he is a sizeable underdog. However, he doesn’t care about that, as Miller is confident in his skillset that he will be able to push the pace and force Hooper to fight him.

“That is the fight game. Making somebody commit to anti-wrestling will make it easier to land shots on them. I think he is getting better, but it is also that his opponents have to respect his ground game,” Miller said. “There are both of those situations going on. Myself, I’ve been a black belt since he was in, like, the fourth grade. I have fought the best strikers this division has ever produced, so I’ve seen everything. I’m going out there to fight him and make it a Jim Miller fight and push him and capitalize on it.”

Jim Miller is looking to push the pace against Chase Hooper

Although Miller and Hooper are high-level grapplers, the veteran is fine if it stays standing. If it remains on the feet, he’s confident in his skillset.

But, regardless of how the fight plays out, Jim Miller is confident it will be an entertaining bout for the fans.

“I imagine it will hit the ground. I try to game plan and have my opponents broken down,” Miller said. “Personally, if it stays on the feet, it’s my fight. But, I have confidence in my grappling, I’ve shared the mat with some of the best grapplers to have ever graced the Octagon. It’s a fight, it can go anywhere. But, the only guarantee i can make is I’m going to fight my ass off and I’m trying to win by my standards and that is not by pointing it out and not looking to the judges.”

If Miller does get his hand raised, he doesn’t care what is next for him. Instead, he says he just wants tough fights on big cards.

“I would love to fight ranked guys and get that opportunity again and to be ranked. But, a lot of the five-fights-left thing is a timing thing. I don’t want it to stretch it for so long, so I’d rather just fight and fight tough guys on big cards,” Miller concluded.