Report | UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich arrested for DWI

UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich was reportedly arrested on Monday in Moline, Illinois, on suspicion of driving while under the influence.

According to the Quad-City Times, the 54-year-old legend of mixed martial arts was pulled over on River Drive in Moline at 12:30 a.m. on Monday, as per Moline Police arrest reports. The report says that Miletich was booked into Rock Island County Jail at 2 a.m. on charges of driving while under the influence. There is no confirmation yet if Miletich was above or below the legal blood alcohol content limit of .08 as Illinois state laws say that any amount of alcohol in one’s system that impairs their ability to drive can lead to DWI charges.

According to the report, this is not Miletich’s first run-in with police for a DWI charge. Miletich pleaded guilty in March 2019 to charges of operating a vehicle while under the influence after being arrested by Bettendorf police in September 2018. Miletich was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation but he was discharged in July 2019 after serving in-home detention and completing Iowa’s course for driving under the influence.

Miletich is one of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts history and he was the first UFC welterweight champion and the winner of the UFC 16 welterweight tournament. The legendary leader of Miletich Fighting Systems, “The Croatian Sensation” once led of a team of incredible fighters in Iowa, including his protege Matt Hughes, plus other notable MMA fighters such as Robbie Lawler, Tim Sylvia, Jens Pulver, Spencer Fisher, and Josh Neer.

Miletich began his MMA career in 1995 and won the first 15 fights of his career before losing to Matt Hume via doctor stoppage TKO in 1997. One year later and he made his UFC debut, winning the promotion’s one-night welterweight tournament in 1998. Later that year, Miletich defeated Mikey Burnett via split decision at UFC 17.5 and he defended his title successfully against Jorge Patino via unanimous decision at UFC 18 in 1999.

Miletich defended his belt a few months later against legendary Nova Uniao trainer Andre Pederneiras at UFC 21 and once again he defended his belt against John Alessio at UFC 26 and against Kenichi Yamamoto at UFC 29, with both fights coming in 2000. Miletich then lost his belt to Carlos Newton at UFC 31 in 2001 via bulldog choke submission. He only fought four times after that, concluding his MMA career with a KO win over Thomas Denny in 2008.

Pat Miletich is set to fight Michael Nunn in a kickboxing match on July 18 at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport, Iowa.