"The lightweight division is the most stacked division out there so it's just too hard for me to single out one individual to fight. I just want to take the fights that are good for me and fight the styles that make sense…If I can keep doing that, I think I can begin to establish myself in the division and that's good because I want to be in this division. I needed this win to stay in this division. I really wasn't looking forward to moving to 145," stated UFC lightweight Cole Miller as he talked about the importance of his recent win over Jorge Gurgel at UFC 86. Check out what else he had to say about his performance, his future plans and much more.
PC: Congratulations on a great fight!
CM: Thank you! I put my heart into it and it turned out alright.
PC: How do you feel about the performance?
CM: I'm pretty pleased. I took a little more damage than I wanted to, but it was pretty good. I went out and was able to get some takedowns, land some ground and pound and show some good boxing, which is really one of my bases. I just really haven't been able to show it in my past fights because of injuries. I think I used to overspar and that's a reason my boxing didn't look so crisp. It was pretty solid for this one and I think it's because I cut down on my sparring and I'm pretty glad I did that.
PC: Were you surprised he stood with you so long instead of taking you down?
CM: No, I trained for that. I didn't train for that because he showed so much standup in his past fights, but I trained for it because I didn't show much standup in my fights. I thought that he would want to stand and I was more than content to stand with him. I hit the mitts every day with my boxing coach Howard Davis and my Muay Thai coach Douglas. I was hitting the pads with him every day so I was prepared in the standup department. To be honest, I thought I was going to have the grappling advantage so in the back of my mind, I knew I could get a takedown if need be. If you go to my website, that's exactly how I called it and in some of my interviews I said it. I knew I was going to submit him in the 3rd round so I guess it was a good night of picks for me.
PC: According to the pre-fight interview we did together, you were right on with what you wanted to get out of this night. The fight was all over the place and you got some bonus money like you had hoped for. How does all of that make you feel?
CM: Oh, I'm ecstatic. Now I can pay last year's taxes and this year's taxes, take care of some debts and set myself straight. I can get back on my horse and focus on my training and not worry about all of the things that's going wrong. I can focus on a couple of things I need to do to make things go right.
PC: Do you think if it wasn't for Forrest's fight with Rampage, you would have won "Fight of the Night" as well?
CM: Yeah, I definitely would've had it if it wasn't for the Forrest/Rampage 5-rounder. I guess I might have to say something to Forrest about that one.
PC: You ate a lot of leg kicks in that fight. Were you not checking them because you were anticipating something else?
CM: No. To be honest with you, he came throwing hands early and he wasn't putting much on them early. I think I checked the first couple of kicks and then I wasn't thinking that much about them because most of the time, when you start checking somebody's kicks, they stop throwing them because you've checked a few of them. I thought maybe his shins would be hurting from the one's I checked, but he kept bringing them. Moments after the fight, my leg was sore and I was limping around and I still am.
PC: Every time you were on your back, you were throwing your legs up pretty high. You almost landed an armbar early in the fight. Can you talk us through the triangle choke?
CM: I really thought that he was going to gas himself out and that's kind of what happened. In the 3rd round, I came out really fresh and he was fresh too, but he was really trying to finish and I think he got a little overzealous and came out a little too hard. I think he got like 3 takedowns in that one round and was just working too hard. I started playing possum, like I was tired; that's one thing I do. In boxing, you can throw feints and in kickboxing, you can fake shots to set up punches and takedowns. Well, one thing I do is fake being tired. I fake being fatigued to get opponents to do certain things because they think I'm mentally breaking or they think that my body is getting tired. I had a grip on his right wrist with my left wrist and it was real loose. I grabbed it, but barely so it would feel like I had no strength left. I started setting my left leg up into like a spider guard position and I started breathing heavy like I was really fatigued. I was really trying to make him think I was defending the ground and pound, but when I saw the opening I squeezed his wrist as hard as I could and with the other wrist, I snatched him down and threw my legs up as fast as I can and slapped it on and that was it.
PC: Were you getting a little leg-weary? You had to secure it on for a long time and then he turned over and then back over to your back.
CM: Yeah! They started to give out a little bit. At first, when I locked it on, I switched it over to an armbar, but one of the things I went over in the back with my Jiu Jitsu coach was to not switch to anything. That's what he would want me to do. I just remembered that and locked the armbar in until I got the choke in tighter. I did that and then let go of the arm and stuck with the choke the whole time. He was doing everything he could to fight it off and get a little bit of space. I dint even know how much time there was. I knew it was under a minute, but I didn't even know it was that close to the end of the fight. I just stuck with it and held on to his head with my left hand and my shin with my right hand and that was it.
PC: Did you feel like you were down on the cards when you had that choke locked in?
CM: I never know because I never know what the judges are looking for because maybe they've seen Jorge Gurgel fight more times than they've seen me so their eyes may be a little more focused on him. They're supposed to watch these fights unbiased, but you're always going to have human error to calculate for. I thought the 1st round was a toss up from my position. I thought I tagged him as much as he tagged me. I thought that round could have gone either way, but that he may have edged me out. I thought I won the 2nd round and I knew he was winning the 3rd round. I think if it would've gone the distance, he would have probably gotten the decision.
PC: You are a very young fighter in a deep division. Are there any lightweight out there you would like to fight in particular?
CM: I'm just going to take them as they come. I want to fight the tough guys. I want to be recognized as one of the contenders. If I have to wait another year for that to happen, I don't mind. Like you said, I'm young in the sport. As long as I can stay injury free, I'm in no hurry to get to the top. At the same time, I do want to start getting some respect from the public and getting some TV time on the main cards so I want to fight somebody good. Florian and Huerta are fighting and that's some tough guys there. Gray Maynard is solid. Frankie Edgar and Hermes Franca is an exciting fight. There are a lot of guys just from the TUF show. Gray Maynard, as I mentioned; Matt Wiman just got a big win over Thiago Tavares and Joe Lauzon, Manny Gamburyan, Rob Emerson, Corey Hill and this kid, Justin Buchholz, who jut beat him. There are a lot of lightweights out there. I could go on and on. Tyson Griffin, Marcus Aurelio and Joe Daddy. The lightweight division is the most stacked division out there so it's just too hard for me to single out one individual to fight. I just want to take the fights that are good for me and fight the styles that make sense. This fight was a big step up from my last fight, even though I lost my last fight. That's really the direction I want to go in. I either want to stand still and fight someone just as good as the last person I fought or I want to move forward and not go backwards. If I can keep doing that, I think I can begin to establish myself in the division and that's good because I want to be in this division. I needed this win to stay in this division. I really wasn't looking forward to moving to 145 and it certainly was a possibility if I would've lost that fight. Now I can focus on putting more weight on and be like my teammate Tibau, who is one of these huge 85 pound 55'ers.
PC: How much do the Iron Man tournaments help you out inside of the cage?
CM: That stuff helps out a lot. I gain not only the cardiovascular edge, but I'm gaining a mental edge because I'm doing the things that nobody else is doing. So while everybody else is sparring, hitting mitts and doing their cardio training, I'm doing things that no one else is doing on top of the things that everyone else is doing as far as MMA training. I think it gives me a mental edge and it takes my cardio to the next level. I think you will start seeing more fighters start doing a little more endurance training. Boxers do it all of the time. Boxers run, run and run. It's important. It's important to be mentally strong and put your time in and when you don't run, you don't have gas. I like to run, bike and swim and just do things to keep MMA fun because you don't want it to be too much like a real job because you start not to enjoy what you're doing. I'm constantly trying to add new training techniques and I have to thank Nick and Nate Diaz because it was their idea for me to do that in the first place. Me and my brother did it with them and I fell in love with it because it's a great way to supplement my training so I'm going to keep doing that and looking for other ways as well.
PC: Between yourself and Forrest, you definitely put Georgia on the map. Great fight Cole and congrats again. Is there anything you would like to say in closing?
CM: I want to thank all of the fans and everyone that supported me. Tapout, they were a big sponsor and they always help me out when things aren't going so hot and if you don't like me, don't support me or doubted me, I hope you get hit by a truck!
