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Jason Miller and Ronald Jhun comment on their welterweight title fight scheduled for this Saturday at Super Brawl By Joe Hall They're very different, yet similar. One is brash and loud, the other courteous and quiet. One will shock you, offend you, and then make you laugh, sometimes in just one sentence. The other will make you feel like an old friend, sometimes in just one greeting. Both are tough welterweights on the fringes of the UFC. One fought there in August, the other was supposed to in June. On Saturday, Ronald Jhun and Jason Miller will meet in Hawaii for the Super Brawl welterweight championship. In addition to the title, both are fighting for a higher rung on the welterweight ladder, a position one step closer to a debut or a return to the UFC. FCF spoke with both fighters on Wednesday: FCF actually caught Jason "Mayhem" Miller on the, um... john. He insisted he could do the interview, however, and after a brief pause and the sound of a flushing toilet, the interview began. To capture best how the following conversation went, imagine him laughing loudly every three for four sentences. FCF: Who have you been training with for this fight? Jason Miller: I trained for a couple weeks in Atlanta, Georgia, with the guys at Velocity Kickboxing. There are some really tough standup guys over there and, also, I had the chance to train with Rory Singer from Athens. He came down and helped me train. When I was in Vegas, I trained with Marc Laimon and the guys from Cobra Kai. I literally have the best, in America, the best submission wrestling room I've ever seen in my life. It's definitely up there. We have the best grapplers I've ever seen. I get depressed sometimes because the guys are so good. I'm used to being a big fish in a small pond, being able to beat everybody's ass. In there, man, a lot of times I just get my ass kicked. It's a humbling experience. It keeps me hungry to train all the time. What is your impression of Ronald Jhun? He's a rockheaded Hawaiian, bro. He's a tough, tough guy. That's why I'm so excited about this fight. You put two rockheads in the ring together, and there's going to be some sparks. It's going to be one of those fights that afterward I'll be like, Damn that was fun. It's not going to be one of those fights where the guy gives up. It's going to be something that my body remembers. What's your biggest advantage going into this fight? I think I'm a much more technical fighter. I think I'm a little more slick than he is. He's a straightforward fighter. I think that I'm really going to beat him on being smooth about the way I fight. He's going to slip up, and I'm going to catch him. Will this be a tougher match than your fight against Egan Inoue? Yeah, yeah. I think so. I think he's more hungry than Inoue, and I think coming off his loss (at UFC 49), I think he's really going to be hungry. He's going to come after me; I'm expecting him to bring it to me. Inoue is really tough and strong, and he was definitely a tough opponent, but I'm expecting an a lot angrier Hawaiian out of Jhun. I read that you pretty much called out Hawaii after your win over Inoue. Oh, hell yeah. Jhun was the referee for the (fight against Inoue). I don't know who the referee is going to be this time, but I'll probably have to fight him next. I think there's somewhere here in Honolulu where you can take a number, and it says on it, "Fight Mayhem." So everybody has a number and eventually they're going to get around to the damn grandmas over here. Jhun refereed your fight against Inoue? Yeah, he was the referee. First I fight the guy, then I fight the referee, and next I'm going to be fighting the judges. You know who I wouldn't mind fighting is T.J. Thompson, the promoter. He put me up in this roach motel, man. Sink doesn't work, and my bed is a couple of phonebooks stacked with towels. This is a joke, bro. And it's right next to a construction site. I don't think they're done building this hotel, and they put me in it. I'd like to slap ‘em. You executed a good game plan against Inoue by weathering the storm early and rallying late. What should we expect this time, as far as strategy goes? Expect me to wow out. I'm bringing a different personality to this fight. I gotta bring Mayhem right to this one. Actually, I'm angry enough at this whole Hawaii experience this time that all three of my personalities are going to come out and jump on Jhun. I just want to bring the fight to him really fast. No weathering the storm because Jhun doesn't have a storm. He's consistent the whole damn fight. I'm ready to jump on him. How is he going to try to fight you? What will his game plan be? Jhun's kind of a basic guy. I think he's thinking, Punch ... Mayhem's ... face. Punch his face. That's how he fights; I'm expecting that. I don't think he's going to jump into a flying armbar on me. What does a win do for you? Of course it furthers my stock. We're not doing figure skating, you know? This is the kind of sport that you gotta take someone's stuff from them; you gotta take someone's chips. You put your chips up, and you gotta take his chips from him. It's not personal, but hey, I have to do what's best for me and that's to kick his ass. A while back you were scheduled to be in the UFC, but you ran into some legal problems. Have you spoken with the UFC and is the door still open with them? Yeah. They could have been saying that just to be nice, but honestly, yeah, they never slammed the door in my face. I'm sure they will if I get my block rocked. But that's business. I just gotta keep my chin down and my hands up and get the ‘W' on Saturday. And then I'll think about the UFC. I'll think about my future then. Right now I have tunnel vision; all I can see is this fight on Saturday. Two hours after the fight, what will you be doing? Hahahahaaaa. Hahaaaaaa! I'll be catchin' new charges or catchin' new diseases from these Hawaiian girls. Hahaaaa! Oh my god. Will the fight leave you pretty beat up, though? I'm expecting to feel like I got jumped by a mob of angry Hawaiians.... Hopefully that doesn't happen if I can leave the arena after the fight real quick. FCF: What's your impression of Jason Miller's skills in the ring? Ronald Jhun: I saw him fight against Egan. I was refereeing that match. He showed a lot of heart. Talented, talented fighter. I respect him a lot, but I don't think he's going to beat me (laughs). I think he's taking me lightly. What are his biggest strengths? He's a fighter that never gives up. His ground game is pretty good. Last time I saw him in Super Brawl, he fought against one of Egan Inoue's students and triangled him. His standup is questionable. I'm going to try to keep the fight standing. If it goes to the ground, I'm going to just watch myself on the ground and be cautious of his submissions. He's known to be pretty brash. What's your impression of him outside the ring? A lot of guys in this sport kind of promote themselves. I don't really take it personal as far as what he's saying about me and that stuff. I just do my talking in the ring. I respect everybody, everybody that's in the sport and fighting, as athletes and human beings. I don't really know Jason Miller personally. But I'll be meeting him shortly, so we can probably do an interview after the fight and I'll let you know (laughs again). How will this fight unfold? All I can say is I know it's going to be an exciting fight. He does all kinds of wild stuff, and I pretty much react to the fight. If he starts getting crazy, I might start doing some crazy stuff. I can't really say what I'm going to do, but I know this fight is going to end the night with a bang. I'm going to go out there and try to take his head off, try to finish the fight as fast as I can, but with the exception that I'm not going in there recklessly and try to make mistakes. I'm just going to press the fight, and if I see an opening, I'm going to attack. Is it an advantage that you're fighting in Hawaii? Oh yeah. Most definite. That's why I'm feeling kind of confident for this fight. He's coming into my hometown. I know it's going to be a tough fight, but I feel that I'm going to come out on top. What does a win over Miller do for your career? I'm just out to prove I'm one of the best 170 pounders right now. I know he's judging me off of my last fight in the UFC, and he's kind of taking me lightly, saying that I didn't belong in there, he's going to run through me and everything. It's more of a fight to prove to myself and prove to the world that I am one of the best 170 pounders out there. I think a win over him should answer that question. You finally got a shot in the UFC back in August. [Jhun lost to Chris Lytle.] What did fighting in the UFC mean to you? It was like a dream come true. I think I had so much adrenaline running through me, I guess just (from) being out there ... I was walking on cloud nine coming out to the cage. I don't think I was in the right state of mind. I think I lost focus of the whole thing. I didn't realize until a couple days later what had just happened there. I'm really hoping to do well and get another shot back in the UFC and really show the world what I'm capable of doing. Does a win over Miller put you in position to be brought back to the UFC? Most definite. I know the UFC is looking at Jason Miller, and I know at one time he was supposed to be fighting St. Pierre. I know that with this win, it should definitely put (me) back in Dana White and Joe Silva's mind, and I should be back in the UFC. How much longer do you plan on fighting? It seems like my goal was to get in the UFC. It seems now I want to get back in the UFC and be successful in there. Until I get back in the UFC and do a lot better than I did the first time, I think I'll still be around. I'd say I'll be around another five more years. |
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