Jim
Miller has never made championship-level money during his
Ultimate Fighting Championship career, but thanks to his
staying power, he’s done quite well for himself.
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During a recent appearance on “The
TRUTH Podcast,” UFC CEO Dana White discussed the topic of
fighter pay with host Vivek Ramaswamy. During that segment of the
show, White referenced Miller as an example of someone who has done
much better for himself under the UFC banner than he would in
another combat sport such as boxing.
“When you become a world champion, you become a partner. When you
got a belt, you share in the pay-per-view revenue,” White said.
That, of course, is limited to only a handful of fighters within
the Las Vegas-based promotion. However, competitors such as Miller
are their own type of success story.
“Boxing does [it too]. Whoever is the champion in boxing, you get
the lion’s share of the revenue. Here, it’s dispersed through
across everybody,” White continued. “We got a guy right now who’s
40 years old, and he’s on this hot streak, man. His name is Jim
Miller. He’s been around forever. He’s been around since, like, we
bought the company, and he’s still fighting. He’s going to fight on
UFC 300, and this is a guy who’s been – I guess you could call him
a journeyman in boxing, right? If you ask most people, they
wouldn’t know who Jim Miller is, and the guy’s made millions of
dollars.”
Miller, who has won five of his last six Octagon appearances, will
square off against Bobby Green
at UFC
300 on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Miller’s
longevity has played a significant role in his earnings, as he has
a promotion record 43 fights in the UFC since his debut in
2008.
“He’s never made it to that level [of UFC champion],” White said.
“Guys that would be considered journeymen in boxing never make that
kind of money ever. It’s because we focus on building great fights
with great fighters.
“If you can stay here for a certain amount of time, you make really
good money. It supports your family, you can pay your house off.
You’re not gonna have $30, $40 million, but you’ll have $6, $7, $8
million. And most people wouldn’t even know who he [Miller] was.”