New Jersey's Jim Miller knocked out at UFC Fight Night
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Under the bright lights of the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, all eyes were locked onto No. 7 Jim Miller as he entered the ring to a thundering applause of cheers in front of his home-state fans for a five-round lightweight bout with No. 6 Donald Cerrone.
However, the Whippany, N.J. native could not put on the show he had hoped to against Cerrone as he fell victim to a second-round knockout via a lethal kick to the head in front of 4,115 fans. The loss was Miller's first since 2012.
"He did exactly what we expected him to do," said Miller. "I hit him with a lot of good shots. He hit me hard and just fought a good fight."
Prior to the finishing blow, the second round featured a questionable moment when Cerrone delivered what appeared to be a clean body shot with his leg that dropped Miller. The referee, however, came in and called for timeout, ruling the hit was below the belt.
"It felt good to me," said Cerrone. "But that's the reason we have refs in there. I just regrouped and went from there."
Aside from the timeout issued, the second round was dominated by Cerrone, who peppered Miller with a wide array of body shots.
"He hurt me with that knee to the body early," said Miller. "I couldn't get my wind back no matter what I tried. It was like quicksand, the more I struggled, the deeper I sank."
With the fans chanting his name in support, Miller came out in his usual manner, firing on all cylinders right from the get-go. He notched the first takedown on Cerrone, who is generally a slow starter, after a hard leg kick followed by a jab that sent the New Mexico product to the mat. The first round, while being very close, likely went to the local fighter.
That, however, would be Miller's only bright spot in the match.
"I saw his body was getting tired and I saw him drop his hands and I knew I could go for the finish and I went for it," said Cerrone.
The lead-in fight to the main event saw Edson Barboza (14-2) make quick work of his opponent, Evan Dunham (14-5), after connecting on a jarring leg kick to Dunham's body that echoed through the arena. The impact stunned Dunham and sent him to the ground where Barboza came in and landed a few more punches before the fight was called in the first round. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Barboza's adopted home state is New Jersey.
In one of the more entertaining fights of the night, the flyweights took center stage in a thrilling display that nearly went the distance until John Lineker (24-7) landed a devastating barrage of left hooks to finish Alptekin Ozkilic (9-3) with a TKO. The knockout came at 4:51 in the third round, tying the third latest knockout ever in a three-round bout.
In the lone welterweight on the main card, Rick Story (17-8) had a near-perfect performance against Leonardo Mafra (11-2), using an arm triangle to force a submission in the second round. Joe Proctor (10-2) landed a left hook that sent Justin Salas (12-6) to the mat, leading to a swarm of punches for a second-round TKO in the third bout. In the opening fight on the main card, Brazilian Lucas Martins (15-1) gave Alex White (10-1) his first career loss with a vicious right hand jab that knocked the American out midway through the third round.
In its entirety, the event featured nine finishes, marking the highest amount of the 2014 season.