Little did former WEC contender and current UFC fighter Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone know just how much his verbal grenades would help bitter rival Cole Miller. Miller, after all, is slated to fight his friend, Matt Wiman, at Saturday's "UFC Fight Night 23: UFC Fights for the Troops 2" event.
Miller said he fights better when he's "a little big angry," which was going to be a difficult task with Wiman. But thanks to a long-brewing rivalry, Miller told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) he's gotten all the motivation he needs from Cerrone.
Miller and Wiman fight on the Spike TV-televised main card of Saturday's show, which takes place at Fort Hood in Texas as a fundraiser for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. But thanks to their public feud, Miller's name has been attached more to Cerrone than Wiman in recent weeks.
And that's just fine with Miller, who said the hatred started with a seemingly innocuous dinner. It was sometime in 2008, about a year after Miller had defeated Cerrone's teammate and fellow UFC prospect Leonard Garcia at UFC Fight Night 11.
Miller said he was actually a fan of Cerrone's fighting style and told him so during that dinner. Naturally, he wanted to know whom Cerrone wanted to fight next.
"He said, 'I want to fight you!'" Miller said. "I didn't like that, and we had some words. Every time we see each other now we have words. It doesn't get close to brawling now because it's kind of understood. But every time we see each other we pop off at the mouth a little bit."
One of the latest pops came this past August in Boston. Officials unknowingly put the two rivals on the same van ride to a UFC Fan Expo event. Their fellow commuters, which included Garcia and one of Miller's brothers, could sense the tension.
"It was like, 'All right, let's break this awkward silence by telling each other what we think of each other,'" Miller said with a chuckle.
Given the bad blood, which has become pretty public fodder, UFC officials would be wise to book a Miller vs. Cerrone bout. But up first is Wiman, a fighter with whom Miller has a completely different relationship.
"He's one of these guys where we don't train together or anything like that, but we talk many times per year," said Miller, who met Wiman years ago and became closer after they both appeared on "The Ultimate Fighter 5." "He may call to ask about a fighter he's getting ready for, and I may call just to say merry Christmas to him and his family."
So has the Cerrone feud proved a distraction?
"If anything, it offered me a little more motivation," Miller said. "I've been able to harness some focus. I fight better when I'm a little bit angry. That's something for me to be angry about. It's kind of hard for me to be angry about Matt Wiman. He's a pretty classy guy, a stand-up dude, a good representative of the sport.
"But right now, I'm not looking past Matt Wiman. I'm focused on Matt Wiman. But if I get by him, I can get that fight I really want with 'Cowboy.'"
Miller and Wiman both are after the same thing at this point in their careers: consistency. Miller is a solid 6-2 in the UFC, but he never has put together three straight victories in the organization. Wiman, meanwhile, posted a four-fight UFC win streak after "TUF" but followed it was back-to-back losses. Like Miller, he now looks for his third consecutive win as part of his reemergence.
"We share that in common," Miller said. "We've been unable to establish momentum. We win a few year and then drop one here. That's what I'm trying to do, establish some consistency."
It's clear Miller, an American Top Team product who also spent time training Nick and Nate Diaz for this fight, has shown marked improvement despite his inconsistency. He knows his progress sometimes confuses his many detractors, who appreciate Miller's raw skills but sometimes underestimate his mental toughness.
Now, he's just trying to put it all together.
"I think that was a pretty common viewpoint, that I wasn't going to stick around very long (in the UFC)," he said. "People thought I was a pretty technical fighter but probably didn't have what it took for the high level. But I'm still here, training hard and trying to be a better person, a better fighter and a better mixed martial artist.
"I'm trying to get that next level of consistency. I haven't been able to find it, but that's what separates the good fighters from the great fighters, the ability to do it every single time."
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