UFN 23 – Cole Miller using Cerrone feud as much needed motivation to fight his close friend

UFC lightweight contender Cole Miller has been giving his thoughts on his upcoming showdown with Matt Wiman this weekend at UFC Fight Night 23 as well as his well-publicised feud with UFC newcomer Donald Cerrone. If anyone expected the trash-talking to distract Miller from the matter in hand, ‘Magrinho’ himself feels that if anything it has served as motivation for him to put a beating on a close friend this weekend.
Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, Miller (17-4, 6-2 UFC) explained the roots of his bad blood with former WEC superstar ‘Cowboy’, saying that it stemmed from a chance encounter over dinner in 2008, about a year after Miller had defeated Cerrone’s friend and training partner Leonard Garcia. When ‘Magrinho’ tried to break the ice by asking ‘Cowboy’ who he wanted to fight next, the brash Colorado native responded in provocative fashion.

“He said, ‘I want to fight you! 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.”

A further encounter between the two during a van ride to a UFC Fan Expo fuelled the fire and recently both Miller and Cerrone have spoken publicly of their dislike for one another. When asked if the public war of words has taken his mind off his fight with ‘Handsome’ Matt Wiman this weekend, Miller said that if anything the feud has served to motivate him further to get past Wiman in Fort Hood.

“If anything, it offered me a little more motivation. 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.’”

The American Top Team lightweight did reasonably well on season five of TUF, but after the show ended not too many people expected Miller to hang around the UFC lightweight division for long. Several years down the line, and ‘Magrinho’ is considered one of the division’s most intriguing prospects having submitted the likes of Jorge Gurgel and TUF season nine winner Ross Pearson inside the Octagon. A win this weekend would be Miller’s third in a row and would give the lightweight the consistency he knows he needs to find inside the Octagon.

“I think that was a pretty common viewpoint, that I wasn’t going to stick around very long (in the UFC). 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.”

Stay tuned to MMABay in the days to come for more on this weekend’s UFN 23 card which features Cole Miller as he attempts to take out Matt Wiman and potentially square-off with bitter rival Donald Cerrone later this year.