This Saturday’s UFC Vegas 120 marks the return of The Ultimate Fighter Season 30 winner Juliana Miller, looking to even her record inside the octagon to 3-3 in a fight with Ravena Oliveira.
It hasn’t been the easiest run for Miller in the UFC. “Killer” Miller defeated Brogan Walker in the TUF 30 finale, then dropped back-to-back fights before picking up a win over Ivana Petrovic, only to stumble against Carli Judice last time out. The losses include one to Luana Santos, who is now a ranked bantamweight, while Miller remains at 125lbs.
Speaking to Cageside Press in a recent interview, Miller revealed that she has a different feeling coming into her latest fight.
“This is the most mellow I’ve been in a long time, so I look forward to seeing how that adheres in the cage,” Miller explained.
Miller attributes that mellow state to working with a sports psychologist with the UFC, and added as well that “I’ve kind of been through it with fights. For instance, the only fight I’ve ever been finished was Luana Santos, and she’s like ranked fourth in the bantamweight division right now.”
“I’ve faced girls a lot bigger than me, I’ve faced hard hitters, I’ve faced knockout artists; Carli Judice, where the world was expecting me to get finished in 30 seconds, and she couldn’t get even close to putting me away. In fact, she almost got subbed closer than I almost got knocked out.”
Ahead of UFC Vegas 120, she continued, “I just rebuilt my confidence. I believe that I belong in the UFC, and I’m just ready to perform. And I think that brings me a lot of peace, because so many times you’d be in your head, like ‘do I belong here? Am I good enough? Can I do it?’ And I know that I can do it. I know that I can put on a very exciting performance and get a finish.”
That’s not taking anything away from Ravena Oliveira, added Miller. “I just believe deep in my heart that this is my time.”
While Miller’s run in the UFC has been tough, she’s been through struggles outside of it as well, including losing her grandmother. Now, Miller’s fighting towards fulfilling a promise she made to her.
“Now I’m just prepared to sprout into a better athlete. When I won that fight [against Petrovic], I put my grandma’s ashes in Ocean Beach. I promised her I would take her ashes three places. And I’m choosing to do those three places after I win. One of them is Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that’s the beach she grew up in, she wants her ashes there.” The third spot is Minnesota, where Miller’s grandfather is buried.
“It’s not a pressure, it’s an excitement. When I win this fight, I get one step closer to taking all the places she wants to go,” Miller continued. “And that’s exciting for me, but really this fight is just about becoming a better fighter, and a better athlete, and showing the world the skills that I have. And really just shutting people up that say I’m not a killer and don’t deserve my nickname and stuff like that.”
Noting the fickle nature of fans and pointing out that they don’t know what’s happening in an athlete’s personal life, Miller added that “when you fall, they’ll kick you when you’re down, and when you thrive, they’ll tell you how much they love you. Really I just want to put a stamp on it and prove a point that I am a killer, and I do belong in the UFC.”
Watch our full interview with UFC Vegas 120’s Juliana Miller above.