Jim Miller vs. Thiago Tavares set for UFC 103

by Scott Haber on Aug 3, 2009 11:25 PM EDT Comment 18 comments

This Fan Post was promoted to the front page by Nick Thomas.

Thiago Tavares (14-3, 4-3 UFC) and Jim Miller (14-2, 3-1 UFC) will meet in a lightweight fight at UFC 103 in Dallas, Texas according to the official card on UFC.com.

Now training with American Top Team, the BJJ and muay-thai specialist Tavares hasn't seen action since January where he won a unanimous decision over Manny Gamburyan at UFC 94. Originally scheduled to face Melvin Guillard at the TUF 9 Finale, Tavares suffered an injury in training and was replaced by teammate Gleison Tibau. Although he has shown moments of brilliance when combining his lethal striking and excellent submissions, Tavares has struggled against tougher competition like Tyson Griffin, Kurt Pellegrino, and Matt Wiman.

One half of the notoriously scrappy Miller brothers, along with his brother and UFC middleweight Dan, Jim Miller has put his excellent wrestling and BJJ background to good use with dominant victories over Matt Wiman, and most recently, Mac Danzig at UFC 100. Miller has had some problems with stronger wrestlers like Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar (his only two career losses), but he has not yet faced someone with the diverse striking talents of Tavares in the UFC, so it will be even more imperative for him to control this fight on the ground.

In other UFC 103 news:

-Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca has been bumped up to the televised card, while Cole Miller vs. Efrain Escudero has been moved down to the prelims

-Paul Daley's debut against fellow newcomer Brian Foster, and Eliot Marshall vs. Jason Brilz are both now official for the evening's prelim card

-If all the other rumored fights pan out, UFC 103 will host an astounding thirteen fights (5 on the televised card, 8 on the prelims), the largest card in UFC history. Six of those thirteen fights will feature lightweights. Not bad for a card that was initially criticized by many as being barely worthy of a free Fight Night event ;)

Main Card Bouts:
Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort
Mirko Cro Cop vs. Junior Dos Santos
Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann
Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg
Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca

Preliminary Bouts:
Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller
Thiago Tavares vs. Jim Miller
Paul Daley vs. Brian Foster
Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal
Jason Brilz vs. Eliot Marshall
Sean Sherk vs. Gleison Tibau* - not yet confirmed
Rob Emerson vs. Rafael Dos Anjos* - not yet confirmed
Dan Lauzon vs. Rafaello Oliveira* - not yet confirmed

Photos by UFC.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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Tavares could be trouble for Miller

He’s the far better grappler and Miller relies on his submission game.

Follow me on Twitter @KidNate

by Kid Nate on Aug 4, 2009 12:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm still not entirely sold on Tavares's ground game

Yes, Tyson Griffin neutralizes all BJJ black belts, but Matt Wiman went submission-for-submission with Tavares and didn’t come close to being finished on the ground, while Miller dominated Wiman on the ground.

Kurt Pellegrino also dominated Tavares on the ground and technically subbed him with an armbar, although the ref never saw the clearly visible tap from Tavares, who also never owned up to it.

I don’t think Miller’s ground game is behind that of Wiman’s, and if it behind Pellegrino’s, it’s no far. Essentially, I think he can hang with Tavares on the ground.

by Scott Haber on Aug 4, 2009 12:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good point. I agree. Miller is not going to be easily controlled on the ground.

by PunchesAndKicks.com on Aug 4, 2009 5:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I see 4 of 5 fights on the maincard going to decision. Cop/Santos better be a quick KO. I want to see the McFedries/Drawl fight.

by steveoc24 on Aug 4, 2009 12:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That fight will literally take up 20 seconds, I'm sure they can squeeze it in :-)

'He built his whole reputation as a waffle house chef. They’ve been serving him up ham and eggs with a side of canned tomatoes' - Don Frye on Fedor Emelianenko

by Well Read Idiot on Aug 4, 2009 9:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m a huge Tyson fan but to say Tavares struggled with him couldn’t be further from the truth. He arguably won the fight.

by gunranger on Aug 4, 2009 1:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The fact that you have to qualify it by saying Tavares “arguably” won the fight indicates that there was, in fact, a struggle.

...Behold, a pale horse. The man that sat upon it was Wieters, and hell followed with him.

"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard

by Brett Jones on Aug 4, 2009 7:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Only if you’re partial to making stupid arguments.

Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

by Richard Wade on Aug 4, 2009 9:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So hold on

is this a PPV, or on free TV?

Cause if it’s free… pass the cool aid.

Hell, even it isn’t free, it’s a damn good card.

Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.

'09 is the year of the FW's.

by ElliotMatheny on Aug 4, 2009 2:11 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It's definitely a PPV.

by Scott Haber on Aug 4, 2009 8:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I love me some Miller Brothers, Jim redeemed himself with his win over Danzig last time and should take this without much problem. Tavares is going to get outwrestled and out lasted by Miller I haven’t been impressed by Thiago since he’s been in the UFC.

by Raker on Aug 4, 2009 2:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm surprised.

Even though the Franca/Griffin fight means more right now in the grand scheme of things in the UFC Lightweight division, I never would have thought they would bump down Efrain’s fight against Cole Miller to the prelims. You would think they would wanna market the hell out of Efrain, especially with their new deal in Mexico. I don’t think they’ve ever had an Ultimate Fighter winner’s first fight be on the prelims. Doesn’t make sense to me..

by filipinomix2oo0 on Aug 4, 2009 3:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

WAR DOS ANJOS!!!

Hopefully he can get a win and stick around for a bit.

I'm like PacMan fightin you silly kids... throw ya Hatton the ring, and get knocked outlike Ricky did.
lol.

by Loot on Aug 4, 2009 11:26 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

We are trying to get him to come to our academy and train at altitude for a couple of weeks prior and have Gordo do a seminar while they are here. That would be awesome.

Hopefully he can get a big win.

If you're not submitting, you're just rolling around with another guy.

by BJJDenver on Aug 4, 2009 11:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs