UFC 134 Fight Card Primer: Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller

This is one of those fights where you don't want either guy to lose. One guy has had to scratch and claw his way out of desperate poverty to become a successful fighter. The other has had to deal with some of the most serious personal tragedies possible. Inside the cage though, both men are all business and it should be a hell of a fight.  Rousimar Palhares (12-3, 5-2 UFC) will face off with a dreaded Miller brother, Dan Miller (13-5, 1 NC, 5-4 UFC).

Palhares is currently ranked at number 19 on the USA Today/BE Consensus Rankings, while Miller currently occupies the 23 spot.  The winner of this bout will definitely be staying on TV for the near future, which is a very important thing. This middleweight UFC 134 fight will take place on the preliminary card, which will be shown live on Spike TV. The Spike broadcast begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

How do these two stack up?

Palhares: 31 years old | 5'8" | 71" reach
Miller: 30 years old | 6'0" | 74" reach

What have these two done recently?

Palhares: W - Dave Branch (SUB) | L - Nate Marquardt (TKO) | W - Tomasz Drwal (SUB)
Miller: L - Nate Marquardt (UD) | W - Joe Doerksen (SD) | W  John Salter (SUB)

How did these two get here?

Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares has a mystique surrounding him. Not a lot of fighters have folk tales told about them, and not a lot of fighters have the ability to separate joints from sockets like the "Tree Stump". I won't even claim to be unbiased here - Palhares has fascinated and entertained me from the minute he stepped into an MMA ring in Brazil. A 7-1 start to his career and a Fury FC grand prix win (that saw him finish every fight by a form of foot lock in under 2 minutes) earned him a shot in the UFC. After a ridiculously cool submission of Ivan Salaverry at UFC 84 (look it up), he was matched up with legend Dan Henderson. He dropped a decision but had his moments, and rebounded from the loss by rattling off three straight wins. A weird followup loss to Nate "TRT" Marquardt set him back a bit, but he rebounded with a submission win over Dave Branch and can definitely still be a factor in the middleweight division.

Dan Miller doesn't get the respect he deserves. I said in an earlier primer that Paulo Thiago has faced the toughest competition in his initial UFC run, but Dan Miller is in the running for that title as well. A 5-4 record doesn't sound that great, but when all 4 losses are to top ten competition, well...that's probably something you should take into consideration. Oh, and none of those so-called awesome fighters were able to finish Mr. Miller. A lot of people write of the bigger MillerBrother because of his record, but he's a victim of Joe Silva throwing him to the wolves more than anything. Miller can hang, folks. 

Why should you care?

If you don't care about this fight, you lack the ability to gain an emotional connection with a fighter and I want to kick you in the kneecap. Miller has been through so much more than you ever will, and he's still up for going out and entertaining you. And Toquinho's on your TV because he has the work ethic and heart of seven men. Even if you don't give a flying hootenanny about their backgrounds, guess what? This is an awesome fight. You owe it to yourself to throw it on Spike TV and watch these two duke it out.

More UFC 134 Previews from Bloody Elbow after the jump.

• Bloody Elbow Staff Predictions for UFC 134
• Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami Preview - Leland Roling
• Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami 1 Fight Video - Mike Fagan
• Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs. Forrest Griffin Preview - Leland Roling
•  Brendan Schaub vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Dissection - Dallas Winston
• Ross Pearson vs Edson Barboza Dissection - Dallas Winston
• Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov Dissection - Dallas Winston
• UFC 134 Celebrity Picks - Cove Reber vs. Natasha Wicks
• Spike TV Preliminary Card Dissection - Dallas Winston
• UFC 134: Rio - Facebook Preliminary Card Dissection - Dallas Winston
• UFC 134: Weigh-In Video Highlights