Has MTV Made Jason "Mayhem" Miller a Mainstream Draw?

Photo by Tracy Lee via Combat Lifestyle

Dave Meltzer can't answer that question, but it's clear that Miller will be adding some spectacle to the broadcast:

Miller hopes to bring with him a fan base from his Thursday-night MTV show with an MMA theme that just ended its second season in late October. The show did about 800,000 viewers for the original prime-time showing, and with multiple repeats during the week, the overall viewership was significantly higher, mostly with teenagers and adults in their 20s, a key demographic CBS hopes MMA will bring to its network on Saturday.

MTV was auditioning prospective hosts two years ago for a show where MMA fighters would garner revenge by beating up bullies, when the producers were directed by YouTube videos of Miller. They were so impressed with what they saw that he was offered the job as host without even an audition.

But Miller remained a fighter, most recently in Japan for the Dream organization where he's actually better known for his heavily choreographed ring entrances than his fights. Like flamboyant Japanese fighters Genki Sudo and Akihiro Gono, Miller comes out putting on a show, looking like something more you would expect from a Broadway musical than a fight event, but that type of pageantry is popular on Japanese events.

Strikeforce is going to allow him to do his trademark entrance, a new version which he won't give away ahead of time. His entrances often involve dancing with people in monkey costumes, as Miller nicknames his fan base the "Mayhem monkeys."

Miller is one of those rare fighters who has managed to make himself a star independent of the UFC, where he's fought only once. While it's hard to argue that he would be at the top of the middleweight division in the UFC, I think a very strong case can be made that he is a higher caliber fighter than any number of UFC regulars. Chris Leben comes to mind.

Regardless, Miller is a fighter with a strong fan appeal and considerable skills and I'm glad to see him getting major exposure in the U.S.

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