Roosevelt Roberts comfortable if Jim Miller fight goes to ground, eyes ranked opponent with win

Roosevelt Roberts is not afraid to go to the ground with one of the UFC’s all-time leaders in submission wins.

Roberts (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) faces Jim Miller this Saturday in the UFC on ESPN 11 main card opener looking for his third consecutive win. It will be Roberts’ highest-profile fight to date, and the jiu-jitsu brown belt is confident that he can hang with Miller (31-14 MMA, 20-13 UFC) on the ground.

“Yeah, I definitely feel comfortable,” Roberts told MMA Junkie. “Don’t get me wrong, I know he’s a top-level jiu-jitsu guy, but I’ve been training jiu-jitsu since I started. I love jiu-jitsu. Jiu-jitsu, I feel like, just comes naturally to me. I really am into it with jiu-jitsu.

“I really believe in my jiu-jitsu, so I don’t think him taking me down will make me feel overwhelmed or anything, because I feel naturally good when I’m on my back or when we start training the game of jiu-jitsu.”

Roberts is coming off a second-round submission win over Brok Weaver less than three weeks ago. Now he’s facing a quick turnaround against one of the most experienced fighters on the UFC roster.

Roberts initially had wanted to fight Matt Frevola next, but with a win over Miller, Roberts is happy to move on to bigger and better things.

“I want the dude, but if I go out there and win (expletive) amazing, I got some ranked guys I got on my eyes,” Roberts said. “I got some guys that are coming up that I want to fight, so if they’re gonna make it worth my while, maybe me and him fight for a ranked spot or somebody to get a ranked fight, then I’d do that. Once I get this fight going and everything goes my way then yeah, I’m looking for a ranked guy after that.”