Unknown ‘Journeyman’ Jim Has ‘Made Millions’ In UFC

Jim Miller’s mixed martial arts (MMA) career (37-17, 1 no contest) appears to know no bounds as the 40-year-old Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) record holder approaches UFC 300 for a clash with Bobby Green on April 13, 2024.

The Lightweight veteran has been in the promotion since October 2008, which has allowed him to accumulate a staggering 46 fights and 26 wins in the Octagon, the most for either. Miller has never fought for a title during his run, but has been close as a top contender and at a point in 2011 was likely one win away from challenging for gold had he beat Benson Henderson to extend his winning streak at the time to eight.

Despite having yet to return to such heights, “A-10” is still very well off financially, according to UFC CEO, Dana White.

“When you become a champion, you become a partner. You share in the pay-per-view (PPV) revenue,” White explained on The TRUTH Podcast. “Boxing does [it too]. Whoever is the champion in boxing, you get the lion’s share of the revenue. Here, it’s dispersed through across everybody.

“We got a guy right now who’s 40 years old and he’s on this hot streak, man. His name’s Jim Miller,” he continued. “He’s been around forever. He’s been around since like we bought the company and he’s still fighting. He’s gonna fight on UFC 300 and this is a guy who’s been — I guess you could call him a journeyman in boxing [terms], right? If you ask most people, they wouldn’t know who Jim Miller is, and the guy’s made millions of dollars.”

You’d be hard-pressed to find a hardcore MMA fan that wasn’t familiar with Miller. White is accurate when it comes to casual fans, however, as Miller’s just fought whoever is put in front of him more often than not.

Ultimately, the UFC boss once again wanted to highlight with the example of someone like Miller that UFC fighter pay isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

“He’s never made it to that level [of UFC champion],” White said. “Guys that would be considered journeymen in boxing never make that kind of money ever.

“It’s because we focus on building great fights with great fighters,” he continued. “If you can stay here for a certain amount of time, you make really good money. It supports your family, you can pay your house off. You’re not gonna have $30-40 million, but you’ll have $6, $7, $8 million, and most people wouldn’t even know who he was.”