Daniel James Miller (born June 30, 1981) is an American former

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

. A professional from 2005 until 2014, he is perhaps best known for competing in the

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

, but was also the final International Fight League Middleweight Champion, representing the

New York Pitbulls The New York Pitbulls were an International Fight League team based in NYC, New York. Coached by Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert and MMA veteran Renzo Gracie, the Pitbulls were one of four teams competing in the IFL's inaugural season. Record/Roste ...

. He is the older brother of current UFC Lightweight Jim Miller.

Background

Born and raised in

Sparta Township, New Jersey Sparta is a township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 19,600, reflecting a decrease of 122 (−0.6%) from the 2010 United States Census, when the township's population was 19, ...

along with two brothers, Miller began wrestling from a young age and continued competing at Sparta High School. Miller then began his

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

career in 2005, when he began training at Planet Jiu-Jitsu. On January 15, 2010, Miller received his

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

black belt under Jamie Cruz.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Miller had his first professional fight November 19, 2005 against Tenyeh Dixon at Reality Fighting 10 and was victorious by triangle choke in the first round. Miller followed the Dixon fight with a victory over Jay Coleman at Reality Fighting 11 by

Armbar An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint or shoulder joint. An armlock that hyper-extends the arm is known as an armbar, and it includes the traditional armbar, pr ...

, setting up a #1 contender match against

Mike Massenzio Mike Vito Massenzio (born November 1, 1982) is an American mixed martial artist who has competed as a Middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He wrestled in New Jersey and was a two-time high school state champion in 2000 (160 lb ...

. As the main event at Reality Fighting 12, Massenzio and Miller fought to a close decision, with Miller's submission attempts earning the victory on one judge's card and Massenzio's strong takedowns earning the victory on two cards, and the fight. Miller's next fight came at the

Cage Fury Fighting Championships Cage Fury Fighting Championships (CFFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion primarily operating in the Northeastern United States. Founded by Felix and Amy Martinez, they promoted their first shows in Atlantic City, New Jersey, l ...

where he took on Dave Perez. Miller landed a strong upkick from his back early before controlling the rest of the fight. Perez failed to answer the bell for round 2, and Miller's victory earned him a title shot at CFFC II. Miller fought Lance Everson at CFFC II for the Cage Fury Fighting Championships Middleweight Title. The fight was highlighted by a powerful slam by Miller which led to a

rear-naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word "naked" in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keikogi ...

which earned Miller the first round victory and the title. Following CFFC II, Planet Jiu Jitsu closed down. Miller began training at American Martial Arts in

Whippany, New Jersey Whippany is a unincorporated community located within Hanover Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Whippany's name is derived from the Whippanong Native Americans, a tribe that once inhabited the area. Whippanong meant "place ...

with his brother Jim in January, 2007. Miller defended his title April 13, 2007 against Rhino Fight Team's Jose Rodriguez in his first fight with AMA Fight Club. Miller's brother Jim also fought on the card; the first time the brothers had fought together since Reality Fighting 12 and both were victorious. Using his strong wrestling and Jiu Jitsu skills, Miller took Rodriguez to the ground on multiple occasions, and dealt damage from on top. Though Miller attained the mount twice, and had an attempted Armbar in the third round, Rodriguez proved to be tough and the fight went to the judges where Miller was granted the unanimous 30–27 victory. Miller made his

IFL IFL may refer to: ;American football *Intense Football League, (2004–2008) in the United States, merged into the Indoor Football League *Indoor Football League, (2008–present) in the United States *Intercontinental Football League, a European l ...

debut when he fought for

Renzo Gracie Renzo Gracie (; born March 11, 1967) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. A member of the Gracie family of Brazil, Renzo is a 7th Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlos Gracie Jr. He is the so ...

's New York Pitbulls in the 2007 IFL Semifinals in

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 10,022, reflecting an increase of 1,109 (+12.4%) from the 8,913 counted in the 2010 census.

, filling in for the injured Fabio Leopaldo. Miller fought the Tokyo Sabres' Dave Phillips in the first fight between the teams. After a quick slam by Miller, Phillips established guard and attempted an armbar. Miller slammed out, and in the scramble secured Phillips' neck in a standing guillotine choke. IFL Commentator

Bas Rutten Sebastiaan "Bas" Rutten (; born 24 February 1965) is a Dutch-American actor, former mixed martial artist, kickboxer and professional wrestler. He was a UFC Heavyweight Champion, a three-time King of Pancrase world champion, and finished his car ...

called the choke, which rendered Phillips unconscious, "the tightest guillotine e'dever seen," and Miller earned the Submission-of-the-Night award for it. Miller defeated Ryan McGivern by kneebar to become the last IFL Middleweight Championship.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

On July 23, 2008, it was announced that the UFC had signed both Miller and his brother Jim each to four fight contracts. Miller was successful in his UFC debut against

Rob Kimmons Rob Kimmons (born January 30, 1981) is a retired American mixed martial artist who last competed in the Welterweight division. A professional from 2000 until 2013, he competed for the UFC, WEC, and Titan FC. Background Raised in the small tow ...

at UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Neer, winning via rear-naked choke submission. Miller returned to the Octagon and defeated

Matt Horwich Matthew Peter Horwich (born October 2, 1978) is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 2003, Horwich has fought in BAMMA, Strikeforce, Bellator, the UFC, and for t ...

via unanimous decision at

UFC 90 ''UFC 90: Silva vs. Côté'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on October 25, 2008, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Background The main event featured UFC Middleweigh ...

on October 25, 2008. He moved his UFC record to 3–0 with a first round submission victory over

Jake Rosholt Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach Animals * Jake (rescue dog), a s ...

at UFC Fight Night: Lauzon vs. Stephens on February 7, 2009. Originally, Miller was scheduled to fight again at ''

UFC 98 ''UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on May 23, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Background A title unification match between the Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir and U ...

'' against

Yushin Okami is a Japanese mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2002, Okami has competed for the UFC, PRIDE, Pancrase, M-1 Global, World Series of Fighting, DEEP, Professional Fighters League, and ONE Championship. Mixed martial arts caree ...

, but Okami sustained an injury and was replaced by

Chael Sonnen Chael Patrick Sonnen (; born April 3, 1977) is an American submission grappling promoter, mixed martial arts (MMA) analyst, and retired mixed martial artist. Beginning his MMA career in 1997, Sonnen competed for the Ultimate Fighting Champion ...

. He lost via unanimous decision as Sonnen took him down at will and ground and pounded for three rounds en route to a victory. Miller was scheduled to fight

CB Dollaway CB and variants may refer to: Places * CB postcode area, British post code for eastern England served by the Cambridge postal sorting office * Cambodia (FIPS Pub 10-4 country code and obsolete NATO digram CB) * Cape Breton (disambiguation) * Cen ...

on September 16, 2009 at

UFC Fight Night 19 ''UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 19'') was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on September 16, 2009 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Background A previously announced bou ...

, but got an infection and had to withdraw. Miller lost a unanimous decision to

Demian Maia Demian Maia (born 6 November 1977) is a Brazilian professional submission grappler and mixed martial artist. He competed in both the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Maia is regarded as one ...

on February 6, 2010 at

UFC 109 ''UFC 109: Relentless'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on February 6, 2010, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Background A previously rumoured bout between Renzo Gracie and ...

. Miller next lost his third consecutive UFC fight to

Michael Bisping Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (; born 28 February 1979) is an English actor, sports analyst, commentator and retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor ...

via unanimous decision on May 29, 2010 at

UFC 114 ''UFC 114: Rampage vs. Evans'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 29, 2010 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The UFC Fan Expo took place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Backg ...

. Miller faced

John Salter John Salter (born March 21, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division of Bellator. A professional competitor since 2007, he has also competed for the UFC and Strikeforce, King of the Cage, and ...

on August 28, 2010 at

UFC 118 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

, replacing an injured

Phil Baroni Philip George Baroni (April 16, 1976) is a retired American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and former kickboxer. A professional MMA competitor since 2000, Baroni has competed for the UFC, PRIDE, Strikeforce, Cage Rage, DREAM, Elit ...

. Miller earned a much needed win via submission due to a Ninja Choke (a front Rear Naked Choke) at 1:53 of the second round. It was Miller's first victory since February 2009. Miller next defeated

Joe Doerksen Joseph Daniel Doerksen (born October 9, 1977) is a Canadian retired mixed martial artist. A professional from 1999 until 2014, he fought in the UFC, WEC, IFL, King of the Cage, Aggression Fighting Championship, World Victory Road, RINGS, SuperBra ...

on December 11, 2010 at

UFC 124 ''UFC 124: St-Pierre vs. Koscheck 2'' was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 11, 2010 at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The event was the fourth that the UFC has hosted at the ...

via split decision. Miller faced

Nate Marquardt Nathan Joel Marquardt (born April 20, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist who competed in the middleweight and welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 1999, he is a former Strikeforce W ...

on March 19, 2011 at

UFC 128 ''UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones'' was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 19, 2011, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Background This event was expected to take place in Abu Dha ...

, replacing

Yoshihiro Akiyama , also known as and by his nickname Sexyama, is a Japanese mixed martial artist and judoka who won the gold medal at the 2001 Asian Championships for South Korea and for Japan at the 2002 Asian Games. A fourth-generation Japanese of ...

on one week's notice. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Miller faced

Rousimar Palhares Rousimar Christian Palhares (;, born February 20, 1980) is a Brazilian mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2006, he has competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, World Series of Fighting, and ...

on August 27, 2011 at

UFC 134 ''UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami'' (also known as ''UFC Rio'') was a mixed martial arts (MMA) pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 27, 2011 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was the second that t ...

, replacing an injured Alexandre Ferreira. In the first round, Dan was dropped by strikes, Palhares followed up with ground and pound; using effective blocking and intelligent defense, Miller was able to protect himself from the strikes but Palhares stopped his ground and pound to begin celebrating and climbed on top of the cage ring. Ref Herb Dean pulled Palhares back into the ring and advised that he did not stop the fight. Before continuing, both fighters reset and met in the middle of the ring; Dan Miller immediately dropped Palhares with a hard punch. Palhares even went limp as he fell to the canvas, but quickly regained composure. Palhares ended up defeating Miller by unanimous decision. Miller faced

Ricardo Funch Ricardo Funch (born August 14, 1980) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division. A professional competitor since 2006, Funch has formerly competed for the UFC. Mixed martial arts career Ult ...

in a

Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

bout on June 22, 2012 at

UFC on FX 4 The year 2012 was the 20th year in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. 2012 started with UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes and ended with UFC 155: dos Santos vs. Velasquez 2 ...

. Miller was successful his welterweight debut, submitting Funch with a guillotine choke late in round 3, earning ''Submission of the Night'' honors. Miller was expected to face

Sean Pierson Sean Ian Pierson (born March 10, 1976) is a retired Canadian mixed martial artist. A professional from 1999 until 2013, he fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Bellator. Background Pierson began wrestling in the fourth grade ...

on September 22, 2012 at

UFC 152 ''UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort '' was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 22, 2012, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Background Rory MacDonald was expected to face fo ...

. However, Miller pulled out of the bout after getting news about his son's kidney transplant operation and was replaced by Lance Benoist. Miller returned to the UFC octagon on March 16, 2013 at

UFC 158 ''UFC 158: St-Pierre vs. Diaz'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 16, 2013, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Background The main event was the culmination of the rivalry between Geor ...

, where he faced

Jordan Mein Jordan Taylor Mein (born October 10, 1989) is a Canadian professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Welterweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2006, Mein has also formerly competed for Ultimate F ...

on the card. He lost the fight via TKO in the first round, the first stoppage loss of his career. Miller was expected to return to middleweight and face

Daniel Sarafian Daniel Sarafian Gantman (born 21 August 1982 in São Paulo) is an Armenian-Brazilian mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who last competed in 2018. A professional since 2006, Sarafian has formerly competed for the Ultimate Fighting Champion ...

on December 20, 2014 at

UFC Fight Night 58 ''UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Dollaway'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 58'') was a mixed martial arts event held at the Ginásio José Corrêa in Barueri, Brazil on December 20, 2014. Background The event was the second that the UFC has hoste ...

. However, Miller pulled out of the bout on December 11 and was replaced by promotional newcomer Antonio dos Santos Jr. After over two years away from the sport, Miller returned to face Trevor Smith on July 12, 2015 at The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale. He lost the fight via unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Personal life

Miller is married. The couple lost their first child, a daughter in March 2009.Sherdog: One Tough Kid
/ref> Their second child has struggled with health problems. Prior to their careers in mixed martial arts, Dan and his younger brother Jim worked in construction with their father.

Championships and accomplishments

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

** Submission of the Night (One time) vs.

**CFFC Middleweight Championship (One time) **One successful title defense *

International Fight League The International Fight League was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion billed as the world's first MMA league. It was founded on January 7, 2006, and closed on July 31, 2008.

** IFL Middleweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

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Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

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