Now that it's been a few weeks and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones has wowed the mixed martial arts world once again, most of us have forgotten about the dreadful performance turned in by Jason Miller at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 14 Finale back on Dec. 3.
"Mayhem" went up against Michael Bisping that night and while he was competitive in the first round, for the remainder of the bout he was sluggish, slow and simply outclassed by his British foe.
You couldn't "count" on two hands the number of ways Bisping was better in that fight.
The first person to make note of this is also the most important person in the UFC, one Mr. Dana White. The president of the world's largest fight promotion slammed Miller for how bad he looked and called the bout the "most lopsided fight I've ever seen."
After taking some time away to clear his head, "Mayhem" has finally emerged from the shadows to voice his thoughts on the matter. Not surprisingly, he agrees with the bossman:
"Dana White was right," Miller wrote on his website. "He made some disparaging comments about my performance, and I agree with him. I displayed the worst of everything that night in the octagon. I was tense in round one and I locked up after that. I didn't perform to my potential, and I take full responsibility for it. That wasn't a UFC caliber performance, and I'm not happy about it- I won't, however, write a worthless diatribe on myself, because that is not constructive. I elect instead to take this misstep and make something positive out of it."
Indeed, Miller was sluggish and admitted in the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that he got tired and his gas tank ran dry far quicker than he wanted it to. He also apologized for his poor performance, which came after weeks of build up via TUF 14 on Spike TV.
Bisping, of course, was quick to refute Miller's fatigue argument with the assertion that he simply "beat the living daylights out of him" and that's why he got tired.
Really, it was probably both.
The one thing we can all agree on is that it was the absolute worst way possible for "Mayhem" to reintroduce himself to UFC fans after more than five years away from the Octagon. And, thanks to a lengthy suspension handed down from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, we may not see him again until next summer.
That could be a good thing, though. It gives everyone, including White, time to forgive and forget.