Former Icon Sport middleweight champion Jason Miller wants to win three titles this year.
With one already out of the way after submitting Hawaiian native Kala "Kolohe" Hose last weekend when he captured the first ever Kingdom MMA middleweight strap, "Mayhem" (22-6) is now eying championship belt number two from the Japanese promotion DREAM.
As Miller explains in a chat with Sherdog, standing in his way is a dear old friend from his past.
"[I want to fight] the asshole that beat me the last time. I gave that fight away and I feel like an idiot for it. I was so pissed at myself. I just played into his game and I was a moron for it. I’m fighting with an ego like, "I can tap Jacare out." Like, that’s [ridiculous]. Why would I do that? I’m stupid. I have a tendency to fight with my heart more than my head. You know, you do some dumb stuff like that, you deserve to lose."
The asshole being referred to is, of course, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (10-2), who out-grappled and out-pointed Mayhem on the judges scorecards en route to a unanimous decision win in the quarterfinals of the 2008 DREAM middleweight grand prix last June.
The good news for Miller is that he escaped his recent bout with Hose injury free, and just yesterday DREAM officially announced that he would indeed get his opportunity to rematch Jacare - this time for the promotion's middleweight title, which was vacated by last year's tournament winner Gegard Mousasi after the "Young Vagabond" decided to move up in weight.
The championship fight is set to headline DREAM 9 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan, on May 26.
Souza is a jiu-jitsu stud who boasts a 90 percent career finishing rate by way of submission. What's more impressive is that each of those wins came in the first round. After defeating Miller in the quarterfinals, he went on to tap out Mirko Cro Cop protege Zelg Galesic in the semis before getting stopped by Mousasi in the final.
The Brazilian has not competed since that loss.
Mayhem, however, has fought since that tournament, albeit only once, scoring the first round submission win over Hose in Hawaii last weekend. Kolohe is obviously a completely different style fighter than what he'll have to prepare for when training for Jacare, but if nothing else, at least he was able to shake off some of the ring rust left over from his short lived retirement from late last year.
"Dream 9″ will also feature the promotion’s featherweight grand prix quarterfinals.
Here is the current line-up for the event so far:
Featherweight grand prix quarterfinals:
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (17-1) vs. Joe Warren (1-0)
Masakazu Imanari (16-6-1) vs. Bibiano Fernandes (4-2)
Yoshiro Maeda (24-6-2) vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (10-6-1)
Abel Cullum (14-2) vs. Hideo Tokoro (21-16-1)
DREAM middleweight title:
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (10-2) vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller (22-6)
Non-tournament bouts:
Gesias "JZ" Calvancante (14-2-1) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri (23-5-2)
For more on DREAM 9 click here.
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