Preview: UFC Fight Night 234 ‘Ankalaev vs. Walker 2’

Lightweights

Jim Miller (36-17, 25-16 UFC) vs. Gabriel Benitez (23-10, 7-6 UFC)

ODDS: Miller (-120), Benitez (+100)

Miller chugs along, adding to his record for most UFC fights with his 43rd trip to the Octagon here. After fighting on both UFC 100 and UFC 200, Miller has talked about retiring at UFC 300. For a good while, it seemed like a pipe dream that Miller would make it that far, but now it might wind up with him calling it quits while he still has a decent amount left in the tank. Miller beat Takanori Gomi at UFC 200 back in 2016, which snapped a run of four losses in five fights that seemingly marked his end as a relevant fighter. He had his moments during that run but looked slow and sluggish after an action-packed career that saw him survive a lot of wars and get close to a lightweight title shot. As it turns out, a lot of that was thanks to an undiagnosed case of Lyme disease—and thanks to that being treated, along with some technical improvements, Miller has had a surprisingly lengthy post-prime career. Now 40 years old, Miller still has a clear ceiling against younger athletes who have any sort of consistent depth to their game, but the state of the UFC roster has also given Miller a lot of opportunities to turn away both raw prospects and his fellow peers. Nikolas Motta, Donald Cerrone and Jesse Butler have all failed to make it to the final horn against Miller, who scored the quickest finish of his career by starching Butler in 23 seconds in June. UFC 300 is rapidly approaching, and Miller surprisingly makes one more pit stop before that date to take on Benitez, who is in the process of finding his own late-career level.

Mexico’s Benitez was seemingly the most UFC-ready of the original “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” cast back in 2014, and while “Moggly” has not reached the surprising heights of some castmates, he has enjoyed a rock-solid career with the UFC that has lasted nearly a decade. Benitez is a technically sound striker with thudding kicks who fights with a steady approach that can be a double-edged sword. If Benitez can get ahead early, he can usually coast to a win, but he can just as easily fall behind on the scorecards and settle into a loss unless his opponent fades. That latter point has been an issue in Benitez’s recent fights, as some of the younger and faster-paced fighters on the roster have been able to finish him before the final horn. However, he did rebound with a win over Charlie Ontiveros in 2022 before missing all of 2023. That layoff does loom large coming into a fighter like Miller, who can still turn one defensive opening into a sudden finish. As long as Benitez has not aged terribly during his time off, he still seems spry enough to stay ahead of Miller in a medium-paced bout. The pick is Benitez via decision.

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Ankalaev vs. Walker
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The Prelims