Jim Miller got a taste of revenge and it came in the final fight of Cowboy Cerrone’s career.
In a rematch eight years in the making, Miller snatched a nasty guillotine choke in the second round while also trapping Cerrone’s arm, which prevented the 50-plus fight veteran from making any kind of escape. Cerrone eventually tapped to the submission with end of the fight coming at 1:32 seconds into the second round.
As soon as the fight ended, Cerrone removed his gloves and hat before laying them in the middle of the octagon before announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts.
“I don’t love it anymore,” Cerrone said. “It’s hard for me to get up and this is the longest camp I’ve had in a long time. I just don’t love it anymore. I’m going to be a movie star. It’s time to bow out. One hell of a career. Thank you so much, UFC.”
Cerrone retires with a 36-17 record with two no contests while constantly remaining one of the most active and popular fighters on the UFC roster.
As for the fight itself, Miller, who fell by head kick to Cerrone back in 2014, had to endure some early troubles before eventually locking up the submission finish.
The opening round saw Cerrone’s length giving Miller problems in the early exchanges as he kept the New Jersey native at distance with some really solid front kicks. Miller eventually negated the reach advantage by rushing forward to snatch a takedown as he began working with Cowboy on his back.
Even when Cerrone reversed out of a bad position with punches coming at his head, Miller was still more active throwing elbows and threatening with submissions.
On the restart in the second round, Miller was happy to trade strikes with Cerrone but it was when both fighters threw kicks that led to the scramble where the guillotine choke was applied. As soon as Miller saw the opening for the submission, he locked his hands, fell back into his guard and it was only a matter of time before Cerrone had no choice but to tap out.
The victory puts Miller by himself as the all-time wins leader with 24 but he was more interested in paying tribute to Cerrone on his incredible career.
“It feels great,” Miller said about breaking the record. “It’s hard to follow that. Donald is a legend. We’re going to miss him. You’re never going to see the numbers that came into this fight ever again. This is 40 UFC walks for me. It’s too many to really count.”
Miller has now also won three fights in a row as he added the submission victory over Cerrone onto back-to-back knockouts that he earned in his previous two appearances.