What HURT Hall of Famer Pat Miletich’s relationship with the UFC and why it INVOLVES BJ Penn
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BJ Penn- Pat Miletich
Pat Miletich is a UFC legend for the ages that have passed and the ages that will come, so to screw over such a legend is a sign of massive moral complicity, but as per a story, the UFC once did so. Miletich was the first ever UFC welterweight champion and also the winner of UFC 16 Welterwieght tournament. Miletich is known for his wins over the likes of Andre Pederneiras, who is today the head coach at Nova Uniao and the head coach of Brazilian MMA legend Jose Aldo.
Miletich himself is known for his own training centre by the name of Miletich Fighting Systems. This gym once became the home of the best fighters in the world such as UFC Hall of Famer and former welterweight champion Matt Hughes, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia and former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. Miletich retired in 2008 with a record of 29-7 and 2 draws with 23 wins via finishes.
Also Read: WATCH: 17-year-old Nate Diaz takes on grown man in gym and stuns the crowd
Chael Sonnen narrates when the UFC broke Pat Miletich’s business deal and let BJ Penn coach the Ultimate Fighter
In one of the videos on his Youtube channel, MMA legend Chael Sonnen talks about who should be next in line to fight UFC welterweight, Colby Covington. In the midst of it, he also talks about the time Miletich was screwed over by the UFC over the promise of getting to coach in the UFC’s exclusive series of The Ultimate Fighter, but the promise was held back, thanks to UFC Hall of Famer and former 2-division UFC champion BJ Penn.
“Here’s a story I am gonna get you 90% of the way there,” says Sonnen. “This is about 15 years ago, but it hurt Pat Miletich’s relationship with the UFC and Pat said ‘I was told something, I counted on something, I relied on it, it didn’t come true,’ it had to do with The Ultimate Fighter, and I believe it was quite simply that Pat was going to coach the Ultimate Fighter. Everything’s cool in the gang, everything’s moving in that direction…
UFC gets a phone call, [from] BJ Penn out of nowhere. BJ wants to fight, I believe it was Frankie Edgar, oh, by the way, he was willing to do the Ultimate Fighter to get it. [The UFC] had to go with that. When the UFC made these representations to Pat Miletich, they were operating under the information that they had, they did not have this new information, they had to go in that direction. The UFC talked about it… [and said] Pat’s right. Pat has reason to be upset we would like to make it up to him going down the road,” concludes Sonnen.
What do you think of this story as narrated by Sonnen? Do you think the UFC often reflects carelessness in their care for athletes, active or retired? It all ties up to fighter pay, health insurance and other lacks that the company has been criticised for the past few years now. Even when the UFC was brought under WME-IMG, Hall of Famers like Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes were fired from their job as representatives of the sport long after they retired.
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Abhai Singh Tanwar
(1386 Articles Published)