For Dan Miller, Crisis Provides Opportunity

The Chinese symbol for crisis is made up from combining two words: Danger and Opportunity.

So, when an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale – the largest in Japan’s history – created danger in Japan in the form of a devastating Tsunami that submerged entire neighborhoods and sent cars, boats and other debris washing into major city thoroughfares and caused an explosion at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in the northern part of the country --  it created an opportunity on this side of the globe for Dan Miller when Japanese star Yoshihiro Akiyama had to withdraw from his UFC 128 fight on March 19 against Nate “The Great” Marquardt.

Miller, while concerned about the tragedy in Japan, is looking forward to his chance to take out a Top 5 fighter in the form of Marquardt at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

“Nate’s a great fighter and he’s proved it in the past,” said Miller. “He’s very well-rounded, and I can’t wait to get in there with him. It’s gonna be a great opportunity for me.”

Originally scheduled to face his friend and former training partner Nick Catone, Miller will jump from the prelims to the main card, where his younger brother Jim Miller will keep him company when he faces undefeated WEC import Kamal Sholorus.

“Jim feeds off of me,” said Miller. “He works and gets amped up when I fight, so I think it’s good for Jim when he fights after me,” he said.

A win over Marquardt would be a boon for Miller, who is riding a two fight win streak after suffering three losses in a row at the hands of other top middleweights in the form of Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping and Damian Maia.

Miller lost unanimous decisions in all three of those fights, but he can take comfort in the fact that the division’s top contenders were not able to finish him and for bouncing back with wins against John Salter (Wsub2) and Joe Doerksen (W3) in his last two fights.

UFC President Dana White was able to reach Akiyama and tweeted Friday that the Japanese MMA star and his family were okay. But understandably, Akiyama has decided to stay home to support his fellow countrymen and women. Akiyama and his family live in Osaka, which escaped most of the damage that has ravaged other parts of Japan, including Tokyo.