Sunday, April 6, 2008

Jim Miller Makes IFL Rue the Day They Signed Him

If the International Fight League is a parade, then Jim Miller is rain. At the IFL's "New Blood, New Battles" event at the IZOD Center on Friday, incumbent star Bart Palaszewski - one of the organization's top 155-pound fighters - stepped into the ring against Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu representative Miller and was completely handled for all three rounds. How badly was he handled? After the event, four crates of "Bartimus is #1" giant foam fingers were found in a dumpster behind the arena, and it's rumored that IFL founder Kurt Otto approached Palaszewski backstage and demanded the Midwest Combat fighter repay all the money the organization had spent on promoting him. Yes, Miller is a definite monkey wrench in whatever works the IFL had in mind for their lightweight division, and with champ Ryan Schultz taking on Miller's teammate Deividas Taurosevicius (a bout that Schultz will likely lose), the only logical match-up left for Miller is Chris Horodecki - which means the value of another heavily-pushed IFL star will be reduced to zero. Miller, with his seamless wrestling and jiu-jitsu, is destined to make the IFL rue the day they signed him.