Jim Miller returns at UFC 328, fighting again after his teenage son beat rare cancer

MORRISTOWN: Jim Miller built his MMA career — his reputation, really — on durability and reliability on his way to a record UFC fight total and to becoming the promotion’s career wins leader.
Hefty marks — even without winning a championship — for the New Jersey native trusted enough to get plugged into most of UFC’s milestone cards in its rise into a billion-dollar global sports behemoth.
“I’m not just out there just to win,” Miller said of his fight style. “I’m out there to win to make me happy; to make me excited with the way that happens.”
Miller’s joy was dimmed over the last year when his teenage son was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer.

He dropped the fight week schedule for hospital visits and threw his focus into his family — all while knowing he would indeed return to the cage again.
When Miller fights Jared Gordon in a lightweight bout on Saturday night at UFC 328 in Newark, New Jersey, he’ll mark more than his 47th career UFC fight and aim for his 28th career UFC victory.
He’ll celebrate fighting for the first time since his son beat cancer.
Wyatt Miller was diagnosed with rhadbomyosacroma, a rare type of cancer that starts as a growth of cells in soft tissue and is more common in childhood.
Miller said the cancer cells were tucked into his son’s left eye socket and sinus area and first popped up as a sign of trouble last July when Wyatt complained that it felt like he had something stuck in his eye. There was a noticeable lump that indeed proved cancerous.
The health issues were, naturally, scary for all involved, though the family was grateful the cancer did not spread and force Wyatt to face more dire circumstances.
“The vast majority of it came out when they did the biopsy,” Miller said.