Juliana Miller picked up the biggest win of her young career Saturday and afterwards she was more than happy to break it down.
Not only did Miller find a finish in the third round to defeat Brogan Walker and become The Ultimate Fighter 30 flyweight tournament champion, she put a personal stamp on it by directing a ‘crotch chop’ motion at Walker. The celebration evoked memories of the classic professional wrestling stable “Degeneration X,” which featured WWE legends like Shawn Michaels and Triple H throughout its various incarnations.
Miller talked about what inspired the move during Saturday’s UFC Vegas post-fight press conference .
” My grandma was not able to speak English when she came from Brazil. “She was learning English from TV shows … And so as she was starting to learn English, she said that she loved wrestling because she didn’t need to understand the words to see what was happening, it was all through the action.
“When I came to my team, I was like, ‘I want to be a pro wrestler one day,’ and my coaches were like, ‘Well, let’s give you a shot in the cage and see how you do,’ and I ended up loving it. That pro-wrestler spirit is still there in me, and it’s just so exciting to be a part of putting on a show. The’suckit’ [gesture] came more from her sitting down at this table, and saying she would highlight-reel knock my out cold. It was so good to be able to look over her and say “Look at me .'”
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Miller (3-1) was one of the standout personalities from the most recent season of TUF and she backed up her talk in the cage. She vengeanced her pro loss by defeating Claire Guthrie in the quarterfinals. Kaytlin then defeated Kaytlin Neil via submission to set up her matchup against Walker. Miller defeated Walker in the main event Saturday. She dominated Walker for most of the bout, before ending with ground-and pound just less than a minute left.
There was tension before the fight between Miller and Walker which made it more rewarding for Team Julianna Pena’s representative.
” I’ve never heard someone scream or huff in my face like that. But it just proved to me how afraid she was,” Miller stated. “… Seeing that from a school teacher, I’m like, ‘Damn, is this what the Guam school districts be like? Holy crap, poor .'”
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Though Walker entered the bout with three times as much pro experience as Miller, she was full of confidence going into the tournament final and that only increased as the fight went on.
By the third round, she was firing back at Walker both physically and verbally.
“She was holding on to my arms for dear life and she put her mouth up to my ear and she started talking,” Miller said. “She’s like, ‘You ain’t going to hit me again with those elbows,’ and I’m like, ‘Girl, do you not feel your eye, because it’s pretty poofy right now?’ … I was like, ‘Girl, do you don’t realize I’m mounted on you right now?’
“At about the 3rd round it was good to finally start talking back and give my grandma some heck-bows .”
