Sam Sicilia: Cole Miller wrong about Conor McGregor, but not distracted

UFC featherweight Sam Sicilia isn’t quite sure what his upcoming opponent is going on about.

Cole Miller, whom Sicilia fights next week at UFC Fight Night 35, recently took to MMAjunkie Radio to voice his opposition to Conor McGregor‘s quick rise and unearned opportunities.

Miller admitted he wasn’t looking forward to fighting Sicilia, and the veteran featherweight made it clear he still is eyeing a fight with the Irish standout, who is laid up from a knee injury.

Some might say Miller is focusing on the wrong thing as he nears a pivotal bout in his home state of Georgia, which hosts the Jan. 15 event at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth. Sicilia, however, doesn’t believe Miller is making a classic mistake of overlooking an opponent.

“I think maybe his end goal (is to fight McGregor), but I’m not going to assume that he’s looking past me,” said Sicilia (12-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC), who meets Miller (20-8 MMA, 9-6 UFC) on the event’s FOX Sports 1-televised main card. “I just focus on myself, really. He hasn’t badmouthed me or said anything. He’s got a big fight on the 15th, so I think he’ll show up.”

After fighting half of his UFC career overseas in Brazil, where he went 1-1, the veteran of “The Ultimate Fighter 15? is happy to set down on U.S. soil. But Sicilia isn’t hankering to fight on his home turf in Spokane, Wash.

“I’d rather invade these guys’ places than fight up here and have people asking for free tickets and s–t,” Sicilia said. “I’d rather go somewhere like a business trip. Fighting abroad is cool, but I don’t want to be doing that all the time.

“When there’s big fights, I’d love to. But I’d like to rattle off a couple here on my own, where I at least have more than 10 fans.”

This past November, Sicilia picked up more followers and probably saved his job when he stopped “TUF: Brazil” vet Godofredo Pepey at UFC Fight Night 32. The win reversed a two-fight skid.

To Sicilia, Miller is more than an opponent with strong opinions. He’s an opportunity to break into the upper echelon of the 145-pound division.

“He’s fought everybody, and it’s a fight I have to get past to move on to more elite guys,” Sicilia said. “I feel like I was just stuck in the same little group for a while. All they were offering me was Brazilians, and I feel like I was looped in with these guys on the chopping block.

“I don’t feel like my job is safe right now, but it’s an opportunity to beat Cole, and then I’ll get launched into bigger fights.”

And while Sicilia agrees that fighters need to earn their keep in the UFC, he thinks Miller is off base in thinking McGregor hasn’t.

“He’s got two fights,” Sicilia said of the fighter nicknamed “Notorious.” “He’s paying his dues, and then he got hurt. I don’t get how he’s not. [The UFC] didn’t give him a title shot. He’s got all his Twitter followers because he’s funny. He’s got hype, but he created that. He didn’t get any undeserving shots.

“The guy believes everything he says, and even though he’s in my weight class, I actually like a lot of the stuff he’s saying. I believe there’s not a lot of guys that belong here. Cole’s been [in the UFC] forever and hasn’t really made a run at anything. He’s done enough to stay in. He says it’s for injuries and stuff, but he’s never really been a killer.”

That’s not far from what Sicilia would call himself when he competes in the octagon, and his aggressive style backs him up. It’s what he does with that style on Jan. 15 that will determine whether Miller’s words are simply hot air.

“I think this is my year that I have to break out, with guys like Cole,” Sicilia said. “I need to beat elite guys, and I need to finish them. I can, and I belong here. I can brutally beat guys, and I’m not going back to the Facebook fights.

“I’m the first fight on the main card, and I can’t take any steps backward in the sport. I have the opportunity to go forward, and I’m going to tear into it.”

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