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Jim Miller Is Fighting at UFC 334 on a Handshake Because Nobody Signed Anything

The five-fight deal Dana White announced never made it onto paper, and Miller doesn't have a bout agreement for UFC 334 either.

Jim Miller
Photo: Jim Miller: Aleks Ozolins, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jim Miller is walking into UFC 334 with no signed contract. That includes the five-fight extension Dana White announced publicly, and it includes the bout agreement for this card.

Miller told MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn that the paperwork simply never got finished. The extension White talked up was never signed, and the agreement covering his UFC 334 fight hasn’t been put to paper either. His summary was about as plain as it gets: “At the moment I think it’s just all verbal.”

So the deal everybody heard about from the boss exists, as far as anyone can document it, as a conversation.

Why the paper matters

In broad strokes, a promotional agreement sets the terms of the overall relationship, including how many fights a guy is signed for. A bout agreement locks down one specific fight. Fighters normally have both squared away before fight week starts. By his own account, Miller has neither.

Nothing Miller said suggests either side is looking to walk away. He didn’t describe a dispute or a holdout, and the MMA Junkie post didn’t say when the signatures might finally land. What it does mean is that a veteran is about to step into the cage on the strength of a verbal agreement and a public announcement from the promoter.

That announcement came from a man who had a very busy week.

Meanwhile, the boss was at a podium

On Monday, President Trump brought White into the White House press briefing room to take questions from reporters. White’s opener, per a clip posted by Championship Rounds: “I’ve always wanted to do this. Who has the first question?”

Aaron Rupar posted on X that the briefing wrapped with White turning down the press secretary job. Trump had already said publicly that he was kidding about the offer. “I WAS only kidding, but Dana LOVES the idea,” Trump said in a clip shared by Eric Daugherty.

One day later, Miller told Bohn his five-fight deal was still unsigned. The timing isn’t proof that anybody got distracted. It’s just a funny calendar.

Quick take

I’ll take a fighter who answers the question straight over a carefully worded statement every time, and Miller did exactly that. Someone asked him whether the contract was signed, and he said no, it’s verbal. He didn’t spin it, and he didn’t hand it off to his manager.

The UFC should fix this before he walks out. A guy who’s willing to fight on a handshake deserves the courtesy of a pen. Until somebody slides the papers across a table, Miller’s five-fight extension sits in the same place as Dana White’s press secretary career. Both got announced, and neither one got made official.

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