Terrance McKinney needed 1:53 to remind everyone why judges never get paid to watch him. The lightweight-turned-future-welterweight knocked out 43-year-old Jim Miller in the first round of their UFC 334 prelim at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. A left hand on the chin buckled Miller, McKinney swarmed with follow-up shots, and referee Keith Peterson waved it off. The UFC listed it as a KO, MMA Junkie called it punches, and Cageside Press had it as a TKO. Pick your favorite. Miller was done either way.
The fight almost didn’t happen. McKinney weighed in at 160.2 pounds on Friday, more than four pounds over the lightweight limit, which put the bout in limbo until Miller agreed to go ahead. According to Cageside Press, McKinney forfeited 20% of his purse to Miller. The miss also made him ineligible for a performance bonus, so his streak of never earning a post-fight bonus in the UFC survives a night when he probably would have been in the conversation.
According to MMA Mania, McKinney leaned on a lead right jab early and started marking Miller up before the left landed. Miller, to his credit, kept biting down and trading in close. That’s the exact range where a faster, younger puncher makes you pay, and McKinney did.
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The numbers
McKinney moves to 19-9 and 9-6 in the UFC. MMA Fighting pointed out that across 28 pro bouts and 15 UFC appearances, he has never gone to a decision, win or lose. His UFC wins break down to six knockouts and three submissions. Afterward, he apologized for the weight miss and repeated his plan to move up to 170 for his next fight, leaving lightweight after 14 UFC appearances there.
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Miller drops to 39-20 (1 NC) and 28-19 (1 NC) in the UFC. This was his 48th trip to the Octagon, so the march to 50 is still alive at two more. He owns 20 UFC finishes, second only to Charles Oliveira’s 21, and he has alternated wins and losses over his last six fights. This was the third knockout loss of his career and the first time he’s been stopped by strikes since Dan Hooker caught him with a knee in April 2018. Aaron Bronsteter noted on X that all three of those strike finishes came in the tri-state area. Miller is from New Jersey. Some guys get home-field advantage. Jim gets home-field audits.
Quick take
I’ve lost enough money on fights that “should” go long to respect a guy who simply refuses to let them. McKinney is a coin-flip fighter in the purest sense (nine UFC wins, six UFC losses, zero scorecards), and the coin always lands before the halfway mark of the fight. That makes him a live dog in nearly any matchup and a dangerous favorite for anyone laying chalk on him. The welterweight move is overdue. When you miss by four pounds against a 43-year-old who said yes anyway, the scale is telling you something louder than any matchmaker can. At 170 he won’t be the bigger man every night, and that’s the first real question about his chin and his gas tank we’ll get answered. As for Miller, if he wants No. 49 and No. 50, the UFC should book them somewhere with a different area code.
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