To hear Jason "Mayhem" Miller tell it, he still isn't entirely sure why he and Nick Diaz got into it again backstage after Strikeforce's October 9 event in San Jose, Calif. One minute he was minding his own business, he told MMA Fighting, and the next a water bottle went zipping past his face.
The weirdest part, according to Miller, is that it all happened just as he was on the verge of congratulating Diaz on his decision win over K.J. Noons.
"I had just finished doing interviews in the back room, and I was walking the same way that he was coming down, and I was actually going to be like, 'Hey, good job, Nick.' But he's coming towards me and he starts mad-dogging me! I was like, really? You're really going to mad-dog me right now? You just fought for 25 minutes!"
So "Mayhem" did what "Mayhem" does when he thinks someone is trying to intimidate him: he laughed. And if you've ever seen Miller on TV, you know the laugh he's talking about. It's more of a cackle, really, and Diaz apparently didn't appreciate it.
"Before I knew it, he had a water bottle hidden down by his side and he threw it at me," Miller said. "I moved out of the way and it hit [training partner] Ryan Parsons in the stomach. I was like, 'Man Ryan, he doesn't like you.' Then we got into some kind of juvenile 'F--- you' match. I was like, 'F--- you bro, you're not even going to do anything.'"
And this, said Miller, is what bothers him most about the repeated scuffles with Diaz. As he pointed out after their fracas on CBS following Jake Shields' win over Dan Henderson in April, they work in a rare industry where two people who don't like each other can actually advance their careers by fighting one another in the right context.
But with Diaz as the reigning 170-pound champion for Strikeforce and Miller competing at 185 pounds, the bout hasn't materialized, even if Miller finds this explanation unconvincing and isn't afraid to say so.
"Actually, as he was walking off or being ushered off, I was like, 'Hey, it's cool, just stay at 170.' Since that's his whole thing is, he won't fight me because he's at 170 [pounds]. Even though he'll fight KJ [Noons], who's not at 170. That's cool for KJ to have to come up, but he won't fight me even though he's talking all this sh-t on me for like five years now, and jumped me on national television."
Miller said he wasn't disciplined or even talked to by Strikeforce officials after the incident, adding, "What are they going to say to me? Some punk kid throws a water bottle at me, what can they say to me?"
When asked if he thought the repeated run-ins with Diaz and the media coverage of their rivalry has made it more likely that he'll eventually get the chance to face Diaz in the cage, Miller just shrugged.
"I've been begging for the fight," he said. "If the fight doesn't happen it's not my fault. It's not Strikeforce's fault, because they want it. So that leaves one person. Don't be scared, homie."
The weirdest part, according to Miller, is that it all happened just as he was on the verge of congratulating Diaz on his decision win over K.J. Noons.
"I had just finished doing interviews in the back room, and I was walking the same way that he was coming down, and I was actually going to be like, 'Hey, good job, Nick.' But he's coming towards me and he starts mad-dogging me! I was like, really? You're really going to mad-dog me right now? You just fought for 25 minutes!"
So "Mayhem" did what "Mayhem" does when he thinks someone is trying to intimidate him: he laughed. And if you've ever seen Miller on TV, you know the laugh he's talking about. It's more of a cackle, really, and Diaz apparently didn't appreciate it.
"Before I knew it, he had a water bottle hidden down by his side and he threw it at me," Miller said. "I moved out of the way and it hit [training partner] Ryan Parsons in the stomach. I was like, 'Man Ryan, he doesn't like you.' Then we got into some kind of juvenile 'F--- you' match. I was like, 'F--- you bro, you're not even going to do anything.'"
And this, said Miller, is what bothers him most about the repeated scuffles with Diaz. As he pointed out after their fracas on CBS following Jake Shields' win over Dan Henderson in April, they work in a rare industry where two people who don't like each other can actually advance their careers by fighting one another in the right context.
But with Diaz as the reigning 170-pound champion for Strikeforce and Miller competing at 185 pounds, the bout hasn't materialized, even if Miller finds this explanation unconvincing and isn't afraid to say so.
"Actually, as he was walking off or being ushered off, I was like, 'Hey, it's cool, just stay at 170.' Since that's his whole thing is, he won't fight me because he's at 170 [pounds]. Even though he'll fight KJ [Noons], who's not at 170. That's cool for KJ to have to come up, but he won't fight me even though he's talking all this sh-t on me for like five years now, and jumped me on national television."
Miller said he wasn't disciplined or even talked to by Strikeforce officials after the incident, adding, "What are they going to say to me? Some punk kid throws a water bottle at me, what can they say to me?"
When asked if he thought the repeated run-ins with Diaz and the media coverage of their rivalry has made it more likely that he'll eventually get the chance to face Diaz in the cage, Miller just shrugged.
"I've been begging for the fight," he said. "If the fight doesn't happen it's not my fault. It's not Strikeforce's fault, because they want it. So that leaves one person. Don't be scared, homie."