UFC Veteran Jim Miller returns to action this Saturday night at UFC 328. And his return comes after his son’s grueling battle with cancer, which caused Miller’s year-plus layoff. For a fighter whose main source of income relies on fighting regularly, a year-long layoff can take a toll, especially when his son’s medical bills are piling up from treatment. 

Miller’s 14-year-old son was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive childhood cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). The cancer was tucked into his sinus and eye socket area. However, Miller revealed that it was largely accessible, and doctors removed it during a biopsy, which followed chemotherapy and proton radiation. While his son is now cancer-free, things haven’t been easy. 

“I’ve been a professional fighter since I’ve been in the UFC,” Miller told MMA Junkie when asked about not getting health insurance from the promotion. “And I’ve had a lot of things go my way when it comes to that. There’s a difference between fighting professionally and being a professional fighter. I’ve paid my bills as a prizefighter since 2008, and I came into this organization, chomping at the bit, fought twice in 2008, won a bonus in both of those fights, and it changed my life.”

The 42-year-old has been in the promotion since October 2008, and has had 46 fights in the promotion to date, with a record of 27-18-0 (1 NC). When he faces Jared Gordon on May 9, it will be his 47th bout—clearly, the veteran has spent much of his career in the UFC. And Miller admits he was able to pay off his debts thanks to the money he earned from the promotion. However, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been low points. 

“I was able to pay off debt and kind of get ahead of things, and there’ve been some low points along the way, but I’ve been paying for health insurance for my family for quite a while now,” Miller added. “And we pay a fortune. And some of those fights are still ongoing with the insurance company, but for the most part, they pay for some of the big stuff. So we’re still trying to make sure that they uphold their end of the bargain.

“But like, my wife and I, we handle that. It’s hard for me… There are a lot of bills, like every time you’re paying that $50 copay and all this stuff, and paying for parking, and this and that, and gas down to Rutgers for [my son’s] radiation. And it all adds up, but I see some of the situations that some of the other patients are in, and their parents are in, and I’d rather bring light to them, and help them more than… could I use it?”

Despite his struggles to keep up with his bills, Miller is thankful for the opportunity he has been handed by the UFC. Miller, of course, fights on the preliminary portion of Saturday’s card in Newark, New Jersey. And his pay is unlikely to be on par with the headliners—Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland—but that hasn’t bogged Miller down. 

“But it’s like, I get to fight,” he added. “I get this opportunity to fight on Saturday night, and I’m at a point now, [where] it took 40 fights, but I get paid a pretty good amount of money to fight. Everybody always wants more, but… Listen, I’m in a good place with that, and a better place than some of the people that I’ve met along the way here. So the health issues are a pain in the a—, and I want to help other people with it.”

Even though Miller appears to have no resentment toward the UFC for his pay despite more than two decades with the promotion, it’s difficult to accept that he still struggles to cover his bills when the promotion is making more money than ever.

UFC signed a $7.7 billion deal with Paramount

Last year, UFC’s broadcast deal with ESPN was coming to an end. They were on the market for a new broadcast partner. Netflix had offered a huge sum for the numbered events. But the premier MMA promotion ultimately chose Paramount, where they will get $1.1 billion each year for their full catalog of content. 

And not just that, last year they posted $1.502 billion in revenue and $851 million in Adjusted EBITDA. And other reports show their sponsorship revenue reached $314 million in 2025, a 25% year-over-year increase, up $63 million from 2024. While in other sports, athletes command the lion’s share of the revenue, UFC pays its fighters less than 20%, meaning all the money goes to the pockets of bigwigs in the company. 

The UFC did increase pay, technically, since their new broadcast deal, but that appears to be limited to post-fight bonuses. Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night awards increased from $50,000 to $100,000 each. And they introduced the new $25,000 finish bonus, where fighters get an additional $25K if they knock out their opponent. But the base pay has remained largely the same. 

Considering all that, it’s not difficult to understand why Jim Miller may have struggled. But, as he acknowledged, he was able to pay off his bills, but that was the reality after two decades and 46 fights. Think about someone with less time in the promotion and much lower pay.