Miller-HealyThe UFC 159 event is set to take place on Saturday, April 27, from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The main event will consist of the UFC light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and challenger Chael Sonnen.

However, the main card will get underway with a lightweight fight between top 10 lightweight Jim Miller and the always tough Strikeforce import Pat Healy. Let’s see how this one breaks down.

Pat Healy (29-16) is coming off a unanimous decision win over Kurt Holobaugh in the final Strikeforce show in January 2012. Healy has won six fights via TKO/KO and 15 fights via submission. His record is deceiving as he spent the majority of his early career competing against much larger opposition in the welterweight division. Healy is (8-1) since dropping to the lightweight division in 2010 with the lone loss coming against Josh Thomson.

Jim Miller (22-4) is coming off a “Fight of the Night” performance unanimous decision win over Joe Lauzon at UFC 155 in December 2012. Miller has won three fights via TKO/KO and 12 fights via submission. Miller went (2-1) in 2012 with the lone loss coming against Nate Diaz while defeating Melvin Guillard and the aforementioned Lauzon.

This should be an interesting fight between two fighters with similar skill sets. Healy is a little taller and will have a small reach advantage when it comes to striking. Healy is the more accurate striker and also attempts more takedowns per fight. Both fighter have about the same success rate on their takedown attempts, but Healy has defended takedowns at a much higher rate than Miller according to Fightmetric.

This fight will come down to who has the better cardio and who wins the transitions. Both guys are adept at finding submissions while in transitions with their opponents, so that will be something to look out for as well. I should note that Miller has only been finished once in his career(against Nate Diaz), but that was via submission and that’s something Healy excels at. However, Healy has lost a number of fights via submission and Miller is versed in catching opponents in submissions as well.

Jim Miller is the favorite to win the fight, but I would not be surprised to see Healy pull off the upset.

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