Pat Miletich
Biofiles | Published March 8th, 2008
 STATUS: Former UFC Welterweight champion. Founder of Miletich Fighting Systems in Iowa - home base of many UFC Champions.
HT: 5-10 WT: 170
BORN ON: March 9, 1968 IN: Davenport, Iowa
CHILDHOOD HEROES: “Smokin’ Joe Frazier and Jack Lambert.”
NICKNAMES: “Roundhead, The Croatian Sensation, Munk, Pitch, Grape Ape, Curious George, Cornelius - I broke my back as a kid sledding (age 8). And that’s why I walked slumped over a bit. So that’s why they basically called me gorilla and monkey names.”
HOBBIES/INTERESTS: “Golfing, fishing.”
FAVORITE MOVIES: “All Clint Eastwood movies and A Clockwork Orange.”
MUSICAL TASTES: “Country, classical, Metallica, Limp Bizkit.”
FAVORITE TV SHOWS: “Seinfeld, Taxi.”
FAVORITE BOOKS: “Any by Krakow. Wrote the book on the failed expedition on Mt. Everest. I like the triumph and tragedy stories of reality, not fiction.”
EARLY FIGHTING MEMORY: “When I was little, I got picked on a lot. And I eventually got tired of it. One day, in the shower, a bully (named Tim Gillin) picked on me in middle school and everybody was laughing at me. And I just said that day was the last day that anyone’s gonna pick on me. So I started bringing my lunch to school. And while everybody was in the cafeteria eating lunch, I’d take my brown bag of food into the weight room to lift weights. Every day, non-stop. Went from there.”
PRE-FIGHT FEELING: “Just thinking about technique. And controlling the pace of the fight. Just concentration mostly. (Upon entering the octagon)…everybody sizes each other up, I’m sure. When they announce my opponent when we’re in the ring, I always applaud. A lot of people think this sport is barbarians, people getting off bar stools and fighting. It’s a profession of professional athletes. And it’s our job. It’s not about hating the other guy. It’s about testing your fighting skills against another human.”
FIRST JOB: “Bagging groceries at the grocery store in Davenport (age 14).”
FIRST CAR: ‘71 brown Maverick.
GREATEST SPORTS MOMENT: “Winning the UFC Four-Man tournament to become the champion (in New Orleans, ‘98). I’d been fighting in the small shows for a long time, working my way up to the UFC. This was basically like the Super Bowl of martial arts fighting events. And when I won that tournament, it finally hit me that I had finally arrived. Beat Townsend Saunders, Olympic silver medalist wrestler. And Chris Brennan, a Jiu-Jitsu fighter. The competition was very tough but I trained very hard. It was just my night.”
MOST PAINFUL MOMENT: “Physically? I’d say when my brothers died. And being able to continue fighting. Not long after that I was back in training. One brother died a week before a fight, working on a highway, was hit by a truck. One committed suicide.”
WORST INJURY: “Broke my arm in a kickboxing fight in Chicago. I finished the fight. I fought a guy from Chicago for the Illinois Light Heavyweight championship. They booed when the decision was announced. They thought I won the fight. Broke my arm in the 2nd round.”
PEOPLE MOST ADMIRED: “Honesty and a great work ethic.”
FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: “Bora Bora. I went there on my honeymoon. Unbelievable. Makes Hawaii look like a dump. In the French Polynesian Islands by Tahiti. It’s unexplainable how beautiful it is.”
FUNNY MEMORY: “When Tank Abbott and I got into it in Birmingham, AL. He started a fight with me at the post-fight party. When we look back it was pretty amusing [smiles]. He just picks fights with everybody. Tank Abbott’s now out of the sport. He’s a bad image for the sport. And because they brought real fighters into the sport. He wasn’t a real fighter. He didn’t belong in our sport.”
FAVORITE MEAL: “I would say anything edible. I’ll eat anything, if it’s cooked right. Except brussel sprouts [smiles].”
FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR: “Chocolate.”
FAVORITE BREAKFAST CEREAL: “Special K with brown sugar.”
CHILDHOOD DREAM: “Actually, I wanted to be a pro boxer like my great uncle Johnny Miler. He changed his name to Miler because the ring announcer couldn’t pronounce his name and he didn’t want his mother to know. He actually knocked Joe Louis down seven times in three rounds as an amateur. Fought Maxie Rosenbloom twice for the world title as a professional. Once to a draw, once to a split decision.”
FAMILY: Wife, Lyne; dogs, Thor, Dutchess; cats, Timid, Millie.
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