Juliana Miller dedicated her emotional win at UFC Des Moines to the memory of her late grandmother on Saturday night.
The flyweight star had struggled in her octagon run to date, failing to register a win for the best part of three years before kicking off the prelims at UFC Des Moines. She had been out of action for almost two years before returning on Saturday.
Her victory marked a return to form, but evidently meant a great deal more as she celebrated with a heartfelt message while chatting with Michael Bisping.
Juliana Miller defeats Ivana Petrovic to kick off UFC Des Moines
Juliana Miller ended a torrid few years with a massive decision win over Ivana Petrovic to kick off the prelims of UFC Des Moines. She struggled through the first, losing on all three scorecards for the opening stanza.
However, once she found her rhythm in round two, it looked to be a case of when not if she would land a submission victory. However, Petrovic managed to survive into the third, where they both looked to tire towards the end of the night.
Late in the fight she made another push to close the show, but ended up doing just enough to have her hand raised. All three judges gave the same score of 29-28 across the board to score her the win; her first in almost three years.
Juliana Miller dedicates UFC Des Moines win to late grandmother
Following the fight, Juliana Miller was interviewed by Michael Bisping. The former middleweight world champion initially asked about the performance, but she quickly got emotional and teary as she noted that she wanted to dedicate the win to her grandmother.
“I promised my mother in heaven I would win this fight for her,” she said through tears to Bisping. “I won this for you… Alexander Volkanovski said it best without adversity victory wouldn’t feel so good.
“I believed that I would get the victory for you guys tonight. This win meant the world to me, killer is back baby, let’s go!”