Pat Miletich


Patrick Jay Miletich is a retired Croatian American mixed martial artist and a current sports commentator. He is known for his fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he became the first UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC 16 Welterweight Tournament Winner. Miletich is also known as a highly successful trainer and coach, having founded Miletich Fighting Systems. This camp is considered one of the most successful in MMA history and has produced several world champions. On July 6, 2014, he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Since 2016 he has hosted his own podcast labeled The Conspiracy Farm with Jeffrey Wilson.

Early life

Miletich, the youngest of five children, was born in Davenport, Iowa, to Croatian immigrant parents. Two of his brothers are deceased. Miletich wrestled and played football at Bettendorf High School. As a senior in 1983-84, Miletich shared the Bettendorf High School wrestling room with future MMA champion Mark Kerr, who was a freshman just beginning his wrestling career. Miletich is believed to have begun wrestling at age six. He said he wanted to be a world champion in something and wrestling was something he was good at. Although Miletich originally planned to pursue football after graduating high school, he eventually chose to wrestle in junior college. When his mother developed heart problems, he left school to care for her. Miletich has stated in past interviews that he actually began fighting to help pay her bills.

Mixed martial arts career

Miletich started his MMA training at 26. Before this, Miletich trained at Tarpein's Dojo in, Davenport, IA with Grand Master Nick Tarpein, where he learned much of what he knows about karate, and was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for the very first time. With Miletich's wrestling background, Jiu-Jitsu came naturally to him. When Miletich coupled BJJ with his strong foundation in boxing/karate, he realized where his fighting career should go; MMA. After learning the foundations of BJJ in Tarpein's Dojo, Miletich decided to branch out and learn BJJ full-time. A friend from Chicago got him into a Renzo Gracie seminar. After training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu for a year, the same friend then got him into the Battle of the Masters, an MMA tournament held in Chicago in 1995.
Miletich continued fighting at smaller events and enjoyed success. He was undefeated through 15 fights before losing to Matt Hume. Three fights later Miletich fought in UFC 16 and won the first UFC Welterweight tournament. At UFC 17.5: Ultimate Brazil, Miletich defeated Mikey Burnett to become the first UFC Welterweight Champion.
In his fifth title defense at UFC 31 he lost to Carlos Newton by submission. This was his first UFC defeat. His next fight was a KO win over Shonie Carter at UFC 32. After this fight, Miletich moved up to the Middleweight division. This was partly due to encouragement by UFC management and because his teammate, Matt Hughes, defeated Carlos Newton to win the UFC Welterweight Championship. Miletich returned to fight at his new weight at UFC 36, but quickly lost to Matt Lindland. Miletich decided to take some time away from professional fighting and recover from numerous chronic injuries. Miletich was scheduled to fight Frank Trigg at WFA 3 but pulled out due to injury. He returned in September 2006 to fight Renzo Gracie in an IFL superfight, and submitted to a guillotine choke in the first round. Miletich spoke briefly after the fight about re-aggravating his old neck injury before the Gracie fight. Miletich's last fight was in December 2008 where he scored a second-round KO over Thomas Denny that was televised on the HDNet network.
Miletich holds a third-degree black belt in Shuri-ryu karate. He has also trained with Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Sergio Monteiro and was awarded his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt by Oswaldo Alves.
Over a decade since his last mixed martial arts bout, Miletich was originally scheduled to face Michael Nunn in a kickboxing match on April 18, 2020. However, the bout was rescheduled to July 18, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Miletich lost to Nunn via split decision.

Fighter coaching

Miletich founded Miletich Fighting Systems, a mixed martial arts academy in his hometown of Bettendorf, Iowa. MFS has trained over 90 televised fighters and no fewer than 11 MMA world champions, including former two-time UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes, former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia, former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver, and former EliteXC Middleweight Champion and former UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler.

Law enforcement/Military training

For over 15 years Miletich has trained local, state, and federal law-enforcement officers and military groups from all service branches, including special-operations groups attached to those branches. He has also written and designed defensive tactics and combatives courses for other combatives companies.
Miletich is also the co-founder of Fire Horse combatives which trains LEO and military personnel.
Miletich was the primary subject matter of L. Jon Wertheim's "Blood in the Cage: Mixed Martial Arts, Pat Miletich, and the Furious Rise of the UFC", which detailed Miletich's biography and his fighting camp.

Commentary

Miletich began providing color commentary for Strikeforce on April 11, 2009, for its debut on Showtime and did so regularly until that promotion's demise in 2012.
Miletich is also providing color commentary for ESPN's MMA Live.

Personal life

Miletich is married and has three daughters. He is a Freemason.
Miletich was arrested on June 29, 2020, in Moline, Illinois and was charged with DUI. This was Miletich's second DUI arrest, his first coming in September 2018, a charge to which he pleaded guilty in March 2019.

Championships and accomplishments

Professional boxing record