Miller Rogers’ first fight in almost five years got off to a rocky start and didn’t get any better.
The Whitehorse mixed martial artist broke his right hand in the opening round before suffering a technical knockout in the fourth at a Gionco All Martial Arts event in Vancouver on March 10.
“I was disappointed in my performance after the hand-break. It was the first punch-first round kind of deal,” said Rogers. “I fought to the fourth round with my one hand. I defended off a few pretty deep chokes and he had some really nice positions. He has a phenomenal ground game on top.”
Rogers, who trains out of Whitehorse’s Avalanche MMA, lost to Vancouver’s Kirk Tse in the 155-pound title bout. It was Rogers’ first fight since June of 2012 and his first to go beyond the third round.
“We prepared for a different fight,” said Rogers. “He fought more of a wrestling game plan and I expecting more of a striking battle. We didn’t find enough footage of him to prepare and we went off from what we saw, which was from a couple years ago.”
Miller is quick to point out that other than the broken knuckle, which he had rebroken and reset on March 13, he’s relatively unscathed from the fight. But he’s definitely out of action for the next month as the bone heals.
The 26-year-old now has a 3-3 amateur record — 4-3 if you count a DQ in November. Rogers was given the Gionco International welterweight amateur title when his opponent failed to make weight and was disqualified before the title bout.
As a titleholder, Rogers is obligated to defend his belt, which he intends to do at a Gionco event in the future.
“That’s the plan,” said Rogers. “I took this fight because I wanted to fight again and another belt would have been icing on the cake. I was already in a healthy weight (class) and in this process I cut off another 12 pounds of muscle I was already bulking on, and then I started cutting weight after that.
“I want to move up to 170 naturally…. (In) 155, I feel sluggish afterwards.”
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com