Miller (photo via UFC.com)

By Kelsey Mowatt

Although there was plenty of heated, pre-fight ‘banter’ between Conor McGregor and Cole Miller, there’s a chance the highly, anticipated bout has slipped through their fingers. Miller was recently forced to withdraw from the UFC Fight Night 46 main event as result of a thumb injury, and as a result, the rivals could be headed down different paths for now.

“I wouldn’t mind fighting him for sure, but if he gets by (Diego) Brandao I don’t think that it’s likely that’s going to happen, at least not anytime soon,” Miller said on a recent episode of Full Contact Fighter Radio. “Probably not my next fight, or the one after that. I think they’ve probably got some high hopes for him, and if he gets by Brandao, with the preferential treatment he’s been getting, he’ll be on the fast track for the title.”

Miller is one of several fighters who has taken exception to various comments McGregor has made in recent months, particularly those that have trashed veteran contenders. After Miller referred to McGregor as “McGoober”, following his win over Andy Ogle last October, the two were eventually booked to fight July 19th. Not surprisingly, the verbal exchanges between the featherweights continued.

“No, he’s going to have to do what he’s going to have to do. He was trying his best to get inside my head,” said Miller, when asked if he was angered by any of McGregor’s comments. “That kind of stuff doesn’t really bother me. I’m pretty comfortable with where I’m at and the things that I’ve accomplished, so, he did his best though.”

Miller (photo via UFC.com)

All the trash talk aside, there’s no question that the thumb injury is a considerable setback for Miller, as he was set to face one of the UFC’s fastest rising commodities in a main event fight.

“It was for sure the biggest fight of my career up to date,” Miller conceded. “I was definitely pretty upset about it, but there wasn’t anything to do. I tried to get through the pain, and get through the injury, work around it, and we were trying to explore some other options but there weren’t any left.”

“If you can’t make a fist, and you can’t grab, that pretty much takes out every option you have for fighting,” added Miller, while discussing the torn ligaments in his thumb. “So it was definitely upsetting, but I just figure that I’ll take some time off, get some rest in and try do what I can to stay in decent shape, so that way when I do get out of cast I can just hit the ground running and jump right into a training camp.”

When Miller returns, he’ll be looking to build on consecutive victories he’s scored over Ogle and Sam Sicilia. The 30 year-old, American Top Team fighter has gone 3-2 in his last 5 bouts.

“I’m hoping for October at the latest,” said “Magrinho”, when asked about a possible timeline for his return. “If I can get in late September that would be cool but I’m hoping for October. I still have to go see my hand specialist, and get this cast off…I can’t really tell how much pain I’m in because it isolates my thumb where I can’t move it at all, so I can’t tell if it’s getting better, or not getting better. It’s just kind of stuck in there.”

UFC FN 46 will be hosted by the O2 in Dublin, Ireland.