Roosevelt Roberts is not afraid to go to the ground with one of the UFC’s all-time leaders in submission wins.
Roberts (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) faces Jim Miller this Saturday in the UFC on ESPN 11 main card opener looking for his third consecutive win. It will be Roberts’ highest-profile fight to date, and the jiu-jitsu brown belt is confident that he can hang with Miller (31-14 MMA, 20-13 UFC) on the ground.
“Yeah, I definitely feel comfortable,” Roberts told MMA Junkie. “Don’t get me wrong, I know he’s a top-level jiu-jitsu guy, but I’ve been training jiu-jitsu since I started. I love jiu-jitsu. Jiu-jitsu, I feel like, just comes naturally to me. I really am into it with jiu-jitsu.
“I really believe in my jiu-jitsu, so I don’t think him taking me down will make me feel overwhelmed or anything, because I feel naturally good when I’m on my back or when we start training the game of jiu-jitsu.”
Roberts is coming off a second-round submission win over Brok Weaver less than three weeks ago. Now he’s facing a quick turnaround against one of the most experienced fighters on the UFC roster.
Roberts initially had wanted to fight Matt Frevola next, but with a win over Miller, Roberts is happy to move on to bigger and better things.
“I want the dude, but if I go out there and win (expletive) amazing, I got some ranked guys I got on my eyes,” Roberts said. “I got some guys that are coming up that I want to fight, so if they’re gonna make it worth my while, maybe me and him fight for a ranked spot or somebody to get a ranked fight, then I’d do that. Once I get this fight going and everything goes my way then yeah, I’m looking for a ranked guy after that.”
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish