Miller disappointed after cancelled Strikeforce bout

Chicago middleweight Mark Miller was devastated by the cancellation of his fight with Deray Davis on the undercard of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers on Saturday night.

Miller and Davis were scheduled to face off on the undercard of the promotion's CBS network debut but were informed after the main event that the bout was off.

Dino Costeas, Miller's trainer, on Monday said the Miller camp was told the fight would be moved to a slot on the main card soon after the final undercard fight between Marloes Coenen vs. Roxanne Modaferri began and waited from 3:45 that afternoon to hear back from Strikeforce officials.

Costeas said Miller's hands were wrapped the whole time and he was only able to drink water during the wait.

When officials broke the bad news, Miller was devastated. Costeas said Miller contemplated retiring on the car ride home.

Miller told MMAWeekly he considered hanging up his gloves briefly, but later reconsidered.

"I was disappointed and caught up in the moment," he said.

Strikeforce officials said Monday that efforts to re-schedule the bout were currently underway, but declined further comment.

Costeas said he wouldn't green light a new bout unless it was on the main card of an upcoming event. He said that he asked Strikeforce to split Saturday's winner purse between the fighter's camps but Miller received his show money only. He said Miller lost his sponsor pay.

"It just sucks because we put in a lot of work," said Costeas. "He had a whole training camp behind him, and the weight cut, not to mention all the fans who came out to see these two."

Miller said he was discouraged by the setback but welcomed the opportunity to fight Davis or another opponent in the near future.

"I think I've got a few more rumbles under my belt," he said.