UFC 208 One to Watch: Dustin Poirier vs. Jim Miller

The UFC returns on Saturday night to New York for UFC 208 at the Barclays Center—its first ever show in Brooklyn.

UFC 208 will host the inaugural women's featherweight title fight between former bantamweight queen Holly Holm and Dutch kickboxer Germaine de Randamie. The future for women at the 145lbs limit may look a little bleak, given the hastily-built weight class' relatively shallow talent pool, but there is no doubting this should serve as an entertaining headliner.

Meanwhile, the mid and lower card of UFC 208 also showcases fun fights such as Anderson Silva vs. Derek Brunson, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Tim Boetsch, and Glover Teixeira vs. Jared Cannonier. But, it's the first bout featured on the main card—between Dustin Poirier and Jim Miller—which is most certainly the best sleeper fight of the event.

Poirier has enjoyed success in the most recent chapter of his career since ditching featherweight for the lightweight division. But, any immediate title hopes were abruptly dashed by Michael Johnson in his last outing in the Octagon—suffering a brutal knockout loss in the first round.

It's proven a common issue throughout the career of Poirier so far—as he nears the precipice of being considered among title contenders, the Lafayette, Louisiana, native's hopes are dashed like in contests against Korean Zombie, Conor McGregor and Cub Swanson.

The all-action Poirier, who has two Fight of the Night honours to his credit, often is drawn into a slugfest and defence is compromised as a result—evidenced in his latest contest against the aforementioned Johnson.

Speaking to Damon Martin of Fox Sports, it looks like Poirier's focus has switched the focus of his training to ensure there won't be a repeat of those losses on Saturday. "It's important for me to protect myself. I have no fear when I get in there. I need to have more respect for these guys," Poirier said. "Everybody's dangerous with a pair of four-ounce gloves. I know I'm better than them. They're dangerous and they're fighting to feed their families.

"From here on out the name of this camp is be more defensively responsible. When you see me in the cage you're going to see a smarter fighter. I'm not going to be a boring fighter. I'm still going to take risks but I'm going to take calculated risks."

Like Poirier, Miller is also enjoying a career renaissance of late. An ever-present in the UFC lightweight division, Miller had a rough patch of form from July 2014 to March 2016, going 1-4 in the promotion. With his head on the chopping block, Miller defeated Takanori Gomi at UFC 200 with a shock first-round TKO before embarking on an ongoing 3-0 run with additional victories over big names such as Joe Lauzon and Thiago Alves—the latter taking place at UFC 205, the company's first visit to New York City.

The tough time endured by Miller has largely been attributed to a nasty bout of Lyme disease, a bacterial disease often spread to humans by infected ticks which symptoms include chronic fatigue, joint pain and cause damage to your nervous system—even leading to severe diseases such as meningitis if left untreated.

Though not totally free of Lyme disease just yet, Miller has largely recovered from his bout of illness and is feeling a lot more human these days—which is replicated in his fight performances.

"I knew I had it in me," he told MMA Fighting at the UFC 208 media day on Wednesday. "It was just getting things right, getting healthy again. Man, 2015 was not easy. It was the little things when you think about it. It was not so much the fights. It was just doing my daily things with my family and with the gym, it was just really difficult. And it wasn't so much just the physical side of it. Yeah it was hard to get out of bed, it was hard to move, every time I stood up it hurt. I was like an old man, going up and down the stairs sideways. It was stupid.

"But mentally it was difficult to deal with. I'm just happy that I kind of got it figured out. I'm not out of the woods yet with the Lyme."

Just 33 years old, Miller's UFC experience belies his years acting as a talented gatekeeper of the promotion's lightweight division. The divisional up-and-comer in Poirier will be looking to overcome a devastating loss on Saturday night and propel his name back up the 155lbs rankings, but victory for Miller could see him considered a potential title contender in the near future for the first time in years.

The lightweight division continuously delivers and we are sure this fight is no different. Make sure you catch this fight on Saturday night.