‘Mayhem’ strikes tonight in Vegas

Saturday, May 12, 2007 | 7:23 a.m.

What: World Extreme Cagefighting mixed martial arts card, one championship fight , plus a seven-fight undercard

When: 6 p.m. today (doors open 5 p.m.)

Where: The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel

Tickets: $25 to $250, box office or Ticketmaster

Full card: Doug Marshall (5-2) vs. Justin McElfresh (5-1), WEC 205-pound title; Jason "Mayhem" Miller (18-5) vs. Hiromitsu Miura (6-3), 185 pounds; Gary Padilla (7-1) vs. Ariel Gandulla (3-0), 205; Marcus Hicks (5-0) vs. Sergio Gomez (6-0), 155; Tom Speer (6-1) vs. Sidney Silva (6-1), 170; Brandon Foxworth (15-2) vs. Manny Tapia (8-0-1), 135; Ed Ratcliff (4-0) vs. Johnny Sampaio (3-0), 170; Eric Shambari (5-0) vs. Art "Pachuco" Santore (14-5), 185 (all bouts scheduled for three rounds except the five-round title fight)

Mixed martial arts fighter Jason "Mayhem" Miller trains for his grueling sport like a man possessed.

"Did you see any of that demon stuff out there?" Miller said after a spirited workout session this week at the Las Vegas Combat Club. "I love doing it, but I'm a glutton for punishment."

In fact, Miller had toned down the intensity of his training leading to his fight on tonight's World Extreme Cagefighting card at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.

You should have seen him at the peak of his preparation, Miller said.

"Doin' crazy stuff like flipping over a 600-pound tire, jumping over it, flipping it back over, hitting that same tire with a sledgehammer," Miller said. "Then I jump on it for a minute. Then jump up on a 4-foot wall, jump back down, do a pushup, jump on the wall again. Sprint down to the other end of the gym, do pull-ups for a minute. Then kick a pad, hit a bag.

"It's hell on Earth. But I love it."

Miller, whose personality reflects the "extreme" in World Extreme Cagefighting, faces Japan's Hiromitsu Miura in a 185-pound bout on tonight's card.

Doug "Rhino" Marshall puts his 205-pound championship belt on the line against Justin McElfresh in the main event.

Miller, 26, has developed an avid fan base during his professional fighting career, which includes a memorable, blood-soaked loss to Georges St. Pierre in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2005.

Belying some of his old-fashioned training methods, Miller has used the Internet - including a popular MySpace page - to foster legions of zealots who follow his every move and call themselves "Mayhem monkeys."

"It is a bit old-school with the sledgehammer and the tire," Miller (18-5) said. "It's very Rocky esque, only without the meat-punching. But we do very state-of-the-art training , too."

A self-professed Army brat - "I'm a wandering nomad," he says - Miller has lived and fought in Hawaii and Hollywood, he trains in Temecula, Calif., and he spends a lot of time in Las Vegas. He thinks he might have found a home in World Extreme Cagefighting, just as the circuit appears poised to take off thanks to its affiliation with the Hard Rock and new TV deal with Versus (Cox cable channel 67).

Owned by Zuffa, parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, World Extreme Cagefighting operates as a separate entity and often spotlights fighters in the lighter weight divisions, especially bantamweight (135 pounds), featherweight (145) and lightweight (155). The UFC focuses on matchups in heavier weight classes.

With a smaller modified octagon and a high-energy live production that features an in-house disc jockey, World Extreme Cagefighting shows have been touted by organization officials as "edgier" than the UFC - an intriguing, if not alarming, concept.

It makes the Hard Rock, with its youthful demographics, a natural fit for cagefighting cards.

The adrenaline-fueled circuit also seems like a good place for a guy who answers to "Mayhem."

"My options were very limited in what I could do for my life's career," Miller said. "I was really good at beating people up, and I really enjoy being in front of a crowd. There's very few things you can do with beating people up and being in front of a crowd. One of them was being prisoner No. 67770321 - but I would prefer to be Jason 'Mayhem' Miller."

Tonight's card will be World Extreme Cagefighting's third at the Hard Rock. The organization was founded in 2001 and conducted most of its shows at an Indian casino in Lemoore, Calif., before making its Las Vegas debut in January.

Cagefighting matchmaker Scott Adams expects the circuit's influence to grow , given the popularity of mixed martial arts and the TV agreement. Versus will show three live fights from World Extreme Cagefighting's June 3 show, along with a one-hour highlight show of previous fights , including tonight's card.

Count on Miller making the highlight reel. Mixed martial arts combines techniques from disciplines such as boxing, wrestling, judo, jiu jitsu and kickboxing, but Miller feels one school has been left out.

"Pro wrestling," he said with an almost-straight face. "I'm gonna bring pro wrestling back, just like Justin Timberlake brought sexy back. The showmanship, all that jazz. I'm fighting to win with style and flair.

"And pizazz, if you will. Throw pizazz in there."