With Jim Miller's backing and a bit of special intel, Joe Tizzano prepped for CFFC 105

If Joe Tizzano strikes you as an incredibly comfortable athlete heading into the cage on Saturday night, there's a reason for that.

After spending considerable time training alongside future UFC Hall of Famer Jim Miller, Tizzano knows there's very little chance he'll be surprised by anything he encounters in a fight.

"I mean, if we really, really stop and think about the career that Jim Miller has had, it's just otherworldly," Tizzano said. I mean, 39 UFC fights in a row. How many people are going to have 39 MMA fights in their entire career, you know? It's so funny. I tell people a lot, when I first met Jim, I was like, 'Oh, my God. Starstruck. It's Jim.' Now I walk in the gym, and I shake his hand, and, 'What's going on, Jim?'

"He's great, man. Being able to spar with somebody like that, roll with somebody like that and just pick his brain – 'Hey, Jim, how do I do that round? Anything to work on?' Sometimes he'll open up and he'll start giving me advice for five to 10 minutes, and you know, when you've got somebody with the experience and somebody at the level that he's at giving you stuff like that, you're almost just like, 'Who can step in the cage and compete with me?' That's something I always think about. Like, if I'm standing toe-to-toe with Jim Miller, UFC legend, I think I'm going to be all right in my fight."

That belief has proven largely true thus far in Tizzano's professional career, winning three of his first four fights while competing exclusively under the CFFC banner.

Tizzano, 25, wishes he had a few more contests under his belt already but knows how difficult it's been to book fights over the past two years based on the drastic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If it was up to me, I wouldn't really be fighting once a year," Tizzano said. "But you know, good ole COVID slowed everything down. I remember, you know, March 2020, I was supposed to fight like 10 days out, and it got canceled. Prior to that, I had an opponent pull out due to a missed weight cut like the day before weigh-ins – so just a couple of setbacks, but at the same time, it's kind of part of the sport, and it's what we sign up for."

With the world slowly getting back to normal, Tizzano is ready to pick up the pace on his budding career. He returns to action at Saturday's CFFC 105, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Philadelphia's 2300 Arena.

There, Tizzano (3-1) faces fellow CFFC veteran Taylor Pierce (2-1) in a key featherweight matchup. It's an opponent for which Tizzano feels especially prepared, having actually served as a cornerman against him in Pierce's decision win over fellow Sussex County MMA product Cristian Santos.

"I don't want to take anything away from him in that fight," Tizzano said. "If I'm being honest, it was a little uneventful. There wasn't really much that happened. But hey, he did what he had to do. Cristian is definitely a striker first, and you know, Taylor was able to make it an ugly clinch fight against the cage, where Christian was a little bit more uncomfortable and you know, ride his way to a decision victory."

Tizzano believes that intel could prove valuable but also realizes Pierce has likely added some wrinkles to his game since that fight, as well.

"Cristian and I are a little bit different fighters, so he's probably going to approach the fight a little bit different than he did with Cristian," Tizzano said. "And, you know, that was a little bit of time ago. That was two years ago, and I'd imagine Taylor has probably gotten 500 times better since then, so I'm getting ready for the best Taylor Pierce."

Featured on the main card of Saturday's event, Tizzano is hoping an impressive result in such a position can help jumpstart the career progression he seeks. Like most developing fighters, he's hoping to eventually make it to the UFC, though he also understands that's not a process that can't be rushed.

"That definitely is the end goal," Tizzano said. "I mean, I feel like that's the end goal for 99.9 percent of guys who sign up for this – I'll commend anybody who's just fighting for paychecks. But yeah, I try to take it one fight at a time.

"You know, I would love to maybe get on the Contender Series or maybe even just work my way up, but I try to take it one fight at a time – you know, trying to finish the food that's on my plate right now."

Of course, the food on his plate right now just happens to be a meal he's studied before. Add in the backing of an MMA legend, and Tizzano believes he's got all the ingredients he needs to look sharp on Saturday night.

"I just want to go in there and be impressive, man, because that's what you've got to do in this sport," Tizzano said. "Wins are nice, but clearly you've got to be finishing fights and you've got to be putting asses in seats and making people want to watch you. I'm hoping on January 29th, I have a great performance and people are talking about me after."