Introduction
UFC Fight Night 45: Cerrone vs. Miller took place on Wednesday, July 16, 2014 at the Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey — broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 to 640,000 average viewers. The Revel had opened in April 2012 as one of New Jersey’s most ambitious casino properties, costing $2.4 billion to construct. Six weeks after this UFC event, it closed permanently. In the main event, Donald Cerrone knocked out Jim Miller with a head kick and punches at 3:31 of round two, earning his unprecedented fourth consecutive post-fight bonus and extending his UFC/WEC record for most professional finishes to 12.
The card also featured Edson Barboza’s R1 liver kick TKO of Evan Dunham, a John Lineker finish of Alp Ozkilic that earned Fight of the Night, Aljamain Sterling’s TKO debut win, and a women’s strawweight bout between Claudia Gadelha and Tina Lähdemäki — one of the earliest official fights in the UFC’s newly announced 115-pound women’s division. Nine of eleven fights ended before the final bell.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2014
📍 Venue: Revel Casino Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA (venue closed permanently September 2, 2014 — 6 weeks after this event)
📺 Broadcast: Fox Sports 1 — 640,000 avg. viewers (415k prelims)
🏆 Main Event: Donald Cerrone vs. Jim Miller — Lightweight
✅ Result: Cerrone def. Miller via KO (head kick and punches) — R2, 3:31 (PoN $50k; 4th straight bonus; 12 UFC/WEC finishes)
Main Event: Cerrone’s Head Kick Record
Cerrone was in career-defining form in the first half of 2014. He had won his previous three fights by TKO or submission — all earning post-fight bonuses. Against Miller, he used his Muay Thai front kicks and body kick attacks to break down Miller’s centre line, then landed the finishing combination: a front kick to the midsection that dropped Miller’s level, followed by a head kick that found the target flush. Ground punches prompted the referee’s intervention at 3:31. The win set the UFC/WEC combined record for most professional finishes at 12 and gave Cerrone his unprecedented fourth consecutive post-fight bonus.
Full Results
Main Card (Fox Sports 1)
Donald Cerrone def. Jim Miller — KO (head kick and punches) — R2, 3:31 — Lightweight (PoN $50k; 4th straight bonus; record 12 UFC/WEC finishes)
Edson Barboza def. Evan Dunham — TKO (liver kick and punches) — R1, 3:06 — Lightweight (devastating body kick finish)
Rick Story def. Leonardo Mafra — Submission (arm-triangle choke) — R2, 2:12 — Welterweight
Joe Proctor def. Justin Salas — TKO — R2, 3:27 — Lightweight
John Lineker def. Alp Ozkilic — TKO — R3, 4:51 — Bantamweight (FotN $50k each)
Preliminary Card
Lucas Martins def. Alex White — KO — R3, 2:08 — Featherweight (PoN $50k)
Gleison Tibau def. Pat Healy — Unanimous Decision — Lightweight
Leslie Smith def. Jessamyn Duke — TKO — R1, 2:24 — Women’s Bantamweight
Aljamain Sterling def. Hugo Viana — TKO — R3, 3:50 — Bantamweight (Sterling’s early UFC career; future UFC BW champion)
Yosdenis Cedeno def. Jerrod Sanders — TKO (doctor stoppage, knee injury) — R1, 5:00 — Welterweight
Cláudia Gadelha def. Tina Lähdemäki — Unanimous Decision — Women’s Strawweight (one of the first official UFC 115lb women’s bouts)
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: John Lineker + Alp Ozkilic — $50,000 each
🥇 Performance of the Night: Donald Cerrone + Lucas Martins — $50,000 each (Cerrone’s 4th straight bonus)
The Revel Casino: A Venue That Closed Six Weeks Later
The Revel opened in April 2012 and was immediately troubled: its alcohol policy (prohibiting gambling-floor alcohol service) and its remote Atlantic City boardwalk location suppressed foot traffic. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2013, emerged briefly, then filed again in June 2014 — weeks before the UFC Fight Night. When the Revel closed on September 2, 2014, UFC Fight Night 45 became one of the final major events ever held there. The UFC’s ability to run a 640,000-viewer card in a commercially failing venue was a minor footnote in a broader Atlantic City casino industry crisis.
Legacy & Impact
Cerrone’s 2014 run was one of the sport’s great bonus-earning streaks: four consecutive performances, each earning a post-fight bonus. His record 12 UFC/WEC finishes was a milestone that defined his status as the most prolific finisher in the organisation’s lightweight/featherweight history at the time. Aljamain Sterling’s TKO win over Hugo Viana was one of his earliest UFC wins before his rise to the bantamweight championship. Gadelha’s win over Lähdemäki was part of the early infrastructure of the UFC’s 115-pound women’s division, which formally launched at TUF 20 in the autumn of 2014.
FAQ
What made Cerrone’s 4-bonus streak so unprecedented?
Cerrone earned his third straight bonus at UFC on Fox 11 (January 2014, submission of Edson Barboza), then his fourth at Fight Night 45. No UFC fighter had won post-fight bonuses in four consecutive appearances in the promotion’s history at that point. What made the streak more remarkable was the quality of the opponents: Al Iaquinta, Adriano Martins, Edson Barboza, and Jim Miller across the four fights. Each was a legitimate lightweight contender.
Where did Aljamain Sterling’s career go from here?
Sterling was 3-0 in the UFC after Fight Night 45 and rapidly establishing himself as one of the bantamweight division’s most technically complete fighters. He went 11-3 in the UFC before winning the undisputed bantamweight title by disqualification against Petr Yan at UFC 259 in March 2021 (Yan landed an illegal knee while Sterling was down). Sterling defended the title against Yan in a rematch, then against T.J. Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo. His Atlantic City prelim win over Hugo Viana was his fifth professional fight and his second UFC appearance — the foundation of a championship career.