(Things got so bad that the two had to be kept in permanent split-screen. / Image via GalsGuide)
You guys aren’t going to believe this, but Michael Bisping and Jason Miller didn’t become best friends during the taping of The Ultimate Fighter 14. With the new season kicking off next Wednesday night, Bisping went on The MMA Hour for a little promo work, and spent a good chunk of his appearance talking about how annoying Mayhem was on set. Some notable quotes:
“[There was] a bit of friction between me and Miller, just a little bit, ups and downs. At the start of the season I thought he was an OK guy. By the end of the season I wanted to kill him. Fortunately, December 3, I’ll get that opportunity.”
“Yeah, I mean he tried to [get under my skin], unfortunately Miller’s mouth is bigger than his brain, so he didn’t do a very good job of it. He tried to do it a few times, but they were really quite pitiful…I definitely get the upper hand throughout the entire season. I’m not talking about the fights, I’m just talking about the one-on-one interaction between me and Miller. I feel he crossed the line a few times, there were a few instances that he definitely crossed the line, so come December 3rd, I’m looking forward to making him pay for his words and pay for his disrespect.”
“Personally I find [the ‘Mayhem’ persona] quite annoying. Each to their own, though, I mean a lot of people find me annoying, so you know what I mean, I’ll take the rough with the smooth. He’s not a bad guy, but he just rubs me up the wrong way a little bit. As I said, not everyone’s gonna like everybody. He certainly doesn’t like me, and I don’t think I like him particularly.”
As we saw during his last TUF coaching gig opposite Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping tends to take the smallest offenses very, very personally. You can’t even call the dude pale on a tennis court without the Second Revolutionary War breaking out. Then again, if Jason Miller resorts to lame pranks like sandal-hiding and inconvenient car-parking, well, that would be kind of annoying. So who will take the inevitable heel-coach spot this season? Stay tuned…