Filed under: UFC
DENVER — Michael Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller make for an unlikely movie date, but in some bizarre way the pairing works. The two showed up at the Paramount Theater on Wednesday night for a private screening of The Ultimate Fighter season 14 premiere looking less like rivals and more like…well, not friends exactly, but also not quite enemies.
“He’s not a bad guy. He’s alright,” Bisping admitted, nodding over at Miller who was, at the very moment, practically shouting into a video camera a few feet away. “But trust me, that in your face for six weeks? You’re going to kill the guy.”
Now that filming is over and Bisping can get back to dealing with Miller “in small doses,” the two seem to get along just fine. Or at least, that’s how it seemed as they sat down together with a handful of media members to watch the first episode of the Spike TV reality show inside the 80-year-old art deco theater.
The show’s first episode didn’t give the coaches all that much to do, however. After a brief introduction, complete with highlight reels, they spent the bulk of the episode separated by UFC president Dana White, watching TUF hopefuls scrap for a spot on the show inside the empty Mandalay Bay Events Center. Not that there weren’t a few barbs here and there, of course.
When Bisping appeared on screen, describing Miller’s current bleached blonde look as a cross between “Josh Koscheck and a toilet brush,” even Miller reared his head back and laughed along with the rest of us.
And all night long, both on screen and in person, the one thing they agreed on was a mutual respect for the talent level of the fighters in this season of the show. Miller estimated that at least eight of the competitors were worthy of UFC contracts, regardless of how they fared during the reality show tournament.
But while seeking refuge in the lobby during the final half-hour of the show, Miller hinted that some days had been tougher than others when working alongside his British counterpart.
“I wanted to hit him,” he said. “I’d be like, today I’m going to hit him.”
What stopped him, he explained, was that he worried it would make him look like a jerk once the show aired. “And then my mom would get mad,” he added.
The six weeks of filming in Las Vegas and the ensuing media tour to hype the show have ensured that Miller and Bisping hardly go a day without talking about one another. For a fight that’s still more than two months away, that’s an uncommon amount of preamble, even in the UFC.
In fact, Miller said, it’s taken almost every bit of patience he has to keep from freaking out with so much time to think about the fight. In his younger days, he said, this is exactly the kind of thing that might have sent him looking for trouble at a local bar.
“Or I’d start an argument with my girlfriend, just for the drama,” he said.
These days, as he jets from southern California to New York for talk shows, then to a private screening in Denver, more often than not it’s Bisping who is his date. And as they bickered about practical jokes and busted one another’s chops on stage following the show’s premiere, they seemed not unlike an old married couple — though maybe one that’s headed for divorce.
“During the show, I wanted to kill him,” Bisping said. “I’m going to kill him.”
Miller just rolled his eyes, flashing the same unimpressed expression we’d seen just moments before on the giant screen behind him.
“Save your breath for cooling your pies,” he said.
“Whatever that means,” Bisping shot back.
As with any couple, few battles are as fierce as the fight for the last word.