Michael Bisping was interviewed by Bobby Cavian from MMANYTT last week after the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 14 and the slightly tipsy UFC middleweight, although *slightly* less abrasive than usual, was pretty much the exact type of guy his opposing coach, Jason “Mayhem” Miller would have taught a lesson to on Bully Beatdown.
From calling Cavian “a Swedish Hobbit” and insulting his attire to pushing him around and slapping him in the face, Bisping seemed to take pages out of “Rampage” and Forrest Griffin’s playbook for the Q&A session. He better hope he doesn’t meet up with Dan Henderson on the MTV show if Mayhem shows up at his door with Cavian to throw down the gauntlet.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/bobbycavian)
Michael Bisping was interviewed by Bobby Cavian from MMANYTT last week after the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 14 and the slightly tipsy UFC middleweight, although *slightly* less abrasive than usual, was pretty much the exact type of guy his opposing coach, Jason “Mayhem” Miller would have taught a lesson to on Bully Beatdown.
From calling Cavian “a Swedish Hobbit” and insulting his attire to pushing him around and slapping him in the face, Bisping seemed to take pages out of “Rampage” and Forrest Griffin’s playbook for the Q&A session. He better hope he doesn’t meet up with Dan Henderson on the MTV show if Mayhem shows up at his door with Cavian to throw down the gauntlet.
“The Count” actually made it more than halfway through the interview without bragging about himself, which is quite an accomplishment for a megalomaniac like him. Like clockwork though, as soon as he was asked a question about “Mayhem” coming in from Strikeforce and stealing his so-called UFC thunder, he says that there’s no way he’s going to let “the codger” take what he’s “worked hard to achieve.”
We’ll now go to Chael Sonnen’s Twitter to speak to these claims:
Some unintentional comedy came out of the interview with Bisping’s revelation that he was voted “The UK’s Coolest Guy of 2008″ behind Liam Gallagher. We can think of a few different adjectives than “coolest” that better suit the name of the award, which, by the way was bestowed upon him by the little known Zoo Magazine.
His insinuation that he and Miller actually throw down during this season of TUF better not be bullocks.
Filed under: UFCFighter vs. Writer has been on a bit of a hiatus, which is what happens when you go from a country where you don’t speak the language and your cell phone doesn’t work to a Strikeforce event where the only fighters around are the ones on…
Fighter vs. Writer has been on a bit of a hiatus, which is what happens when you go from a country where you don’t speak the language and your cell phone doesn’t work to a Strikeforce event where the only fighters around are the ones on the card, but you don’t want to hear my excuses, do you?
All that matters is that we’re back this week with UFC middleweight and TUF 14 coach Michael Bisping, who graciously took time away from bickering with opposing coach ‘Mayhem’ Miller to go head to head with yours truly over the UFC 135 main card.
Bisping: Jackson via TKO. “Jon Jones is unbelievable and an incredible athlete and an incredible champ. He’s forging a fantastic career and he’s got what it takes to be a legend one day. That said, he’s fighting Rampage and this is going to be the best Rampage you’ve seen in a long time.” Fowlkes: Jones via TKO. With Jackson’s punching power, you can’t ever count him out. And yes, I think this is the most motivated and in-shape Rampage we’ve seen in a long while. But I still don’t think it’ll be enough. Jones is too quick, too long, and too dynamic. Jackson won’t get close enough to hurt him, and Jones will chop him down.
Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck
Bisping: Koscheck via decision. Matt Hughes has been a great champion in the past and a great ambassador for the sport, but he’s coming to the end of his career. He hasn’t looked too great lately. He hasn’t looked like the Matt Hughes of old, and it pains me to say that because he’s a Hall of Famer. But I’ve got to go with Koscheck being younger, faster, stronger — probably a better wrestler as well.” Fowlkes: Koscheck via TKO. Honestly, I don’t see a single area where Hughes holds the advantage. Experience, maybe? But even there, Koscheck has enough that he’s not going to be beaten on sheer veteran savvy alone. I think he out-strikes, out-wrestles, and overpowers Hughes.
Bisping: Diaz via submission. “That’s a tough one. It could go a lot like the Nick Diaz-Gomi fight. I’ve got to go with Nate.” Fowlkes: Diaz via submission. I’d feel better about it if I didn’t think Diaz was inclined to stand and trade, thus giving Gomi more of a chance than he needs to. Even so, I think it eventually winds up on the floor, where Diaz is superior.
Bisping: Broughton via TKO. “He’s one of the toughest human beings walking this planet. He’s big, strong, and you wouldn’t know it from the look of him because he carries a little extra weight, but he’s a cardio machine. I see him wearing [Browne] down and finishing him in the later rounds.” Fowlkes: Browne via TKO. Every Englishman I’ve talked to this week (and between Bisping and Telegraph writer Gareth Davies, I’ve talked to two) tells me what a tough guy Broughton is. I don’t doubt them, but Browne is just so big and so powerful. I think he’ll keep Broughton at a distance and smash him.
Bisping: Hunt via KO. “I’m going with Mark Hunt because I know him. I don’t know too much about Ben Rothwell, but I know he’s had mixed results. I like Mark Hunt. I’m a big fan of his Pride days and K-1, so I’m rooting for him.” Fowlkes: Rothwell via submission. If Bisping can pick based purely on personal feelings, then so can I. I got to know Rothwell when we were both working for the IFL, and he’s one of the truly good people in this business. If he’s smart, he gets Hunt to the ground and takes advantage of his weak submissions defense.
Spike TV’s final season of the Ultimate Fighter is airing on Wednesday nights, and there are no two people more excited for it than Bleacher Report featured columnists Vince Carey and Sal Derose. The 135- and 145-pound weight classes are th…
Spike TV’s final season of the Ultimate Fighter is airing on Wednesday nights, and there are no two people more excited for it than Bleacher Report featured columnists Vince Carey and Sal Derose.
The 135- and 145-pound weight classes are the most entertaining in the sport, and to top it off coaches Jason Mayhem Miller and Michael Bisping are bound to create some drama of their own.
Derose considers Miller one of his favorite fighters of all time, and Carey might be the only person outside of England to love Bisping, so expect some verbal assault from both writers to take place as the season goes on.
We hope to give fans a little insight and a lot of entertainment with this weekly blog that we humbly named Clash of the Titans. As always, hit us up in the comments section with questions or comments.
Filed under: UFCDENVER — 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 Fighte…
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.
Just a friendly reminder that the final Spike TV-affiliated season of The Ultimate Fighter — TUF 14kicks off tonight at 9:00 pm ET. Judging by the clip above, Jason Miller’s role on the show is to bug the shit out of perma-heel Michael Bisping and he’s doing a bang-up job of it.
He definitely seems to be getting under the skin of “The Count,” which explains why the cocky Brit has made no secret of the fact that he despises “Mayhem” in any of the interviews he’s done about his coaching gig on the show. At least they’ll get the opportunity to hug it out in December.
This season features bantamweights and featherweights and tonight’s episode will have all 16 qualifier bouts between the final 32 selected to fight for the remaining 16 beds in the TUF house.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)
Just a friendly reminder that the final Spike TV-affiliated season of The Ultimate Fighter — TUF 14kicks off tonight at 9:00 pm ET. Judging by the clip above, Jason Miller’s role on the show is to bug the shit out of perma-heel Michael Bisping and he’s doing a bang-up job of it.
He definitely seems to be getting under the skin of “The Count,” which explains why the cocky Brit has made no secret of the fact that he despises ”Mayhem” in any of the interviews he’s done about his coaching gig on the show. At least they’ll get the opportunity to hug it out in December.
This season features bantamweights and featherweights and tonight’s episode will have all 16 qualifier bouts between the final 32 selected to fight for the remaining 16 beds in the TUF house.
Sprinkle in equal parts alcohol, idiocy and testosterone and a ferocious feud between coaches as volatile as the one between Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz, and it looks like the series will be leaving Spike with a bang before it packs up and heads over to Fox next year for its “new and improved” live incarnation.
I may actually watch this season if it’s half as exciting as the preview makes it look. The marketing department earned its pay this time around. I’m just glad they fired the script writer who came up with the spoogy sushi.
The Ultimate Fighter returns for its 14th and final season on Spike TV when the reality show kicks off Wednesday night.If the first episode is any indicator, the UFC pulled out all the stops for its swan song on the network that helped turn TUF from a …
The Ultimate Fighter returns for its 14th and final season on Spike TV when the reality show kicks off Wednesday night.
If the first episode is any indicator, the UFC pulled out all the stops for its swan song on the network that helped turn TUF from a freak-show oddity into a reality-television and organizational juggernaut.
This season revolves around eight featherweights and eight bantamweights, which makes it a double threat. Not only will we be treated to the usual storyline of competitors vying for a guaranteed UFC contract, but these mighty-mights will also be introducing many MMA fans to new weight classes.
Neither the 145-pound division (featherweight) nor the 135-pound version (bantamweight) are well known to the casual or UFC-or-bust fan, as they are recent additions to the sport’s elite organization. So perhaps it’s no accident that these scrappers seem to be further along in their mixed martial arts development than any of the previous casts.
Without giving too much away, you’ll want to catch the special, two-hour premiere because all 16 elimination bouts are featured (or at least given the highlight treatment) and there are at least four burners that you do not want to miss.
As an added bonus, we’ll have 16 tiny fighters in one house. I say the odds are good at least a quarter of them are toting around serious Napoleonic complexes, which is a little bit like having four smoldering matches in a keg of gun powder.
Actually, when you consider the coaches, you might have six such matches.
For all their warts—and both have more than their share—you cannot accuse either Michael Bisping or Jason Miller of being boring.
Both the Count and Mayhem Miller know how to grab the spotlight and provoke a reaction. Granted, they do so largely by embracing the black hat, but they have their likable moments as well…well, at least Mayhem does.
Add it all up and Season 14 should have in spades exactly what Season 13 lacked—sizzle inside the Octagon as well in the house.
So tune in tonight at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT for the first installment of TUF on Spike TV and follow along with Bleacher Report as we live blog all the mayhem (yep).
Fighter vs. Writer has been on a bit of a hiatus, which is what happens when you go from a country where you don’t speak the language and your cell phone doesn’t work to a 
DENVER — 
The Ultimate Fighter returns for its 14th and final season on Spike TV when the reality show kicks off Wednesday night.