The sport’s brashest of Brits, Michael “The Count” Bisping has done it again. At the weigh ins for his clash with Jason Miller at The Ultimate Fighter 14 finale, Bisping was booed under the direction of Miller. Announcer Joe Rogan urged fans to give Bisping some love. Bisping proceeded to tell the fans that he doesn’t “give a [expletive] about getting [expletive] love. All I care about is smashing this dickhead’s head in.”
Bisping has always been a bully of sorts, and often, the king of trash talk. It seems simply fitting that he enter the cage on Saturday night opposite the former host of MTV’s “Bully Beatdown.”
Bisping, who is currently riding a three-fight win streak, has tussled with the best of the best at 185 pounds in the UFC. He started his career a perfect 14-0 at light heavyweight before dropping a split decision to Rashad Evans who later went on to win the 205-pound title. Bisping currently stands at 21-3, with his only losses coming to a former UFC champion, and two former Pride champions, Wanderlei Silva and Dan Henderson.
After his loss to Evans, Bisping dropped to 185 pounds and went on a three-fight streak that culminated in his defeat of Chris Leben. His next fight was set against Dan Henderson, the man coaching opposite him on that season of The Ultimate Fighter.Many remember the signature knockout loss against Henderson at UFC 100 after The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K, but what was even more memorable was Bisping’s time on the show as a coach. After rattling off victories over Dan Miller, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Jorge Rivera, Bisping was again selected to coach on The Ultimate Fighter. He was originally slated to coach opposite, and eventually square off with the true king of trash talk, Chael Sonnen, but various issues pertaining to alleged steroid usage prevented Sonnen from obtaining his fighting license in time.
Jason Miller was selected as the newest coach, after pleading his case to UFC President Dana White over the social networking site, Twitter. White had Miller installed as the newest coach in a matter of days, clearly a result of his interesting persona. The trash talk on the show was kept to a minimum to begin the season, and there was no bad blood going into the show, but Miller’s pranks got the best of Bisping. Bisping decided to play some pranks of his own and even had Miller’s car towed at one point during the season. The antics between the two fighters came to a head at the weigh-ins Friday night, when Bisping missed weight by one-quarter of a pound. Miller antagonized him, and Bisping shot back with vulgarities. It is sure to be an exciting finale.
Statistically and stylistically, the two fighters couldn’t be more different. Bisping, a striker, holds the majority of his wins by knockout, whereas Miller, a grappler, holds the majority of his wins by submission. The bottom line is that these two fighters know how to finish. Miller has only been to a decision eight times and is an even 4-4 in fights that go all rounds. Bisping has only been to six, and has only lost two of them. Both have impressive cardio, so that shouldn’t be an issue even if this one does reach the later rounds.
Miller has stated that he wants to stand and trade with Bisping, and grudge matches such as these often bring out a fighter’s inner slugger. Bisping has to be careful though. He is a better striker, but if Miller can manage to catch him and send him sprawling he could find himself on the wrong side of a rear-naked choke. It will be surprising if this one goes the distance; I’ve got Miller by rear-naked choke in the fourth round.
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