FanPost

Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 14 Finale: Michael Bisping vs. 'Mayhem' Miller breakdown

FanPost edited and promoted by MMAmania.com.

On Saturday night (Dec. 3, 2011 the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will host its Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Finale live from the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Two of mixed martial arts most colorful personalities will engage in middleweight warfare as Michael Bisping (21-3) trades leather with recently signed and re-debuting Jason Miller (24-7, 1 NC).

For weeks we saw their feud build as the two coaches led their teams consisting of featherweights and bantamweights to their dreams of one day becoming the next 'Ultimate Fighter.' Bisping has one win over 'Mayhem' as he was able to win $10,000 for himself and $1,500 for each of his teammates in a game of good ole' air hockey in the coaches challenge.

Now the fight is just days away and I shall give you a closer look at who should win this bout

Follow me after the jump.

Striking

Michael Bisping wins by TKO/KO: 13
Jason Miller wins by TKO/KO: 6

Michael Bisping losses by TKO/KO: 1
Jason Miller losses by TKO/KO: 1

Bisping's reach: 75.5"
Miller's reach: 77.0"

No bones about this one as Michael Bisping is a much better striker then Miller.

Bisping is actually a very accomplished kickboxer in Britain as he's held the North West Area title and the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title. Bisping actually left combat sports on at least two different occasions and when he came back the second time, he reclaimed the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title.

Bisping seems to have lost a lot of his power shot since dropping to middleweight because while in British promotions Cage Rage and Cage Warrior he had many TKO stoppages. Of his first ten professional MMA bouts he had 10 stoppages and seven were due to strikes. In his first five bouts for the UFC at light heavyweight he had three TKO wins.

In his nine fights at middleweight he has only three stoppages by strikes and a TKO (arm injury) win over Charles McCarthy at UFC 83, his middleweight debut.

Jason Miller is not a striker by any stretch of the imagination as he has all of six TKO/KO wins in his life. The one thing he has is a toughness about him as we saw him get his ass handed to him by current UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 52.

Miller uses his striking to obtain sweeps and take downs so he can apply his jiu-jitsu game. He uses Muay Thai as his main striking discipline but uses it more to get inside and start working his way to the ground.

Both men have chins and each have a single loss from strikes in their 20+ fights each. People love to recall the night Dan Henderson dropped an 'H-Bomb' upon Michael Bisping not once but twice at UFC 100. Bisping has a knack for taking an overhand right and stumbling but one man was able to crack that, that man also holds the only knockout over Fedor Emelianenko. Miller may have one loss via strikes to Frank Trigg but has been used as a punching bag even more then Bisping has.

I see Bisping using his jab to keep out of Miller's grappling game and slowly pick him apart on the feet. Bisping is just far too good a striker to get outstruck or knocked out by 'Mayhem.' As long as Bisping keeps range he could pile on the points or slowly outstrike Miller for a TKO.

Edge: Michael Bisping

Submission:

Bisping wins by submission: 4
Miller wins by submission: 14

Bisping losses by submission: 0
Miller losses by submission: 1

Bisping submission attempts per 15 minutes: 0.8
Miller submission attempts per 15 minutes: 1.18

In the case of Bisping, don't let the zero in his losses by submission fool you. Bisping has not faced any elite grapplers and the best he has faced was arguably Denis Kang or Dan Miller. Kang, a fighter once touted as the next big thing, is no longer with the UFC and Dan Miller is a toughed-nosed journeymen.

Bisping surprisingly has four wins by submission and unless you are a huge Bisping fan that should raise an eyebrow. Bisping's last submission win was in 2005 over fellow British fighter Ross Pointon. One of his submission wins was really a tap out due to strikes in 2005 over Jakob Lovstad.

Bisping's main goal to avoid the ground and trade punches instead of transitions. Jason Miller will be his toughest test in classic match-ups of striker vs. grappler.

Miller holds all the dominance in this category and if he can clinch and sweep then it's a race. If he can keep Bisping on his back the he should be able to do his damage. Miller recently earned his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at King's MMA and it's well deserved.

Miller holds notable submission wins over Kazushi Sakuraba, Kala Hose, Robbie Lawler, Lodune Sincaid. Falaniko Vitale and Denis Kang. As you can see he holds one win over a pure striker like Bisping in Robbie Lawler. The thing is Bisping tends to be a lot more active and shifty in comparison to Lawler who doesn't use his angles and stands in the pocket. Lawler stinks on the ground as best seen in his recent title fight loss to Ronaldo Souza at Strikeforce: 'Diaz vs. Cyborg.'

Edge: Jason Miller

Wrestling

Bisping takedown accuracy: 51%
Miller takedown accuracy: 40%

Bisping takedown defense: 58%
Miller takedown defense: 44%

Bisping has some of the most impressive takedown defense at middleweight as he has done fairly well against powerhouse wrestlers Rashad Evans and Matt Hamill. Now he didn't stuff all their takedowns and lost the Evans fight due to his inability to stuff enough of them, but he did good. When you rewind your mind and see where he has come from since his stint on TUF 3, he has progressed quite a bit. In Britain wrestling isn't a high school or university sport and we've seen very few British do well against collegiate level wrestlers.

Bisping is one of the few who has.

As you can see he stuffs nearly 60% of the takedown opportunities and the one thing that number doesn't show is that Bisping usually gets up without absorbing a whole lot of damage. Bisping doesn't waste energy on useless takedowns and has scored some nice slams. He uses his striking to set up his shoots but late in fights trying to score some point he gets denied.

I must say Fight Metric shocked me when I saw the low numbers for Miller who needs takedowns to win fights. His entire game is based off his ability to keep you down and smother you until an opening for a submission is available.

If you look at Miller's record he only has one win against an elite level wrestler in Tim Kennedy (HDnet Fights: Reckless Abandon) but also holds a loss to Kennedy. He also has losses to Chael Sonnen (HFP 1), Georges St. Pierre (UFC 52) and Frank Trigg (Icon Sport: Mayhem vs. Trigg).

Edge: Michael Bisping

Variables

Common opponent(s)

- Both Bisping and Miller have one common opponent in former PRIDE star Denis Kang.

Michael Bisping def. Denis Kang via TKO (punches and knees) UFC 105
Jason Miller def. Denis Kang via submission (rear naked choke) Extreme Challenge 50

This one is a toss up as both Miller and Bisping stopped Denis Kang with a submission and TKO respectively. Now neither faced Denis Kang in his run at PRIDE and this isn't me knocking PRIDE's excellent track record of pre/post fight drug testing, but Kang never looked the same before or after.

Edge: TIE

Last five (5) fights:


Bisping (4-1):
Wins over Jorge Rivera (UFC 127), Yoshiro Akiyama (UFC 120), Dan Miller (UFC 114), Denis Kang (UFC 105). Loss(s) to Wanderlei Silva (UFC 110).

Analysis: Bisping hasn't faced the cream of the crop and Miller is his best test since losing to Wanderlei Silva. His loss to Wanderlei wasn't a one-sided beat down but he did get caught a few times in a close fight. Two of his four wins were stoppages of Jorge Rivera and Denis Kang. He looked good in both wins over 'Sexyama' and Dan Miller who may not be winners in the grand scheme of things but both are good fighters.

Miller (3-1 and 1 NC): Wins over Kala Hose (Kingdom MMA: Miller vs. Hose), Tim Stout (Strikeforce: Nashville), Kazushi Sakuraba (DREAM 16). Loss(s) to Jake Shields (Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers). No contest for illegal soccer kick (cut) against Ronaldo Souza (Dream 9).

Analysis: Jason Miller hasn't been active since Sept. 2010 after the 'Nashville Brawl' where it is rumored no major network wanted 'Mayhem' to compete on their broadcasts. Miller has one notable win and that's Sakuraba but this isn't the 'Gracie Killer' we once saw. The Sakuraba we see now is vastly diminished due to his body being punished by oversized fighters. Miller did push Shields to a near choking but wasn't able to beat the bell. Miller has looked decent against the men he has beaten but not great when stepping up in challenge much like Bisping.

Edge: Michael Bisping

Cardio

Bisping average fight time: 08:19 mins
Miller average fight time: 08:56 mins

The fight isn't far off between the two and both have different methods to winning. Bisping being the better striker is able to finish guys quicker but Miller needs to work his submissions.

Bisping may have lost to Hamill in the eyes of the people but be honest, who looked fresher? Bisping who had that last flurry of Hamill who looked gassed enough to collapse. A big reason the judges gave Bisping the nod was the activity from underneath Hamill who didn't do much when on top (See: Bas Rutten vs. Kevin Randleman).

Miller has been beaten by wrestlers and has been outworked by some of the best. His pace isn't very fast by any stretch of the imagination. GSP outgunned him from bell to bell at UFC 52 and 'Rush' was exploding at all cylinders then.

Edge: Michael Bisping

(Michael Buffer with the announcement)

The winner after three rounds by unanimous decision......MICHAEL 'THE COUNT' BISPING!

Why? I think Bisping's use of range is just far too good and will frustrate Jason Miller from the get go. Miller's takedowns and wrestling aren't impressive while Bisping has a ground 'sprawl n' brawl.' Bisping's jab and bale to create combos also gives me the thought he will slowly accumulate damage upon Miller. I don't see either one getting knocked out and put into harm's way.

Bisping is just better standing and wrestling and the only way Miller wins is by takedown which he hasn't had much success in. Bisping may not have faced the best fighters in the middleweight class but he has a win over a one dimensional slugger in Leben and Miller doesn't even have Leben's power.

Thanks for reading and comment below to argue.

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