No one ever said United Kingdom middleweight product Michael Bisping wasn't opinionated.
The champion of season three of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has been on a three-fight win streak that includes decisions over Dan Miller and Yoshiro Akiyama, as well as a controversial technical knockout over Jorge Rivera.
His recent run earned him a second coaching stint on TUF, this time against UFC newcomer and host of MTV's Bully Beatdown, Jason Miller. It won't be the "USA vs. UK" theme like the last time he coached opposite Dan Henderson, instead, it will be the first season that features featherweights and bantamweights.
"The Count" made time for a special chat session with the fans yesterday. He was asked a variety of questions ranging from his power, the upcoming season of TUF and the pressures of fighting in front of your hometown.
Unsurprisingly, the Brit didn't have many kind words for rival coach, "Mayhem." He also set the record straight on his punching power or apparent lack thereof:
"I always want to improve in every area. Listen, I've scored more stoppages than points in the UFC and I've scored three fights of the night. I'm not a one punch KO guy like Rampage, unfortunately, but I hit plenty hard, believe me. What a lot of people don't know about me is I'm a converted south paw, which means my jabbing hand is my power hand. That's why I've caught so many people with jabs and maybe don't have one punch KO power like someone like Rampage. I've stopped 7 of 11 opponents, which isn't bad for a guy who isn't able to punch. The guys who have gone the distance with me hardly ever get finished: Matt Hamill, Chris Leben, Akiyama, who have only been stopped once or twice between them in their careers. But I always try to finish the fight."
The confident, sometimes cocky fighter who trains out of the Wolfslair Academy knows that he's not well-liked by the fans in the United States and honestly, he doesn't really care. He's happy enough being a hero to his European fans.
The former TUF champion also explained some of the differences between this season and the ninth season that he coached prior.
"I couldn't really care less to be honest. It used to bother me, but when you coach a team of English against American fighters, you've sort of settled to be the villain. I'm glad it's not UK vs. USA this team. I think Miller will come across as an absolute jerk. The main difference for this series is that other than the 1-2 occasions when Dan [Henderson] and I didn't see eye to eye, we got along fine. Whereas Mayhem Miller is a person where if he moved into your neighborhood, the value of your house would go down."
Bisping closed the chat with a brutal prediction for his upcoming fight with "Mayhem," as well as a valid criticism. He's prepared for the worst, but is expecting the best.
"One of the things that I can't understand about some fighters is they don't prepare for three round wars. You have to come expecting that and prepare accordingly. That said, this is going to be a brutal, one sided, one round beat down."
Bisping certainly doesn't think too highly of Miller, a fighter who can get under just about anyone's skin. "Mayhem's" ability to annoy Bisping could lead to a bounce-back in the ratings department after a particularly dull thirteenth season that featured Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos.
Not that it matters too much with the the MMA reality series getting revamped and headed to FX.
What do you think, Maniacs?
Will Bisping's bold prediction of his upcoming fight with "Mayhem" Miller come true? What are your expectations of this upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, the last one airing on Spike TV?
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