JOE meets … Ultimate Fighter Season 14 coach Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping

With The Ultimate Fighter season 14 (TUF14) set to air this week, JOE took the opportunity to catch up with Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping, who will coach opposite Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller over the next few months.

By Fergus Ryan

Since the show first aired in 2005, The Ultimate Fighter reality show has breathed life back into the sport of MMA and in particular the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Six years on, the show is in its 14th season and hasn’t changed that much since Griffin and Bonnar exploded onto our screens. Those lucky enough to make it to the house have to fight to survive and only the winner leaves with any sort of job security. Though not every TUF fighter makes it in the UFC, the show has provided an invaluable source of talent to bolster their roster in addition to building the UFC brand.

Michael Bisping first appeared in the UFC after winning TUF season 3 as a light-heavyweight. He then went on to successfully coach the winners in both weight classes in the 9th season Team US v Team UK. Back for his 3rd instalment, we wondered if he was getting a little tired of the TUF format.

“TUF 14 was a fantastic experience," he says. "Honestly, the powers that be in the UFC are calling this the best season ever. It has all the usual stuff you’d expect like the arguments between coaches and practical jokes in the house, but this bunch were absolutely crazy, which makes for great telly. Most importantly though, all the fights from this season were absolutely awesome. Obviously the guys are from the lighter weight classes so you can expect some really athletic performances - lots of somersaults and spinning kicks – really high energy fights.”

His views on his opposing coach are succinct. “Jason Miller is a loud mouth bastard. But so am I, so it was hardly surprising we clashed at times. I’m really looking forward to beating him up.”

Bisping is balanced on how important TUF is for the company and himself. While there are benefits to getting face time on TV, Bisping is a fighter and would prefer to concentrate on his craft. “It’s a huge honour to be asked by the UFC to be involved in The Ultimate Fighter and I’ll do it every time they ask. It does mean I don’t get to fight as much as I would like though. The UFC’s deal with Fox means the show is going to get even bigger. They’re talking about changing the format to include things like viewer voting on who gets kicked out. I’m sure there’ll be lots of people scrambling to get on the show as it really is a great opportunity for fighters and the coaches to raise their profile. I’m hoping to take a break for Christmas after the Miller fight and get back to being really active in 2012.”

Last time JOE spoke to Bisping he was preparing for what turned out to be a controversial fight with Jorge Rivera. He stated back then that beating Rivera would not have been enough for a title shot. With no clear contender for Anderson Silva, Bisping feels a win in December against Miller will place him top of the pile.

“When I beat Miller in style in December I think that should be enough to get a title shot. I’ve been fighting in the UFC for a long time (Bisping is 11-3 in the UFC, 21-3 overall) and I’ve been putting on exciting fights. People are saying Anderson Silva has cleaned out the division but he hasn’t fought me yet.”

On the topic of whether Chael Sonnen could talk his way into another title shot, Bisping shoots straight down the pipe. “Chael Sonnen had his title shot and came up short – he tapped, he cheated, he failed!”

Sonnen squares off against Brian Stann, who many feel is on a rapid rise towards a shot at Silva. Bisping hasn’t got swept up with the Stann bandwagon just yet. “Brian Stann is a great fighter but he went 2-2 as a light-heavyweight and has only had 3 fights at middleweight. The only opponent he’s had on the level of my opponents is Chris Leben and I wiped the floor with Leben back in 2008.”

When the focus returns to Bisping’s day job he’s enthusiastic about the task ahead. “I’ve been training hard recently but have not started my camp yet. I’m feeling great and performing great in the gym and in each workout. I still have a few pounds to get off but I’ve plenty of time. I’ve another week or so of a media tour promoting TUF. Once that’s done I’ll knuckle down to a 9-10 week camp.”

Since his arrival in the UFC Bisping has been the standout British performer and acknowledges he’ll need to travel to remain so. “I’ll be based in the US for this camp. I moved out to Orange County, California. I’m not turning my back on the UK, I’m just branching out and trying new things to help me improve as a fighter. I’m still part of the Wolfslair team but we’re more international now with the likes Rampage and Chieck Kongo training with us. At the moment we’re all focusing on getting Rampage ready for UFC 135.”

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson has the unenviable task of trying to take the light-heavyweight strap from around Jon Jones’ waist this Saturday at UFC 135. “Rampage has been looking amazing for the last 5 weeks now. He got down to close to 205(lbs) a long time ago so he’s been training hard on his game plan and he’ll be ready to take his belt back on the 24th of September.”

As a result of the deal between the Fox Network and the UFC, Irish viewers should see The Ultimate Fighter season 14: Team Bisping v Team Miller on the FX channel every Thursday night, starting tonight (22 September).

For any Irish UFC fans looking to get to the UFC 138 in the LG Arena, Birmingham on the 5th November there are still tickets available on ufc.com.