Bisping Wins Season 14 Ultimate Fighter Finale in Brutal Fashion

Posted on December 4th, 2011

Archived in MMA News

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bisping, finale, Mayhem, miller, results, TUF 14, ufc

The 14th installment of The Ultimate Fighter came to a conclusion last night when Coaches Michael “The Count” Bisping and Jason “Mayhem” Miller stepped into the cage for the night’s main event. Miller attempted to use a similar game plan of Dan Henderson and threw several overhand rights in the first round. A few of them landed flush on the face/head of Bisping, but never did any damage or seemed to rock him. It was clear that the size of Bisping, was a huge advantage at this point. The only fear Bisping ever has, is getting knocked out by a big right hand; after the Hendo Bomb he took at his last time he coached The Ultimate fighter against Dan Henderson. Mayhem landed 2 or 3 overhand rights, flush on the kisser of Bisping and he didn’t buckle. Now, knowing full well, he took Miller”s best shot and was still ok, Bisping gained the confidence to press forward and attack.

When Bisping is moving forward and confident in his technique, he has superior boxing to most fighter’s in the UFC. He is a Champion Kickboxer and his technique is pure. Bisping works his jab well, mixes up shots to the body and head, constantly striking his opponent in all areas with both hands. After an impressive round 1 from Mayhem Miller, he “gassed,” a term used when an athlete runs out of energy and is fighting on pure heart. Mayhem had nothing left in him; it was almost as in the matter of seconds, the life had been sucked out of him. After close to a year and a half outside of MMA competition, Miller lost steam early in the fight. In the first round Miller landed strikes with both his feet and hand, he even secured a take down. In the second round, Miller couldn’t threw combos; he could barely wing 1 punch haymakers that were highly telegraphed. Miller was also unable to secure any take down in the second round; being stuffed over and over again by the much larger Bisping.

Bisping saw Miller lose steam and turned on the heat. Bisping, known for having incredible conditioning and cardio, used that to his advantage, picking Miller apart with jabs and right hands to the body and head. After stuffing take downs, Bisping also utilized knees and strikes from the top position to soften up Miller. By mid second round, if not sooner, Miller was fighting on pure heart. His mind was telling him to do one thing, but his body could not produce. Not sure if it was an adrenaline dump, health issue,s ring rust or what; but Mayhem did not seem himself. Mayhem has gone the distance in several fights and never had this issue. One might believe in a few theories; being that Mayhem was much smaller and lost steam after hitting Bisping with his best shots and not seeing results or that he had an adrenaline dump from being outside of competition for so long. Mayhem managed to survive round 2 on pure heart and round 3 was much of the same. Miller stood in front of Bisping, with his back against the cage, eating one punch after the other. Bisping continued to drill Miller to the body and the head over and over again. After an unsuccessful take down attempt, Miller stayed on the ground, tired and unable to hop back up. Bisping took his chance and pounced on top of Miller; landing viscous punches and then knees to the ribs of the semi turtled up Miller. Although surviving, Miller was not fighting back and eating enough damage for the ref to call a stoppage to the bout late in the third round of a schedule 5 round main event. Miller was fine after the fight, minus a severely mashed face; and cited getting tired as the result of his performance.

We know this for certain, Mayhem trained his ass of for this fight and was in shape. It is near impossible to simulate an actually fight in terms of intensity and non stop action. I believe there was a circumstance that caused Mayhem to gas and it was that simple. I also believe that Bisping, who has only been defeated by Former World Champions Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson and Wanderlei Silva is highly underestimated. Bisping has 15 fights in the UFC, having won 12 of those. He has a finishing rate of 66%, an incredible number. Statistically, Bisping finishes 2 out of every 3 opponents he has defeated inside of the UFC. Bisping has world class striking, good wrestling and great submission defense. The man has a questionable character, but who cares? He is not my role model, or my hero or someone I even look up to. The point is, I like MMA and Bisping is a great fighter that I enjoy watching fight. I don’t want to have a beer with the guy or to invite his children over to play, but I do want to see him fight and he has proven that he belongs near the top of the UFC middleweight division. You don’t have to respect the man, but we should respect his skills. Although Bisping is riding a 4 fight win streak, the UK fighter said he still has much work to do before getting a shot at the title, citing his poor performance in the first round as unacceptable, even though Bisping looked sharp in rounds 2 and 3. Bisping, knowing he was a bit harsh in his attitude towards fans the past few days, did show a lot of respect to the crowd, the UFC, his family and to Miller in post fight speech. Is it too late for the UK fighter, Michael “The Count” Bisping to repair his image; or has he already done with his behavior post fight last night?

TUF 14 Finale Results: