When you think of Jason “Mayhem” Miller, a lot of people think of the situation in Nashville in April of 2010. Perception should change this season as Miller along with Michael Bisping are the coaches for Season 14 of the Ultimate Fighter, which starts tonight with a two hour premeire at 9ET/8CT on Spike TV.
Miller was supposed to fight Aaron Simpson at UFC 132 in July and then lobbied to coach on the upcoming season as Chael Sonnen was supposed be one of the coaches, but could not get cleared due to suspension.
“Hell, I asked for it,”Miller told us. “I had tweeted to Dana White that I’ll do it. I knew Chael was going to have problems and he did, so I said I’ll do it. The power of Twitter and I magically got called up.”
A lot of fans haven’t been fans of Bisping for one reason or another, but Miller was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. That however, lasted only a short amount of time.
“You know man, I didn’t even know his past,” said Miller. “I went in with a clear head, I didn’t watch the show (with Bisping), so I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t know what Michael Bisping was like really. We have mutual friends, so they say he’s not a bad guy. Well man, he proved them wrong on the show. I can’t wait to smash his face in on December 3rd. Its gunna be awesome.”
How long did it take Mayhem to not like Bisping?
“Oh man, like pretty much like a day or two,” said Miller. I didn’t talk to him for that first day and I still didn’t like him. Man, he just has an arrogant heir that he only cares about himself and it comes through. Just watch the damn show, your gunna hate him more than you already did.”
UFC President Dana White has made statements recently saying the fights coming up tonight are the best ever and Miller backs up his bosses claims.
“They are, I was shocked,” said Miller. “I was like, How the hell, every fight is good to get into the house. Every fight was exciting, every fight had a little dramatic art to it. I was like, this is crazy. You got to see some really talented dudes go out and fight. It was amazing.”
You hear a lot of fighters say after they compete on the show, that they take something from the coaches. Miller thinks he was able to impact them in the six weeks of taping.
“All the guys coming in already knew how to fight,” said Miller. “They needed gameplanning and that kind of thing. That’s what we really focused on and in addition we focused on some rules and some specific techiques that we would use in the cage. I feel like I did a good job. I did the best job I could of shaping these guys games around and what they needed to do in the fight. I am really proud. In my whole life, I am the most proud of this season of The Ultimate Fighter because I really worked my ass off to make sure that I gave everything to the guys and held nothing back.”
In retrospect, did his view on Bisping change when the show concluded?
‘The same one I did, the first or second day of being there,” said Miller. “It was like man, what an arrogant prick and I can’t wait to beat him up.”
To listen to the full interview, go to sportstownchicago.com
