Love him or hate him there really is no in between. This Saturday night,  Michael “The Count” Bisping (21-3) steps into the Octagon at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas to finally go toe-to-toe with the opposing coach of TUF 14 in Jason “Mayhem” Miller (28-22).

Count on Bisping

I got to chat with “The Count” about his upcoming bout. You’ll realize quickly that he has a lot to say. He has both an engaging and electric personality. It’s safe to say both Bisping and Miller have the gift of gab. Most recently Miller told mmaweekly.com his thoughts on his British opponent.

“He’s super overrated. They put him up in there with guys he gets to have an easy little kickboxing match with, and he gets to dictate the pace by throwing his jab out there and his right hand. He’s not going to be able to do that to me. He bit off more than he can chew. He’s going to feel bad about the day he agreed to fight me.”

Obviously this isn’t the first stone flung by either guy and nobody lives in a glass house. The trash talk has been heating up as of late but it has been going on for months. Right off the hop, Bisping wanted to respond.

“The guy is absolutely delusional. The guy is ridiculous, absolutely retarded. If you look at the guys I have fought, that completely contradicts what he has said. I have fought top guys in Matt Hamill, Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson, Denis Kang, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Miller, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Chris Leben; yeah those are all easy guys anyone could walk through. Mayhem who claims to be a knowledgeable MMA guy doesn’t know his ass from his elbow.”

For “The Count,” he sees a common theme with most of his opponents lately. They talk a lot and once they get beat down they seem to have an epiphany.

“The common thing with most of the guys I have beat, is that the time they check out of the hospital they are thinking to themselves, man…that guy was better than I thought! It’s going to be the exact same thing for Miller this Saturday night.”

Trash talk aside, Michael Bisping is like a pillow that has a hot and cold side. One moment some people warm up to the guy, the next moment they want to punch his face. Just ask the clothing company “Ranger Up” who put out this interesting fake PSA video.

In the video you see a few faces like Jorge Rivera, Tim Credeur and Tim Kennedy pleading for “Mayhem” Miller to save the planet by punching Bisping in the face at the TUF 14 Finale. There is some history at play here that stems back to UFC 127 when Rivera got TKO’ed by Bisping. Some words were said, spit flew and Bisping was at the center of it all. He was propelled to the stratosphere of Hatedom within the sport. Guys started calling him out left, right and center. Even Grandmothers wanted a piece. Nonetheless the amusing video doesn’t bother him.

“As far as the Ranger Up video goes, I find it rather flattering that someone would go out of their way and spend the time and money basically promoting me. Thanks for that. I looked at it briefly while eating me breakfast and as soon as I stopped watching it, a second later, it left my mind; I was onto focusing on other things like my upcoming fight. I haven’t really given a thought since. I think the words they are looking for there is Epic Fail!”

Tim Kennedy, who fought in Strikeforce and is now looking for his first middleweight fight in the UFC, seems to be the man behind the video and the Ranger Up brand. It made me wonder if maybe this was Kennedy’s way of calling Bisping out? Well, Mike had some choice words for Mr. Kennedy.

“I don’t even want to mention his name because he’s a nobody. He doesn’t even resonate on my radar. Some small things might go “bleep, bleep” on my radar, but he doesn’t even come up. Who is he? He hasn’t fought in the UFC yet. I don’t even know who he is. To me he is just one of the million ass holes on the Internet.”

See what I’m talking about? You get two sides to Bisping. I wanted to mention to Mike that Tim Kennedy is an American War Hero and could also one day be a major threat in his division, but something tells me he doesn’t care.

Is “The Count” misunderstood? I will tell you this. Although at times on television he hasn’t done himself any favors, people whom I know who have met and spent time with Mike have nothing bad to say. He is considered very approachable and has all the time in the world for his fans and media alike. In this sport you’re going to come across big personalities that fans are either going to embrace or hate. He understands the game.

“People are very quick to insult me and try and put me down. I do take it with a grain of salt. I have a loyal fan base and a loyal hatred base. People who like me, tend to really like me, people who hate me, God damm do they hate me! That’s fine. That’s just the way I want it. I’d hate to enter an arena and get a golfer’s clap.”

There is no polite clap when Bisping makes an entrance especially in the good ol’ USA. Maybe it was season nine where he led a stable of UK fighters against Dan Henderson’s American team and beat them handidly. There were times during that season, like this season of TUF, where Bisping came off as arrogant and cocky. So you can understand some of the American venum.

“When I walked into the last FOX event in California recently in Anaheim, I walked in and the entire crowd boo’ed so much it was unbelievable. I was really proud of it. It was such a great reception that I laughed my ass off. I didn’t cry pleading with them to like me. I turned around and gave them the double finger salute. The crowd applauded and everyone wanted a picture. I think it’s a bit of pantomime. To be honest I have never had a bad experience one on one with anybody. I challenge anybody that they have had a bad experience with me as well. I embrace the good guy, and I embrace the bad guy.”

For Bisping, it’s all about being true to one’s self and being 100% authentic. However, he strongly believes that doing any sort of reality show means you are sometimes at the mercy of the producer and editor.

“You know what, anything that has come out of my mouth I have said. I’m ultimately responsible for that. But I got to say that this time I do think they were a bit naughty with some of the editing. With season three and season nine I don’t think so, but this season they were a tad naughty. There were times where I would be giving it verbally to Miller but they failed to include any of the lead up, like when Miller was verbally attacking me first. It was little things like that. Yes it was obvious that the people who were editing were trying to make me look like the bad guy. But you know, who cares. I could care less really. Like I said, everything that comes out of my mouth I’m responsible for. Taken out of context or not, I shouldn’t have said or did some things.”

Nothing seems to faze him and maybe as time goes on one starts to grow a thick skin. The UFC wants their fighters to be themselves. They want their athletes to be accessible and real. For Michael Bisping, that is what fans will always get.

“I’m just going to be myself. Some people seem to like me and I assume I just tend to irritate other people. I’m not going to change. Believe me, there are a lot of fake fighters out there. It’s funny; as soon as the camera focuses on them they pretend they are the nicest guys. What you see is not always what you get. I’m not going to mention names, but I see a few of these guys who are not fan friendly at all. I don’t mind stopping and talking to people, take some pictures, it doesn’t matter if I’m in a hurry to get somewhere. I respect the fans. You know…I’m a human being. I have said some things and done some things I have regretted over the years. Who hasn’t? The only problem is I sometimes have a fucking camera in my face 24/7.”

Most recently, TJ Dillashaw who fought on the latest season of TUF 14 on Bisping’s team had something to say about his former TV coach.

“The worst thing, he gets involved in competitions, any type of competition that there is. The competition was pranking each other and being jerks to the other team and he exceeded that level and kinda pushed it to the extreme, he wanted to be the best at what we were doing so I think he was being a bit of a hypocrite at some points and kinda got out of hand in terms of antagonizing the other team.”

Bisping believes that it was a quote that was taken out of context.

“At first I was insulted but after talking with one of my coaches, we think it was taken out of context. I looked after TJ on the show and took him under my wing a little bit. I doubt it was made with any malice or malicious intent.”

Malicious intent or not, it has to be a bit of a stinger. The word hypocrite coming from a student or teammate is never a “feel good” compliment. But none of the comments, video, and trash talk is going to get in the way of what the primary goal is for Bisping. If he wants to be in the title conversation he is going to need a win.

“What I plan on showing Mayhem is that he is in a different league. Yeah he has some grappling skills, but this isn’t a grappling match. This is mixed martial arts and I plan on showing him what the difference is. I have no problems going to the ground with this guy. He needs to be prepared because my boxing is better than ever. Everything is better because I have had a fantastic camp. I have to say thanks to all my training partners and coaches who have really helped me. I’m ready to go. I can go five, five-minute rounds in my sleep. Mayhem is in for a big shock this Saturday night.”

The powers that be know this, whether you  love Bisping or hate Bisping, you’re going to want to tune in to see if he wins or loses. He has no problems telling you his opinion. One thing is for sure. “The Count” will not fake his way through a career. He is what he is. As real as it gets.

BONUS QUOTE:

“I’ve been DJ’ing since I was sixteen years old. It was good when I first became a professional fighter. It enabled me to train all week and work on the weekend as a DJ and I was able to put some money in my pocket to make ends meet. Once my fighting started to become more successful and I started in the UFC I stopped with the DJ thing and stopped staying out late at nightclubs because it wasn’t the best environment to be in. But now, the last couple of years I have got back into it again. Fighting has taken up my life completely. It has completely consumed me. All I do is train; all I do is talk about fighting. When I’m on the Internet I’m looking at MMA websites, I’m passionate about the sport. I realized that I need a hobby that has nothing to do with fighting whatsoever. So I’ve got back to DJ’ing because it’s good for me mentally. I love music. I’m spinning a few sets here and there. If anyone wants to book me, hit me up on Twitter and send me a message and the Count will come and spin for ya.”