UFC 217: Career Rundown - Michael Bisping

Synonymous for British mixed martial arts for more than a decade, Michael Bisping accurately meets many of the stereotypes one would expect from an Englishman. The archetypal underdog, 'The Count' is the UFC's premier journeyman, working his way to the top over a career spanning more than 10 years. His bulldog tenacity is only matched by his quick wit and vicious barbs, with the Clitheroe-born fighter as renowned for the quantity of his trash talk as his strikes.

After a background studying jiu-jitsu and kickboxing in England, competing in Britain's answer to early MMA, a 'no holds barred' competition called Knock Down Sport Budo (KDSB), Bisping's initial hopes to enter the sport were besieged with monetary issues. By his own admission, the Brit spent time living in his car to travel around the country, accruing an impressive 10-0 record and winning and defending the Cage Rage, Cage Warriors and FX3 Light Heavyweight titles.

He's been in the UFC for so long, it'd be easy to forget that Bisping's origins are in the company's reality TV programme, The Ultimate Fighter. In fact, he's arguably the show's most successful graduate, winning as a fighter and twice as a coach (seasons nine and 14). However, when he burst through the doors of the UFC Performance Centre in 2006 a brash, loud-mouthed lout, you could have been forgiven for dismissing him out of hand.

As his appearances on the Ultimate Fighter showed, it's no secret that 'The Count' is an acquired test for many fans of the sport. Despite this, there are few that are as revered at home. Perhaps best illustrated by the noise and support shown in his middleweight title defence at UFC 204, this clearly has an impact on Bisping when he steps inside the cage. He retains a 100 per cent record when on British soil, winning nine UFC bouts at venues across England and Scotland, and nineteen in total when you factor in his early career.

As he enters his 26th UFC bout - the most in the company's history - it is perhaps a little sad that for all of his successes inside the Octagon, his most memorable moments have come during his losses. Anyone who has ever watched a highlight reel of knockouts on YouTube will know about the Dan Henderson right hand that separated Bisping from his consciousness at UFC 100, as well as the follow-up diving right that would become the American's personal brand.

The most damaging blow was still to come for Bisping. A head kick from a TRT fuelled Vitor Belfort would detach the retina from the Brit's right eye - an injury that nearly ended his career prematurely, and left him permanently disfigured. Indeed, 'The Count' has talked at length about the trials of handling and recovering from the injury, including experiencing intermittent loss of vision as his eye filled with blood. The fact that he is fighting at all is testament to the strength and determination of Bisping, and his refusal to be beaten has certainly paid dividends since.

While he has been known as the middleweight division's 'nearly man' for many years, this tag was to change to title contender following one of the most dramatic fights of 2016. In the main event of another homecoming, Bisping got the fight he had been dreaming about since the start of his career against Anderson Silva - arguably the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.

Having outboxed the legend for the better part of two rounds, including a knockdown, the Brit again showed his remarkable cardio and powers of recovery. In the midst of confusion over Bisping's missing mouthguard, a flying knee from the Brazilian would send the Brit to his knees at the buzzer, with Silva convinced the fight was won. Instead, Bisping recovered, safely navigating the latter rounds to claim a decision victory and send a message to the rest of the division.

If that win was remarkable, his next was truly outrageous. With 11 days notice, Bisping would find himself walking off a movie set to enter into a title bout against old foe Luke Rockhold - his first championship opportunity in more than a decade in the organisation. And three minutes and thirty six seconds later, it was all over, and the first British UFC champion had been crowned.

It has not been all plain sailing as middleweight champion for the Brit, with his reign fraught with accusations of avoiding true contenders like Yoel Romero and Rockhold. This argument gathered some legitimacy when Bisping elected to face a 46-year-old Dan Henderson, ranked 13 in the world, in his first title defence at UFC 204. That decision nearly proved his downfall, with Henderson twice landing his patented H-bomb.

However, unlike in 2009, Bisping recovered from the early set back. Utilising his exceptional cardio and strike rate, he was able to outpoint the aging American, much to the delight of a vociferous home crowd.

As a result, The Count comes to New York City on a five fight winning streak, the longest of his UFC career, and highest since 2007. However, Bisping may not want to know that while he is unbeaten on British shores, he holds only a 6-3 record when fighting in the US. In particular, his record in big fights is not good, losing two title eliminators against Henderson and Sonnen early in his career before knocking out Rockhold last year.

As the cage door closes at Madison Square Garden against GSP, will the pressure get the better of Bisping? Or, if recent comments are to be believed, will he set up a fairytale finish to his career, defending his title at home once again?

Where does Bisping's career rank in Ultimate Fighter alumni? Does he need a win at UFC 217 to soldify his legacy? Let me know your thoughts either in the comments or at @TheWeighInMMA on Twitter.

The Rise and Fall of AKA

It's June 2015. Cain Velasquez, having seen off the challenges of a brutal trilogy with Junior dos Santos, as well as Bigfoot Silva, is legitimately the 'baddest man on the planet'. Daniel Cormier, following the highly publicised implosion of Jon Jones, is fresh off the back of a euphoric light-heavyweight title victory over Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson, while Luke Rockhold awaits the date for his own title fight, at middleweight, against Chris Weidman.

This was the head of the roster at the esteemed American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California. Opened in 1995 by former world kickboxing champion Javier Mendez, the gym has seen a raft of UFC fighters as the sport of MMA progressed, including the likes of pioneers such as Frank Shamrock and BJ Penn. As the gym continued to garner praise and high profile fighters, expansion came naturally. Having opened its Sunnyvale facility in 2008, as well as refurbising its original site in 2011, Mendez made the ambitious move into Asia with the launch of its Thai gym in Phuket. This inevitably drew in a rapidly expanding market, with high profile competitors such as Cung Le, Takanori Gomi, Akihiro Gono and Kid Yamamoto all making the move to the facility.

As the name suggests, it's not just mixed martial artists that come through the doors. The gym has been synonymous with some of the most accomplished names in combat sports, including 2004 Olympic gold medallist in freestyle wrestling, Khadzhimurat Gatsalov and current Glory Heavyweight kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven, with a record of 51-10-1.

Fast forward two and a bit years from that June 2015 nadir, however, and the story is very different. Velasquez, far from being the heavyweight destroyer of his reign, lost the title to Fabricio Werdum and is now struggling to make it into the Octagon after an injury-ridden period, while Rockhold, having defeated Weidman at UFC 194, swiftly dropped the belt in ignominious fashion to a late-notice Michael Bisping at UFC 199.

There was even time for the gym to win and lose its first female UFC championship, with the much maligned Germaine de Randamie using every one of the 25 minutes (and a few seconds more) to defeat Holly Holm for the inaugural featherweight crown at UFC 208, before using every trick and excuse to worm her way out of fighting Cris Cyborg. This led to a public stripping of the title, with the Dutchwoman stating that her main focus was on returning to 135 pounds.

And so that brings us to UFC 214. In the revival of one of the biggest grudge match in MMA history, Daniel Cormier faced off against a returning Jon Jones. Cormier had been unfairly branded a 'fake champion' since he ascended to the throne following Jones' indiscretions, ignoring successful title defences against dangerous opponents in Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson and the opening to the fight highlighted his frustrations. Indeed, Cormier was perhaps ahead on the scorecards going through the first two rounds, and then one instinctive mistake ended it all.

Cormier's tendency to dip his head to the left brought him perfectly into position for Jones to land a devastating head-kick, with the subsequent ground and pound leaving the ex-Olympian unconscious against the cage. This provided the brutal exclamation point on the near-four year rivalry, establishing Jones as the greatest light-heavyweight of all time, and removing the final championship from AKA's grasp.

Big John McCarthy stepping in to protect Cormier marked the first moment that the gym was not home to a champion since December 2012. So where do they go now, and how do they stack up against some of the other premium establishments?

As we look at the current UFC champions, we see an interesting pattern. Despite the wealth of experienced and reputable gyms available to MMA fighters across the world, 40 per cent of UFC champions do not directly associate themselves with the recognised organisations, electing instead to predominantly organise their own training and coaches, often in a location close to them.

Of those that are aligned to a gym, American Top Team is by far the most successful, with three current title holders on their books. Both Amanda Nunes and Joanna Jedrzejczyk are full time members, while Tyron Woodley splits his time between ATT and Duke Roufus' camp in Milwaukee.

For those of you interested about the rest, Jones is a Jackson Winklejohn product, Cody Garbrandt has been brought through the system at Urijah Faber's Alpha Male gym, while Conor McGregor is a long time student of the Straight Blast Gym in Ireland under the tutelage of John Kavanagh.

So if we're seeing more fighters tailor their own training and employ their own coaches, will we ever see organisations like AKA frequently hold a stable of champions? While it seems unlikely that Cormier will be champion again any time soon, the prospects certainly remain for both Velasquez, who is apparently being targeted for a title shot later this year, and Rockhold, who is yet to return from a long layoff with an injury. Outside of that, Khabib Nurmagomedov seems just one fight from a shot at McGregor, while in Bellator, AKA Thailand product Anastasia Yankova appears to be being primed for an inaugural flyweight title bout.

Certainly, Javier Mendez will be hoping that this is simply a quick interlude before another series of champions are crowned at AKA, but we could be in the next evolution of a UFC fighter, moving away from the traditional gym approach. With the rise of the media, as well as fights among teammates becoming more common, the need to make your training as private as possible is gaining traction. Indeed, such is the perceived advantage of the element of surprise, Jon Jones refused to attend the open workouts for UFC 214 to avoid giving away too many clues.

With this in mind, loyalty to a single gym is less likely to have the same appeal to UFC fighters. We have seen the likes of TJ Dillashaw come on leaps and bounds as a result of training across numerous camps, much to the disgust of Urijah Faber, and this is expected to become increasingly popular in the future. While gyms such as AKA may be able to lay at least partial claim to some of the titles in future, I doubt very much that we will see many examples of three full time trainees at a single camp.

MMA Awards 2017: The Case For... Michael Bisping

It's been a busy year for The Count, during which he has achieved feats the majority of the MMA world thought impossible. I'm sure there are occasions where even he may have felt his dreams were going to elude him, but in typical stoic British fashion, he overcame his hurdles and ends the year atop arguably the most stacked division in the UFC. With the top 10 containing the likes of Romero, Weidman, Rockhold, Jacare, Mousasi, Silva and Whittaker, it's a real murderer's row for any potential champion.

If the state of the division plays in Bisping's favour, it makes it all the more impressive that the Brit won all three of his fights over the course of 2016. And it's not like he was fighting mid-carders. Both Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson are MMA legends, and while the argument could be made that they are perhaps not at the same level that they were in years past, these were the battles that gave him the most trouble. And no matter who you're fighting, a title fight is never easy.

In comparison to the other fighters on the shortlist, both Donald Cerrone and Cody Garbrandt have better records at 4-0, but barring the recent title fight for Cody at UFC 207, the level of competition has been the lower end of the top-10 rather than title contenders. Conor McGregor lost spectacularly to Nate Diaz, and while the fight did take place outside the Irishman's natural weight-class, Diaz is hardly a natural welterweight, and had taken the fight on 10 days' notice. Only Stipe Miocic can match the Brit in terms of both record and level of opponents faced, with Arlovski, Werdum and Overeem all of the highest calibre.

However, it was the way in which Bisping won each of his fights that really sets him apart from his competition. If there is one thing we've learnt about The Count this year, it's that he never does it the easy way. He took his title fight against Rockhold on 11 days' notice, walking straight off a movie set to knock the champion out in the first round. Meanwhile, in both the Silva and Henderson fights, the Brit found himself in deep trouble, only to find the inner strength and resilience to not only fight on, but win on both occasions. 

In comparison, Miocic has spent a sum total of eight minutes and nineteen seconds inside the Octagon this year, with none of his fights making it out of the first round. While that is impressive in itself, the heavyweight champ has spent the majority of the time in a dominant position, and despite being clipped by Overeem, has not had to battle through the same adversity as Bisping throughout the year.

The Brit's fighting style has also seen drastic improvement this year, with his now legendary cardio backed up by first class head movement and a left hook that put both Silva and Rockhold on the canvas. In addition, it certainly seems like Bisping has added patience to his game this year. Despite the flailing limbs and antics of Silva designed to distract, Bisping remained calm and composed in the opening rounds, with his only mistake leading to the flying knee that nearly shut his lights off. This same patience has allowed him to mix up his striking and try new techniques, with the switch kick utilised frequently against Henderson a newer move to the arsenal.

There is also the sense that Bisping has had the fight won in the pre-show exchanges, making a name for himself as one of the most notorious trash-talkers in the sport today. While he may not be as charismatic as the original 'Notorious One' McGregor, and perhaps is not as creative with his barbs, there can be little doubt that the Mancunian has a way of getting under his opponent's skin. In the lead up to the Rockhold fight, you could feel the tension and anger radiating off the champion during press engagements, eventually losing his cool with the challenger at the pre-fight conference. With Rockhold emotional and over-confident, Bisping took full advantage to shock the MMA world.

Nevertheless, Matt Hughes famously said "you're not a true champion until you defend your belt". Having campaigned for a revenge rematch against Dan Henderson, who brutally KO'd the Brit at UFC 100, the fact that the bout took place at Bisping's home arena in Manchester added further pressure to that first title fight as champ. While some may argue that home advantage is exactly that, the expectation of the crowd can also be a hindrance. Add in the fact that Bisping had to walk through two H-bombs, and his unanimous decision win was more than a little impressive.

And so, ten years after he entered the Octagon in The Ultimate Fighter, the Brit has beaten the greatest of all time, put an full stop on a bitter and storied rivalry, as well as ending the career of a legend, and claimed UFC gold in his first title fight - and on short notice at that. If that's not deserving of recognition, I'm not sure what is.

As always, share your thoughts with me in the comments section below, or on Twitter @TheWeighInMMA