Michael Bisping, the former UFC middleweight champion and past winner of The Ultimate Fighter, reflected on his long history with the reality series as he wrapped up his third stint as a coach, this time alongside fellow UFC commentator and retired fighter Daniel Cormier. Bisping, who first entered the UFC by winning Season 3 of the show, previously coached opposite Dan Henderson on Season 9 in 2009 and Jason “Mayhem” Miller in 2011. Looking back on the coaches he faced, Bisping said Henderson was “not annoying at all” because of his calm personality, and he praised Cormier as a friend and “the man,” noting that their situation was different from the usual TUF rivalry because neither man was expected to fight the other. Of all his coaching opponents, Bisping said Miller was the most difficult to be around, describing the experience as the one that made him most eager to settle things in the cage. That rivalry ended after the show, with Bisping later losing to Henderson by knockout and defeating Miller by TKO.
Bisping also said the latest crop of athletes on The Ultimate Fighter impressed him with their skill and experience. He pushed back against the idea that he was simply praising the cast for public relations reasons, saying the talent level was genuinely high and that many of the competitors already arrived with deep backgrounds in wrestling, jiu-jitsu and striking. He pointed to one female fighter as a four-time jiu-jitsu world champion and noted that several contestants had been training in mixed martial arts since childhood, making them far more complete than many prospects from earlier eras. In his view, the modern field is packed with athletes who can do “all” aspects of the sport, leaving coaches to focus less on basics and more on refining preparation, conditioning and mental readiness.
Bisping said working with Cormier was still enjoyable, and he joked that the stress of coaching may have even made him lose his hair for a time before joking that it had grown back. The comments underscored both the endurance of Bisping’s connection to The Ultimate Fighter and how much the competition has evolved since he first appeared on the series nearly two decades ago.
