(Step 1: Combine equal parts Rage virus and Mr. Clean’s DNA. Step 2. ????????? Step 3. Profit.) 

We don’t mean to sound harsh, but come October 13th, the UFC will more than likely be severing its ties with 9-1 prospect Joey Gambino. As was the case with guys like Antonio Silva and the poor saps who made it onto our “Cursed From Birth” list, it seems that the UFC  doesn’t want to give “The Raging Warrior” a rebound match or a chance to develop in the organization, and will sit idly by as he is pummeled into mincemeat on two separate occasions.

We don’t want to write the guy off (but are doing exactly that), but to put it simply, Gambino was basically filleted then submitted by TUF 14 veteran Steve Siler in his UFC debut at UFC on FX 4. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, now he’s been booked to face not only the winner of that season in his sophomore appearance, but the man who absolutely annihilated Siler (among others) in Diego Brandao. The world is truly an unjust place.

Then again, it’s not like Brandao has looked bulletproof since entering the UFC. He will also be looking to bounce back from a loss, which came at the hands of Darren Elkins at UFC 146. Despite stomping Elkins in the first round, Brandao looked visibly sluggish in the second and third, allowing Elkins to use his superior grappling to keep Brandao on the bottom en route to a unanimous decision loss. So maybe, just maybe, Gambino stands a chance here.

But probably not.

Check out a shoddily filmed video of Gambino’s UFC 146 bout with Siler after the jump and let us know if you agree or disagree. 

When SPIKE TV announced that it had hired onetime backyard brawler-turned UFC fighter Kimbo Slice to host the first instalment of its The Ultimate Fighter recap show, which will air opposite FX’s new live incarnation of the show, it looked like they may have briefly gotten the upper hand in the battle against their ex partners at Zuffa.

Leave it to Dana White and Co. to one-up the competition by trying to fuck them worse than they’ve ever been fucked before.

Somehow (okay, it was probably dollar signs and decimal points) FX convinced the gold grill-wearing Ultimate Fighter alumnus to cut a promo for TUF Live, convincing viewers to watch the new series, — a somewhat odd request, considering it runs at the same time as Kimbo’s “The Ultimate Fighter Fridays” premiere. In his defense, he could have filmed the spot before SPIKE hired him, but you would think he would have mentioned it to them beforehand to avoid looking like a fool, you know, more than he did bobbing all over shadowboxing while doing the promo.

Remember when we posted that photo of Frankie Edgar getting his BMW M5 “towed” away by repo men? Well, it turns out that the mastermind behind the prank, TUF 14′s Akira Corassani, even went as far as to hire actors hooked up with some Mission Impossible-esque camera glasses to capture the whole thing on video. The man is like the Swedish Ashton Kutcher. But although he’s come a long way from shaving castmates hair in their sleep, he will never match the whip-it gag Kelso managed to pull on Demi Moore a couple weeks ago. That was like the Thomas Crown Affair of modern day pranks.

(Apparently Corassani treats tapping the same way he deals with flipping to the wrong page of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Novel. Gif via ZombieProphet at IronForgesIron.)

This should come as no surprise, but none other than TUF 14 alum and all around jackwagon Akira Corassani has been booked to take on British striker Jason Young at the UFC’s inaugural trip to Sweden for its second UFC on FUEL event. Corassani, a Swedish born (the streets, specifically) Muay Thai striker, has trained with the likes of Siyar Bahadurzada, Frankie Edgar, and Eddie Alvarez, and made a name for himself on this past season of The Ultimate Fighter, bringing a combination of power punches and Jersey Shore-like swagger to the house before being choked into wonderland by eventual runner-up Dennis Bermudez in the semifinals.

Young, who has dropped a couple of close decisions to Dustin Poirier and Michihiro Omigawa in his octagon run, will likely be fighting for his job when he takes on Corassani. A word to the wise Jason: steer clear of the leg-locks on this one.

(Success: Getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do something you’d gladly do for free. Photo via UFC.com)

It wasn’t enough that Michael Bisping scored a mouth-shutting TKO victory over Jason Miller at the TUF 14 Finale, in which he out-struck Mayhem 150-38. Bisping also had the pleasure of earning nearly ten times as much cash as his rival. MMA Junkie released the salary list from Saturday’s TUF 14 Finale, which shows that the Count’s paycheck ate up 49% of the card’s $868,000 payroll (including disclosed bonuses). The numbers are below. According to our sources, Marcus Brimage already spent his sixteen grand on revolting sex acts.

Michael Bisping: $425,000 (includes $150,000 win bonus)
def. Jason “Mayhem” Miller: $45,000

Diego Brandao: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Dennis Bermudez: $8,000

Tebowing: None of you are doing it right.

Another season of The Ultimate Fighter has come and gone, and we’re not certain what the future holds for it. The entire format of the show we knew and loved, then decided to ignore for a while, then were all like “Dude there’s no way Kimbo gets past Roy Nelson”, then went back to ignoring it when we were proven right, then decided “Well maybe Mayhem will be fun to watch” is about to change yet again. Raise your hand if you got lost during that last sentence.

If there’s one thing we understand at Cage Potato, it’s consistency. No matter how much the show changes, we’ll be around to give you our opinions on what to do with the finale’s biggest names. So let’s get to it, shall we?

Michael Bisping: Since losing to Wanderlei Silva back at UFC 110, Michael Bisping has gone 4-0 and established himself as a Top Ten Middleweight. Or at least that’s what I keep hearing, even though the guys he’s defeated in that time period have been on the lower to middle end of the middleweight division. In his post fight-interview with Ariel Helwani, Bisping hinted that his next fight has already been booked, and it’s against someone he hasn’t fought before. A fight against Alan Belcher makes sense, and should establish the winner as a legitimate contender in the middleweight division. Don’t act too surprised if the UFC uses Bisping as a litmus test for 7-0 (3-0 UFC) prospect Chris Weidman, either.

(“You maaaad, you maaaaad, you maaaaad!” Photo via MMAMania)

Tonight, TUF as we know it comes to an end. Before us lies a shadowy, uncertain world of live fights aired on F/X on Friday nights and international spin-offs. But no matter what comes next, you can feel secure in the fact that we’ll still be complaining about the show just as much as we always have, because we know no other way to live.

Welcome, friends, to our liveblog of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller Finale. On the menu this evening — Diego Brandao and Dennis Bermudez battle to decide the first featherweight TUF winner in UFC history, while John Dodson and TJ Dillashaw do the same for the bantamweights. Plus, heavy-handed TUF 13 winner Tony Ferguson steps up against seasoned vet Yves Edwards, and in the main event, Michael Bisping looks to remove the smirk off the face of his latest rival, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who will be making his first Octagon appearance in over six years.

Round-by-round results from the TUF 14 Finale main card on Spike TV will be piling up after the jump beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/LesnarMMA)

- The Muppets “Mahna Mahna” Came from a 60s Italian Porno (FilmDrunk)

- The Complete History of Athletes Posing for Playboy (Complex)

- Work Out Like Ben Askren (MuscleProdigy)

- TUF Origins Part One (SI)

- Kelly Brook Has a New Calendar and It’s Totally Sports-Related (WithLeather)

- TUF 14 Finalist John Dodson Delivers KOs With a Smile (Clutch.MTV)

- Your Phone Company is Tracking Everything You’ve Been Doing (AskMen)

- How to Handle a Break-Up if You’re a Friend Caught in Between (TheRugged)

- The 5 Worst Latin Dictators of the 20th Century (TuVez)

- 9 Types of Drunk People and Which One You May Be (Guyism)

- 7 Motion Capture Performances Worthy of a Razzie  (ScreenJunkies)

- Surprisingly Delicious Thanksgiving Leftovers (MadeMan)

- Chael Sounds Off On Anderson (BleacherReport)

- Desperate Ways to Make Money for the Holidays (HolyTaco)

- Eight Released in UFC’s Latest Round of Cuts (FightersOnly)

- Anderson Silva: Nothing to Say About Chael Sonnen (LowKick)

- Victim” Raider’s McClain Put a Gun to My Head (ScoresReport)

(Brandao vs. Casteel @ Evolution 1, 10/30/10. Fight begins at the 1:58 mark and ends 40 seconds later. The ref is kind of a dick afterwards. Props: landsharkian)

As Johnny Bedford observed on Wednesday, TUF 14 featherweight finalist Diego Brandao is not unbeatable; in fact, he entered the reality show with a journeyman’s record of 13-7. But when he’s on his game, he’s as dangerous a fighter as you’ll ever see. Here’s a video from Brandao’s pre-UFC career, in which he starches Michael Casteel with a counter right hook within the first minute of their fight. It’s that kind of power that could give Dennis Bermudez serious headaches when they meet up at the finale show tomorrow night in Las Vegas. Was Michael Bisping right to predict future UFC stardom for the Madman from Manaus?

(Gentlemen, please. You can *both* eat dicks. / GIF via IronForgesIron)

After a compact ten-episode run, Spike TV’s final season of The Ultimate Fighter ended last night. So what did we learn? Repeating short phrases over and over again gives them more rhetorical power. “Fufessional” is just another word for dumbass. Karma visits upon every asshole.

But before we put this sumbitch to bed, we have two more semi-final fights to get through. John “The Snitchin’ Magician” Dodson is training for his bantamweight face-off with teammate Johnny Bedford, while Bedford blatantly creeps on him the whole time. Coach Mayhem decides he won’t corner either man, leaving that responsibility up to the assistant coaches.

Says Dodson: “I only got taken down once, by Prince [John Albert], and I’m never going to get taken down again.” But taking Lil’ John down is, in fact, Bedford’s gameplan. And he doesn’t think Dodson has the power to hurt him. Dodson giggles and poses in the face-off after weigh-ins. Once again, we marvel at how small this man is, and how he should really be competing at 125, if such a division existed in the UFC. And once again, his size disadvantage probably won’t matter one damn bit.

(More proof that being on the right side of any photo immediately makes Bisping fall asleep. / Photo via CombatLifestyle)

While preparing for this Saturday’s TUF 14 Finale grudge match against Michael Bisping, Jason Miller recently wrote the following on his website:

“I just want everyone to understand how fricken hard I am training. I have never trained this hard or smart for a fight in my life. In ironic twist news- I’m totally getting reimbursed for John Dodson’s insubordination. I’m not even asking about Michael’s training, but for some reason all the friends that I’ve had for years that are working with him seem to be inclined to tell me about his camp and what he’s doing. I don’t want or need this info, I’m going to beat him regardless, just found it interesting. Pretty karmic.”

Hmm. Michael Bisping’s TUF 14 assistant coaches Tiki Ghosn and Rob McCullough train in the same Huntington Beach circles as Miller — could they be moles infiltrating the Brit’s camp in the name of American patriotism? Or is Mayhem just trying to get in the Count’s head? Bisping is convinced that it’s the latter, telling InsideMMA:

(Video courtesy of YouTube/RangerUpVideo)

We’ve considered inviting the think lab at Ranger Up Clothing if they’d consider coming to work for us, but we didn’t for fear that they’d laugh at us and punch us in the face just for asking.

At least we’ve still got their hilarious pre-fight smack talk videos.

With The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale just a couple weeks away, many of us have been wondering how prepared Jason Miller was for his return to the UFC, especially considering that he hasn’t truly faced legitimate competition since his unanimous decision loss to Jake Shields just over 2 years ago. Aaron Tru of TruMMA was able to catch up with the Team Mayhem coach recently, and aside from playing a good old fashioned game of “Sactap,” was able to achieve a rather serious conversation with Miller, at one point even discussing the WEC and Strikeforce veteran’s seriousness (or lack thereof) when it comes to training. And “Mayhem” was quick to set things straight for those doubters out there:

On his training camp: “[Training] is going fantastic. I’m really surprised. This is the first camp that I’ve got a super serious camp in my entire career, and I’m an old damn man by fighter’s standards. It feels awesome. I’ve never been in such good shape and I’ve never had such a good mental focus going into a fight. It’s really refreshing. I was like, ‘Oh, this is what training camp is supposed to be like.’”

On how serious he takes his training: “The reason I do this sport, the reason I got into this career, was because I enjoy going to a padded room where I can act as crazy as I want and it’s not an institution. I think you can train seriously and still have a lot of fun. Even on The Ultimate Fighter, here at Reign Training Center, even going back to high school wrestling, I was always like the funny guy on the team and I feel like it keeps morale up.”

It’s hard to disagree with Miller, who has shown a true knack for not only coaching but connecting with his team on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, whereas Team Bisping seemingly can’t have a sparring session that doesn’t erupt into a brawl at some point.

Check out some more highlights from the interview after the jump. 

(It’s funny until you realize that his little dog is in that backpack. And then it’s absolutely hilarious. GIF via IronForgesIron)

We’re heading into the home stretch of TUF 14: Team Asshole vs. Team Goofball, and the bloom is definitely off the rose. At this point, I just want to see the coaches settle their beef at the finale show next month. I’d also like to see Diego Brandao whip some more ass. Other than that, I’m only watching/writing this out of habit. How many dumb pranks can grown men can play on each other? Even when they involve Mariachi bands, it’s just…I don’t know. There are more important things happening in our country right now.

The TUF house has reached a Heathers-level of cliquey-ness. You got the Bible thumpers, the card players, and the dudes with anger issues/crazy hair/dark skin. And hey, you know who Akira Corassani doesn’t like? That bitch-ass Bryan Caraway. “He’s like a little girl,” Akira says. “He wakes up in the morning, he takes like 25 minutes to make his hair.”

So, Akira sneaks into Bryan’s bedroom in the middle of the night and shaves off a piece of his hair. Caraway chases him to an upstairs balcony, where Akira is giggling with his bros. Instead of brawling with the whole gang, Bryan threatens non-specific vengeance sometime in the future. “Y’know, what we do in life echoes in eternity, and this right here I’m going to laugh about my whole life,” Akira says, COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT OF GLADIATOR. Look, spoiler alert, Akira gets choked out at the end of this episode and it’s awesome. Sorry guys, I had to.

(Round two of Dillashaw vs. Delorme, via IronForgesIron)

Roland Delorme’s foot is still as red and lumpy as Bruce Vilanch’s face. It hurts like a bitch, but at least he can’t transmit it to anybody else, whatever it is. And there’s still a good chance he’ll be cleared to fight, so fingers crossed.

Jason Miller brings in former Chute Boxe coach Rafael Cordeiro — who currently trains Mayhem at Kings MMA in Huntington Beach — to work with the Team Miller guys on striking drills. But Michael Bisping ups the ante, bringing in Tito Ortiz — his coach on TUF 3 — for a ground-and-pound clinic. “It’s not about the money or fame,” Ortiz tells the blue team. “It’s about us being men and seeing who’s the baddest guy alive.” Marcus Brimage is star-struck: “I was like, wow…that’s a big fucking head!”

Brimage and Akira Corassani are still harping on the fact that TJ Dillashaw asked to fight Delorme instead of Dodson, looking for an easy road to the bantamweight semi-finals. So Akira and Diego Brandao hatch a plan to get even with TJ. It’s a pretty simple plan, really — they plan to beat the shit out of him at practice.

(Brandao vs. Siler. Fight starts at the 1:09 mark. Props: IronForgesIron)

After the fiasco that followed the Akira/Neace fight last week, Team Mayhem coach Ryan Parsons wants to give Michael Bisping a piece of his mind. “You’re the kind of guy that can’t keep his motherfucking mouth shut,” Parsons tells him. “Which is why you’re the most hated fighter in the UFC. I get it now.”

“I earn a lot more money than you, motherfucker,” Bisping says, clearly a 1%’er.

“Go spit on somebody,” Parsons says. And so on. Bisping feels that Team Miller should take their loss like men, and that Parsons should fuck off.

The next fight has already been announced as Diego Brandao (Bisping’s #1 featherweight) vs. Steven Siler (Miller’s #4). Siler thinks that people don’t believe in his skills, but Team Bisping isn’t taking him lightly, especially because Brandao’s cardio is a little lacking during practice. Still, Bisping is excited to see what the half-crazy Brazilian can do.

And awww, Jason Miller’s dog is at the weigh-ins.

(The end of Dustin Neace vs. Akira Corassani…OR WAS IT?? Gif props: IronForgesIron)

After Dustin Pague’s victory last week — which brought Team Mayhem up 4-0 on the scorecard, FYI — Dustin asks his team if they could do a quick “Glory to God” cheer, which Jason Miller actually participates in, even though he’s a die-hard atheist who usually loves to mess with religious people. That just shows what kind of coach Miller is. He let his fighter have his moment, and he didn’t even make Pague participate in a “Glory to Science” cheer afterwards.

As the fighters return to their prep-rooms, Diego Brandao is in Murderous Brazilian Mode (what else is new), and starts to yell at Steve Siler for some reason. “I’m gonna take you head off, bidge!”, etc. Michael Bisping explains that he’s unstable and just wants to fight. Fortunately, he’s in a welcoming environment for that sort of thing.

Mayhem gives Dustin Neace a cowboy hat with a B on it, which stands for “Beast,” his nickname. Josh Ferguson — previously known as “the dude in the cowboy hat” — lays down accusations of swagger-jackin’. (“Come on man, I got one thing going for me here, and you gotta rip it off?”) Oddly enough, Ferguson’s hat also has a ‘B’ on it, even though his nickname doesn’t start with that letter. Unless one of you knows its actual significance, I’m just going to assume it stands for “bumpkin.”

Bisping helps Stephan Bass prepare for a fight by pounding on him all day, like you do. GIFProps: ZombieProphet/IFI

It’s double-header week, and there’s no time wasted with extraneous detail — we’re right into discussion of the second featherweight fight picks. Jon Dodson is still insider trading with his boys on Team Death Leperkon Lepracon Leapercorn Lucky Charms Mascots, and Louis Gaudinot passes along the scoop: Miller will announce Dennis Bermudez (Miller’s #1) versus Stephan Bass (Bisping’s #4). Bisping celebrates this intelligence coup by assigning Bass triple practice time. Most of this practice time consists of beating up Bass, blacking his eye in the process.

For the actual fight announcement, Bisping is so confident in his coaching to this point that he feels no need to actually attend the meeting. Miller puts a jersey on a sparring dummy and does an Australian accent, which is kinda close if you don’t really think about it. He goes on to confirm the fight we all already knew was coming.

TUF 14 Neace Akira – Watch MoreFunny Videos
(Is there an echo in here, an echo in here?)

Jason Miller saunters into the TUF gym and dumps an armful of long, foam tubes. “Today we’re going to learn the first rule of the Octagon,” he says. “Defend yourself at all times.” He grabs one of the tubes and starts whipping the fighter closest to him. The gym erupts into a orgy of swinging tubes and high-pitched screams. Yes, my children. Embrace the Mayhem.

Meanwhile, Coach Michael Bisping is working on some payback for last week’s tire prank. He and his lackeys remove the tires from Mayhem’s car and arrange them in the Team Miller warm-up room, like so many throw-pillows. “Son of a bitch…ah, you limey,” Miller says when he discovers them. But it gives him a good laugh. Game recognize game, I guess.

(Hmm. Maybe we should do a video list on the Greatest TUF Pranks of All Time. Or the Worst ones. One of the two. If it’s a slow news day, look out for it.)

(That’s gangsta. For more gifs from episode 2, check out IronForgesIron.)

As the 16 fighters who survived the elimination round move into the TUF house, some of them hump each other excitedly, while others bury their anxiety in barbecue chicken. Here’s Louis Gaudinot, the green-haired guy: “Dana said the house is 15,000 square feet, but it’ll feel really small; it’s gonna feel like a closet. And I’m already feeling that.” Really? Already? Bro, you haven’t even dropped your bags yet.

After huddling with their assistants to analyze the fighters, coaches Bisping and Mayhem arrive for team selections. The coin-flip lands in Bisping’s favor after a dramatic roll across the room. The Count decides to take first fighter-selection rather than first fight-pick. As we all know, that’s a strategic blunder on par with getting involved in a land war in Asia. The teams break down like this…

Bantanweights
Team Bisping: Louis Gaudinot, TJ Dillashaw, John Albert, Josh Ferguson
Team Miller: John Dodson, Johnny Bedford, Dustin Pague, Roland Delorme

(Video courtesy of YouTube/bobbycavian)

Michael Bisping was interviewed by Bobby Cavian from MMANYTT last week after the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 14 and the slightly tipsy UFC middleweight, although *slightly* less abrasive than usual, was pretty much the exact type of guy his opposing coach, Jason “Mayhem” Miller would have taught a lesson to on Bully Beatdown.

From calling Cavian “a Swedish Hobbit” and insulting his attire to pushing him around and slapping him in the face, Bisping seemed to take pages out of “Rampage” and Forrest Griffin’s playbook for the Q&A session. He better hope he doesn’t meet up with Dan Henderson on the MTV show if Mayhem shows up at his door with Cavian to throw down the gauntlet.

(It seems that local shows have corned the market on doppelganger MMA as well.) 

Quite possibly the most dangerous proving ground in all of mixed martial arts, the local MMA show combines the blood-soaked glory of the big leagues with the fluorescent lighting and seating arrangements of your high school gymnasium or neighborhood watering hole. Often featuring announcers that would make Mauro Ranallo blush and referees that would be laughed off stage by Cecil Peoples, the local show never ceases to be entertaining, as well as a place where some of the sport’s finest talents build their resumes and skill sets. And with all the unknown prospects (not to mention knockouts) we were treated to with last night’s season opener of The Ultimate Fighter 14, I figured I’d surf the web and find eight of the localest, bar-room-brawlingest, shakiest-cameraist knockouts out there for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

-Danga

1. “That’s gunna leave a mark” 

(Hmm, where have we seen that before? For more GIFs from the episode, visit IronForgesIron.)

Last night on the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller, 16 bantamweights and 16 featherweights entered the cold confines of the Mandalay Bay Events Center, fighting for a chance to become one of the last two Ultimate Fighter winners in Spike TV history. As promised, these little bastards came to bang. Only one of them had hair that you could describe as “crazy,” and even that dude looked like he could be an early front-runner.

As you already know, two-time TUF veteran Michael Bisping is coaching alongside cable TV personality/submission specialist Jason “Mayhem” Miller. Even on day one, while they’re both watching the elimination fights at cageside, Miller is already on Bisping’s nerves, although it’s not exactly clear why that is. It’ll take a very special man to penetrate Michael’s stony heart, and only he shall be known as the true king.

Anyway, 16 fights, two hours. Let’s run through it.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

Just a friendly reminder that the final Spike TV-affiliated season of The Ultimate Fighter — TUF 14 kicks off tonight at 9:00 pm ET. Judging by the clip above, Jason Miller’s role on the show is to bug the shit out of perma-heel Michael Bisping and he’s doing a bang-up job of it.

He definitely seems to be getting under the skin of “The Count,” which explains why the cocky Brit has made no secret of the fact that he despises ”Mayhem”  in any of the interviews he’s done about his coaching gig on the show. At least they’ll get the opportunity to hug it out in December.

This season features bantamweights and featherweights and tonight’s episode will have all 16 qualifier bouts between the final 32 selected to fight for the remaining 16 beds in the TUF house.

(Props: KnuckleGame via Fightlinker)

Ultimate Fighter 14 coaches Michael Bisping and Jason Miller took shots at each other for over 30 minutes at a media call held yesterday to pump up the show. Here’s how the conversation ended (skip to the 35:28 mark to hear it):

Miller: [Bisping's] coaching staff are a lot of guys that I trained with back in the day and [I] moved on because they weren’t up to par for what I needed. So that just goes to show you Mike’s level of coaching staff.

Bisping: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’d just like to elaborate that Jason brought a chiropractor as one of his staff. He refers to himself as a doctor, but we all know a chiropractor isn’t a doctor, and certainly isn’t an MMA coach. But good for crackin’ your back.

The 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter kicks off next week, and Spike has released this eight-minute preview to give you a lil’ taste — and already, we can see it’s not business as usual. TUF 14‘s much-ballyhooed elimination fights took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, which is quite a step up from the cheaply-assembled TV set the guys usually fight in. For the first time in TUF history, viewers will be able to vote on the season’s best knockout, submission, and fight, with the recipients all scoring $25,000 checks at the TUF 14 finale. Also, the cast includes a pair of brothers, bantamweights Josh and BJ Ferguson. Tune in next Wednesday at 9 p.m. to see how it all shakes out…

(Things got so bad that the two had to be kept in permanent split-screen. / Image via GalsGuide)

You guys aren’t going to believe this, but Michael Bisping and Jason Miller didn’t become best friends during the taping of The Ultimate Fighter 14. With the new season kicking off next Wednesday night, Bisping went on The MMA Hour for a little promo work, and spent a good chunk of his appearance talking about how annoying Mayhem was on set. Some notable quotes:

“[There was] a bit of friction between me and Miller, just a little bit, ups and downs. At the start of the season I thought he was an OK guy. By the end of the season I wanted to kill him. Fortunately, December 3, I’ll get that opportunity.”

“Yeah, I mean he tried to [get under my skin], unfortunately Miller’s mouth is bigger than his brain, so he didn’t do a very good job of it. He tried to do it a few times, but they were really quite pitiful…I definitely get the upper hand throughout the entire season. I’m not talking about the fights, I’m just talking about the one-on-one interaction between me and Miller. I feel he crossed the line a few times, there were a few instances that he definitely crossed the line, so come December 3rd, I’m looking forward to making him pay for his words and pay for his disrespect.”

(Props: Spike)

Spike TV has released the full cast of TUF 14, which premieres September 21st on Spike. The 32-man bracket features a diverse spread of talent including WEC vets looking for a comeback (Bryan Caraway, Micah Miller), well-known prospects from outside the Zuffa umbrella (Matt Jaggers, Eric Marriott), up-and-comers from notable camps (Jackson MMA’s John Dodson, Cesar Gracie’s Josh Clopton), and total unknowns (Roland Delorme? Bryson Wailehua-Hansen?).

Episode 1 of ‘Team Bisping vs. Team Mayhem‘ is a two-hour orgy of elimination-round fights, in which the 32 featherweight and bantamweight hopefuls will be slashed down to 16. Mark it on your calendars, and check out the full list of names after the jump.

Jason Miller clearly knows what’s expected of him in this quickie promo for The Ultimate Fighter 14. Put a camera in front of the dude, and suddenly he hates Michael Bisping‘s stupid accent and funny-looking face. Fair enough. Meanwhile, the Count calls Mayhem the class clown. Yep. Not exactly Sonnen-level eloquence, but it’ll surely be a step up from last season, in which Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos managed to make it through ten episodes without ever speaking to each other. Man, remember how awful that season was? So awful.

After the jump: The Brazilian trailer for UFC 134, which manages to be understated and evocative despite what apppears to be a very random F-bomb at the 0:09 mark.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ncaasteve)

Steve Cofield caught up to TUF 14 coach Michael Bisping recently during a break from taping the SPIKE TV reality series, and the cocky Brit expressed his dissentient opinion that his opposing coach on the show, Jason “Mayhem” Miller is not a worthy opponent.

“I can fully understand it. The guy’s obviously….he does Bully Beatdown. He does a TV show, so he’s got a bit of got a bit of a crossover appeal, if you will, but I wasn’t overly excited that he’s going to be my next fight. I wanted somebody like Chael Sonnen or possibly the winner of [Yushin] Okami and Anderson [Silva] — you know, somebody of that stature in the middleweight division,” Bisping explained matter-of-factly. “But I can understand from a business perspective the UFC’s decision to do…you know, to give Mayhem the shot. It’s a double-edged sword. It will be good for the show, but it wasn’t the opponent I wanted though.”