Filed under: UFC
The main event of Saturday night's Ultimate Fighter Finale featured Jason "Mayhem" Miller getting a bully beatdown, as Michael Bisping dominated the second round before finishing the fight with a technical knockout in the third.Bisping and Miller had coached against each other on this season of The Ultimate Fighter and developed a rivalry, but it wasn't much of a rivalry in the Octagon on Saturday night: Although Miller got off to a fast start, Bisping took it to Miller as the fight wore on and won it handily.
"He's a tough son of a gun," Bisping said of Miller afterward. "I'm here to entertain. I think me and Jason put on a fantastic season of The Ultimate Fighter. ... I'm proud to be part of The Ultimate Fighter, proud to be part of the UFC."
More Coverage: TUF 14 Finale Results | Michael Bisping vs. Mayhem Miller Live Blog
Miller came out swinging and hit Bisping hard in the initial exchanges in the first round, and Miller got exactly what he wanted a couple minutes into the round: He took Bisping down and mounted him against the cage, pinning Bisping's legs together with a triangle. However, Miller wasn't able to do much with his advantageous position and Bisping eventually got back to his feet. It was a good first round for Miller, although he missed an opportunity to capitalize on the ground.
The second round was another story altogether, as Bisping took complete control in the stand-up, peppering Miller's face with punches and turning his face into a bruised, bloody mess. Miller tried to act like he wasn't hurt and even dropped his hands to challenge Bisping to keep bringing it, but it was clear that Bisping was hurting Miller with punches. Late in the round Bisping started to mix in knees, and at the end of the round Bisping knocked Miller down, jumped on top of him and was close to finishing him with elbows when the horn sounded.
And then in the third Bisping really went to work, hitting Miller with even more punches and then following Miller to the ground when Miller attempted a takedown. Bisping hammered away at Miller, beat on him with punches and elbows, and it was finally knees to the body that led referee Steve Mazzagatti to stop the fight.
The win improves Bisping's record to 22-3. Miller falls to 23-8, and he told the fans afterward that he did all he could against a tough opponent.
"I trained really hard for this fight," Miller said. "I'm sorry, guys, I got tired. I can't make any excuses about it. For all the boos Michael Bisping gets, as a fighter he deserves your applause."
Bisping deserved plenty of applause for what he did on Saturday.
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