TRAINING: Wake up, eat my oatmeal and hit the gym in the morning and in the evening. Always a mixture of boxing / kickboxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu and sparring. Plus weights and circuit training twice a week..

When and why did you start training for fighting? I’ve been doing martial arts since I was 8 years old, but I started training for mixed martial arts specifically in the summer of 2003.  I had done kickboxing and jiu-jitsu for years, but I took it up as a career in 2003.  I had a lot of jobs but I had never been happy in anything I did. So when I did this, it was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life – I’ve never been happier and so far things have been going really well.

Accomplishments in amateur competition? 1995 Silver medal – world jiu-jitsu championships; five-time British kickboxing champion; God knows how many times British Sport jiu-jitsu champion.

Accomplishments in pro competition? Cage Rage Champion, Cage Warriors Champion, FX3 Champion, TUF 3 Champion, Coach on TUF9 and TUF14.

Ranks in any martial arts styles: None, unless you count 73rd in World Ninja Games 1999 (lack of smoke bomb skills let me down)

Favorite grappling technique: Triangle

Favorite striking technique: Flying knee

Do you have any heroes? I’ve got nothing but respect for the guys at the top of the chain – guys like Chuck Liddell and Georges St-Pierre, and guys like Shogun Rua – I admire his style and I think he’s an exciting fighter.

What does it mean for you to fight in the UFC? It’s a dream come true.  It’s the top organization in the world, and here it is, three years after I started, and I’m here.  This is just a stepping stone into the UFC and hopefully I can go on and have a decent career here.  I still can’t believe it, to be honest – it’s almost surreal.

Did you go to college and if so what degree did you earn?  I went for a little bit and then left.

What was your job before you started fighting? I was an upholsterer, making furniture, when I switched to MMA.  Before that, you name it and I’ve done it. But all the crappy jobs though, nothing too flamboyant.  I was a slaughterman, builder and laborer.

 

• Has won 11 of his last 15 and four straight

• As coach of Team UK on season nine of The Ultimate Fighter against Dan Henderson, produced three of four finalists, and both winners (Ross Pearson and James Wilks). On season 14, coaching against Jason Miller, he produced one of two winners (Diego Brandao).

• Along with Nate Diaz, Chris Holdsworth, Mac Danzig, Amir Sadollah, Diego Brandao, Tony Ferguson and James Wilks, Bisping is one of only eight TUF winners to win all their fights on the show (plus the final) by KO, TKO, or submission.

• Has finished 21 of 30 wins. Didn’t go to a decision until his 2007 win over Matt Hamill.

• 18 wins by KO, three by submission (2 armbar, 1 guillotine)

• The UK’s biggest mixed martial arts star.

• 15-6 as a middleweight

• Nickname comes from his ancestry, where Bisping is considered a Polish Count.

• Now living and training in California.