Michael Bisping

By Kelsey Mowatt

Cole Miller will take on Alex Caceres at UFC 199 this Saturday, but after his fight’s done, it sounds like “Magrinho” will be paying close attention to the main event.

In the card’s headliner, Michael Bisping will take on middleweight champ Luke Rockhold, in what will be second time they’ve fought. Back in November, 2014, Rockhold stunned Bisping with a second round, head kick, and finished the fight with a guillotine. Since then, however, Bisping has won three straight fights, which includes a February win over the legendary Anderson Silva. As a result, the middleweight was on the UFC’s short list for a replacement, when Chris Weidman recently went down with a neck injury.

Anyone who has followed the career of Bisping, knows that the rugged vet has had plenty of memorable moments, but also several notable setbacks. They also understand that the brash fighter is one of the more polarizing fans in the sport. Recently Miller appeared on Full Contact Fighter Radio, and while discussing Saturday’s main event, the featherweight said this about Bisping:

“I have an enormous amount of respect for him,” Miller said about the British star. “I think when you’re getting more of the personalities of fighters, when they’re first coming in, it’s easy to identify Bisping as the heel and not like him. But when you look at him from a fighter’s perspective, and you start looking at how he fights, and how he deals with loss, I think that how he deals with loss is the most impressive thing about him.”

Over the years, Bisping has had title shot runs halted by the likes of Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson, and Chael Sonnen, but the veteran has always rallied to remain a top contender. Case in point, the 37 year-old has yet to be defeated in consecutive fights.

“When he loses, and when he comes back in that next fight, you don’t see a single hole where he had it before,” added Miller. “Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s like whatever gap he was missing in that previous fight that might have cost him that loss, not only do you not see that happen in the next fight, you don’t ever see that in his fight again.”

“So, I feel like he closes up his holes pretty well and I feel like he’s constantly working to make himself better, and I have a lot of respect for that, and, he’s always in shape. I think you can’t ever count out a guy who is always in shape, no matter what.”

Miller, meanwhile, will be competing for the first time since December, when his bout with Jim Alers was declared a no-contest. Miller incurred an accidental eye poke and was unable to continue due to the injury he sustained.