TUF 14 Finale: Breaking Down Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Michael Bisping

This coming Saturday, two of the UFC's biggest personalities will square off in a five-round non-title fight at the finale for The Ultimate Fighter's 14th season.

Controversial British middleweight Michael Bisping will play the role of host as he welcomes fellow Ultimate Fighter coach Jason "Mayhem" Miller back to the UFC.

This will be Mayhem's first fight in mixed martial arts' biggest promotion since taking on current UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 52 in April of 2005.

For Bisping, this will be his first bout since causing a stir at UFC 127 in February, drawing the ire of fans after spitting at Jorge Rivera's corner following his technical knockout win.

With a lot of bad blood between these two personalities, let's take a look at how this fight breaks down.

Striking

Starting his professional martial arts career as a successful kickboxer in Great Britain, Bisping is a solid, technical striker.

Out of his 21 career victories, 13 have been by way of knockout, with Jorge Rivera his latest victim.  Bisping uses crisp combinations of punches and integrates powerful knees to break down his opponents.

Despite being brutally knocked out by Dan Henderson at UFC 100, Bisping has shown the ability to bounce back from being knocked down on a few occasions, only to come back with a vengeance.  Against both Denis Kang and Yoshihiro Akiyama, Bisping was rocked hard early, but was able to comeback and take both fights.

Mayhem has decent striking with six career knockout victories to his credit.  However, his focus is clearly on grappling and submissions, with his striking usually used as a setup to get the fight to the ground.

Because of this, Bisping has the edge.

Advantage: Bisping

Grappling

Bisping is a decent grappler who may have the edge in the pure wrestling department, possessing takedown skills that might be a little bit better than Mayhem's.

But in terms of overall grappling skills, Miller takes it easily.

In almost all of his fights, Mayhem has shown great ground skills.  He has the ability to control the pace of the fight on the ground and has fluid positional transitions.  Even when he is stuck in a bad position, Miller knows the proper technical way to escape.

Against Jake Shields, Miller showed great grappling skills, escaping the mount on several occasions and showing that he can stand right back up even when he was taken down repeatedly.

Mayhem's control, positional awareness and ability to transition between techniques so fluidly gives him the edge.

Advantage: Miller

Submissions

Of Miller's 24 wins, 14 have come by way of submission.

It is easy to say that this is his method of choice for finishing opponents as Mayhem clearly favors the ground.  Well versed in a plethora of submission moves, Miller seems to favor choke holds, as almost all of his submission wins have come by a variation of a choke.

Bisping has four submission wins to his credit, all prior to his debut with the UFC.

It's clear who has the advantage here.

Advantage: Miller

Strength

Having won The Ultimate Fighter as a light heavyweight, Bisping made the move to middleweight after losing to Rashad Evans at UFC 78.

Physically, he has the edge as Bisping does look bigger than Miller, as seen on the show.

Mayhem has filled out since his days as a welterweight, but Bisping is just a little bit more powerful than Miller.

Advantage: Bisping

Cardio

Neither fighter has shown signs of gassing in their careers, having gone to decisions on multiple occasions with no real problems with their cardio.

Miller has gone five rounds before in a grappling-heavy affair against Jake Shields for the Strikeforce middleweight title in 2009.

It will be interesting to see how these two respond to a five-round fight and if their cardio will hold up.

Advantage: Even

Experience

Both Bisping and Miller are two of the most experienced fighters in the division.

Miller has fought all around the world in almost every promotion, taking on some of the biggest names in and outside of the UFC.

With bouts against Ronaldo Souza, Georges St-Pierre, Jake Shields, Chael Sonnen, Robbie Lawler and Kazushi Sakuraba, Miller has a wealth of experience to draw from.

However, Bisping has faced some of the upper echelon in the UFC, including Matt Hamill, Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson, Chris Leben, Wanderlei Silva, Jorge Rivera and Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Although lacking the international experience of Miller as well as experience in title fights, Bisping gets a slight edge because of the names he's faced in the UFC as well as for his time earlier in life as a professional kickboxer.

Advantage: Bisping

Variables

Bisping: "The Count" will definitely look to keep the fight standing as Miller has a clear edge on the ground.  Not having to worry about a powerful right hand or a flurry of strikes, Bisping can concentrate on picking Mayhem apart.  If his takedown defense is on point, the Bisping has a shot at taking this fight.

Miller: The opposite is obviously true for Mayhem.  Take the fight to the ground and submit.  Having only been knocked out once via Frank Trigg's soccer kicks (which he won't have to worry about in the UFC), Miller's chin should be able to hold up against Bisping.

Another factor for Miller is ring rust, as he has not fought since September of last year.  It will be interesting to see how that, combined with his return to the UFC, will affect his psyche.

Prediction

Bisping has never really fought a submission artist with as much depth as Mayhem.

Most of his previous opponents were not as well versed in Brazilian jiu-jitsu so it will be interesting to see how he can contend with that aspect of the game.

Because of this, I believe that Miller will be able to exploit an aspect of Bisping's game that has not been seen as of late.  If he can get the fight to the ground, Miller should have no problem taking this bout.

Prediction: Miller via submission (third round).

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