THE CANADIAN PRESS
It’s a good week for Michael (The Count) Bisping on “The Ultimate Fighter.”
In the episode of the MMA reality TV show that aired Wednesday, the English middleweight wins US$10,000 in an air hockey challenge with rival coach Jason (Mayhem) Miller.
Bisping bantamweight T.J. Dillashaw then dominates Team Miller fighter Dustin Pague en route to a three-round decision in the 135-pound semifinal.
“He’s the whole package,” Bisping says of Dillashaw, who trains with former WEC champion Urijah Faber at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento.
Dillashaw will meet either Johnny Bedford or John Dodson, both Team Miller fighters, in the live finale Dec. 3 in Las Vegas.
The win is the fourth in 10 fights for Team Bisping, but the two coaches are tied 1-1 in semifinal bouts.
Dillashaw, a superior wrestler, takes Pague down early in the first round and scores with some ground and pound before Pague finally gets to his feet with time running out. Pague catches Dillashaw with a nasty knee to the face as the round ends but Dillashaw shrugs it off.
It’s more of the same in the second, with Pague struggling on the mat although he does cut Dillashaw with a strike from his back.
Dillashaw cuts open Pague with a strike early in the third and takes him down again, roughing him up on the ground.
The judges score it 30-36, 30-27, 30-26 for Dillashaw, who consoles Pague after the fight.
“God’s will was done today,” said the deeply religious Pague. “Congratulations to T.J. He’s a tough dude, he’s going to do very well in the UFC and wherever he goes.”
Pague choked out green-haired Louis Gaudinot, Bisping’s first bantamweight pick, in his previous fight.
Miller featherweight Dennis (The Menace) Bermudez has already advanced to the 145-pound final. He will meet either Bryan Caraway (Team Miller) or Brazilian dynamo Diego Brandao (Bisping).
In the coaches’ challenge on an open-air hotel balcony high above Las Vegas, Bisping collects a thick bundle of cash for a 7-1, 7-4, 5-7, 7-4 air hockey win. His team members earn $1,500 each.
“To be honest with you, they both suck,” UFC president Dana White says of the coaches’ air hockey prowess,
Bisping gets some comeuppance for talking smack and celebrating the win atop the air hockey table when he loses his footing getting down and hits the ground.
“One minute you’re celebrating ‘I’m the king of the world’ and then you’re laying on your ass looking like a jackass in front of million of people on television,” says a smiling White.
Says Bisping: “The $10,000 took the sting out of the fall.”
Miller adds: “The real coaches’ challenge is on Dec. 3.”
That’s when the two coaches face off in the cage.
Pague, meanwhile, picks up $60 from Miller back at the house for eating a bug or two.
“Show me the money and I’ll eat a cockroach,” Pague says.
He’s not as cheerful after eating a beetle that feels like “biting into a rock.”
“I’m actually really surprised I did that because I am freaked out by spiders and crawly things. And I put them in my mouth and I chewed on them. What is wrong with me?”
Pague picks up some karma points by handing some fruit and an encouraging note to a homeless man his team sees every day en route to training.
“Hopefully it impacts him somehow and fill his stomach,” said Pague.
