THE CANADIAN PRESS
On Season 14 of "The Ultimate Fighter," Jason (Mayhem) Miller showed he is more than a hyperactive cartoon-like character.
The 30-year-old middleweight from California proved to be an adept coach who clearly cared about his fighters. Miller, who kept his crazy side in check, showed a good sense of humour and won most of the verbal exchanges with rival coach Michael (The Count) Bisping.
The two 185-pounders square off Saturday night in Las Vegas in the live televised finale to the reality TV show.
Watch the TUF 14 finale live on Sportsnet on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Also watch weigh-ins streamed live on sportsnet.ca Friday at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.
People got to see a different side of the colourful, sometimes frenetic Miller, who has had prior TV experience as host of MTV’s "Bully Beatdown."
"I knew they were going to," said Miller. "If you only see ‘Bully Beatdown,’ I mean of course you’re going to think that I’m just a goofball and I laugh all the time.
"While that’s kind of accurate, I’m a professional fighter and have been doing this for 12 years. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. So I know what I’m doing as far as coaching and as far as fighting. So it feels good to be able to show that to the planet."
Miller remains far from a blushing violet. Advised he was speaking to a Canadian reporter, he opens the interview with "Man, I’m doing goooood. Watching hockey all day, you know how I roll."
TUF also demonstrated Miller’s need for speed.
Producers loved to show Miller, wheels squealing, pull into the parking lot of the UFC Training Centre in Las Vegas.
Those days are behind him apparently. Miller has since lost his license after accumulating one too many speeding tickets in California.
"Don’t worry I’m not a threat to society any more," he said dryly.
"I’ll do my time and when I get my license back, I’ll drive kind of safe," he added.
Each coach put two of their fighters into the finals.
John Dodson (Team Miller) takes on T.J. Dillashaw (Bisping) in the 135-pound bantamweight final while Diego Brandao (Bisping) faces Dennis (The Menace) Bermudez (Miller) in the 145-pound featherweight final.
Winnipeg bantamweight Roland Delorme is also on the card at The Palms. He is matched against fellow Season 14 cast member Josh Ferguson.
Miller is amped to fight Bisping (22-3), saying he feels like he’s been in purgatory since the show ended taping this summer.
Miller says he has stayed in contact with almost all of his fighters.
"They’re all good people and they’re all really talented athletes."
He prepared at the Reign Training Centre in Lake Forest, Calif., home to fellow UFC fighters Mark Munoz and Winnipeg-raised Krzysztof Soszynski.
"I never had a training camp go so well," Miller said. "So I’m looking forward to showing off the result of the training camp on Saturday."
It’s Miller’s first fight in the UFC since he lost to Canadian Georges St-Pierre at UFC 52 in April 2005. Miller (listed as 24-7 with one no contest by the UFC although he says he has had more than 40 fights) went on to fight in Dream, WEC and Strikeforce among other organizations.
Miller and Bisping didn’t really know each other prior to filming, but Miller said he had had enough of the English fighter by the end of the show.
"It was easy to dislike him," Miller said. "I see why America dislikes him. I see why the planet dislikes him."
Miller says it was all too easy to get under Bisping’s skin.
"The guy’s more emotional than a chick on prom night."
Like coaches before him, Miller was surprised by how much work went into the six weeks of filming the show.
"It was arduous, I’ll tell you that much," he said.
Viewers did get to meet Miller’s diminutive dog, named Gator Hot Dog Dog (he has some 7,000 Twitter followers, compared to Miller’s 164,000-plus.).
"He’s getting more famous than I am, just about," said Miller. "Everyone loves the Hot Dog Dog. …"
"He catches everyone’s eye. And," he added, pausing for effect," he catches your heart."
A big kid at heart, Miller packed his Xbox to help fritter away the time in Vegas before the fight.
"I don’t get to eat so I play video games," he said referring to his weight cut. "Playing video games you don’t care about anything else."
Among the games he brought with him: "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" and "Need for Speed: The Run."
