Boxing sensation Joe Calzaghe, footballer David Beckham and even Daniel Craig — Mr. James bond himself — don’t have anything on UFC middleweight star Michael Bisping.
“The Count” topped a list of the “100 Coolest British Men of the Year” (2008) by Zoo magazine, which is apparently similar to Maxim magazine here in the United States. That’s a huge vote of confidence among the male demographic for the charismatic light heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 3.
He, too, appeared to be surprised with the results:
“I am totally shocked, but honoured to be voted the coolest man in the UK by Zoo readers.”
Bisping has enjoyed tremendous success this year, dropping down to middleweight and looking extremely impressive while doing it. He is undefeated (3-0) in 2008, taking out Charles McCarthy at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2″ via technical knockout and came out with guns blazing at UFC 85: “Bedlam”, putting away Jason Day in the first round.
He then added perhaps the most important feather in his cap with a strategic unanimous decision win over the dangerous Chris Leben at UFC 89: “Bisping vs. Leben” back on October 9.
This success has not just captured the attention of the British public — the promotion has rewarded the Clitheroe, Lancashire, product with the position as coach on the next and ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) mixed martial arts reality series that airs on Spike TV early next year.
And with the notoriety that comes along with that type of exposure, as well as being back by one of the most powerful and resourceful agents in the business, Dean Albrecht, don’t be surprised if Bisping has another banner year in 2009.
One that will more than likely include an opportunity to challenge for a division title if he can keep his current win streak alive and well.
80 Comments »
This is Roids for his ego.
Roids as in What leben used?
Yeah.. but this Mr.Cool Guy award is a egoRoid for the Count. Remember NBA Jam? the size of the player’s head.. well. Bispings..head is growing.
hey Phil, you talk to John or VM lately?
say a pryer for Violent Mike guys, I got an email from him the other day, he said his wife isn’t well. As you regulars know, she was having some surgery! hope all is well VM!!
thats too bad…and nice of you to mention Kev
hey, it’s the Holidays, and I actually like most of you regulars!
question on San Diego…whats the weather like right now? it’s 30-40 and raining in bay area (which is freezing) and trying to figure out what to pack!
Re Kevins comments, best of wishes to VM. Worst time of the year for family problems, i know from experience. Hope all works out well mate.
Nah Brother.. but I’ll pray for him and his wife.
San Diego…don’t know…I can tell you that here in Ontario, Can its already snowed 24 inches since 8am…probably doesn’t help you much though…
lol, I got caught in a snow storm in canada 12 years ago, after a drunken weekend! sucked getting home!
Hope everything’s well Mike, hope Sondra feels better soon!
PS- I’m ViolentMike’s brother.
i knew you came on here, never knew the screen name!
I’m accurate and not out of line then?!!
Hope everything is good with VM. I was wondering why i haven’t seen him posting.
I was wondering about VM too. Hopefully everything is okay.
My thoughts are with you and your family VM.
As always, my thoughts are easily with one of my fellow Maniacs. Prayers from my family to yours, VM.
There really isnt many cool people in great britain is there?
BTW just so you all know these awards don’t mean much at all. They are coupled in with “best beard award” and “most travelled breasts” so don’t read too much into it.
But on the flipside Zoo has good coverage of mma in general, both the UFC and UK MMA so props to them for getting involved.
yes Zoo covers MMA in the UK, but they are also a major sponsor of Mike ……..so lets keep this for real.
Whoaaaaaa!!! Ummmm……who won most travelled breasts? And were they nice? And if they were, is there a link?
Boom. Nice work Mike. “All Hail Michael Bisping”. Maybe he could be the next James Bond!!
Too bad he will miss the 1st half of 09 doing TUF… That’s enough already.
yea. I dont like the show holding up fighters careers but I guess they are getting paid.
I’ve met Bisping at several events and i can honestly say he’s one of the nicest fighters i’ve met! Pure Gent!
Thats cool I’m glad it hasn’t gone to his head. Just don’t let him fight in England or he gets checks in the W column everytime he shouldn’t.. Hamill, Leben, ETC.. oh and he doesn’t finish fights when it counts
hahahhahahahahaha….Hamill maybe? Leben your insane!
Yeah Bisping dominated the fight against Leben. Leben was even clapping for him before his name was announced as they were reading the scores!
spOOner, he may not have hurt Leben, but he most assuredly beat him!!! But I do agree with your last sentence!
And in related news Zoo readers have been voted most incompetent magazine readers in the UK. just kidding. good for bisping, glad to see an mma getting the vote.
“A mma fighter getting the vote”
yea, this is great….but really, how could he not win. Let’s examine the competition.
1. Joe Calzaghe- even after the biggest win/payday of your career, most ppl have no idea who you are except for they know you are supposed to be good at boxing(which they don’t really care about)
2. David Beckham- Soccer?????? sorry Fuutboolll. Nuff said!
3. Daniel Craig- as bad ass as Bond is and as good as he plays the character….he’s playing a character. For all that don’t know, this guys is awesome…check out “Layer Cake” if u haven’t seen it. But really, do u want an actor/pretend badass… or a real one???
that leaves only Calzaghe or Bisping. I think everyone on this site should realize why an undefeated BOXING champion coming off of two wins over legends doesn’t carry the same cache as a mid to upper level MMA contenter in the 185 lb division.
Personality says it all, and Mike’s got much more than Joe. And for some reason…. I feel like MMA fighters are perceived as more badass than boxers now. Not sure why that is but can’t argue against it….. Love Pacquiao. Hatton fight should be sick.
Michael “to be honest” Bisping is the most protected fighter in UFC, which doesn’t make him very “cool” in my book.
Can’t wait for Hendo or Ace to drop him.
he tooled carthy,day and leben is no joke and lost a split decision to rashad
HE DIDN’T BEAT LEBEN HE POINTED HIM… not the same thing.
Wasn’t there a winner and a loser in that match? Doesn’t one of them have a WIN under their record for that fight and one has a LOSS right? YEA HE DID BEAT LEBEN; definitivly, was it a split decision? Did Leben win one round? Was he anything other than a punching bag for a 15 min bashing session?? NO, GET OVER IT.
Wasn’t there a winner and a loser in that match? Doesn’t one of them have a WIN under their record for that fight and one has a LOSS right? YEA HE DID BEAT LEBEN; definitivly, was it a split decision? Did Leben win one round? Was he anything other than a punching bag for a 15 min bashing session?? NO, SO GET OVER IT..
Except that it is that same thing…
what is the same thing?
O Damn is right….its like people who say BJ beat GSP or Forest beat Tito…no they didn’t
Do you people just need to make up reasons to hate Bisping??? God knows how upset you’d have been if the UFC had put him up against Hendo, Franklin or Silva in his first fights, Then you’d be saying “What has he done to deserve shots at those guys”. Just because he’s English doesn’t mean you have a commitment to hate him. Leban defeated Cote, Swick, Sakara etc, hardly an easy fight ( especially since he was loaded with a performance enhancing drug!!). Oh and by the way, Rashad Evans is fighting for the Title in a few weeks, that guys a right pussy, how can the UFC protect Bisping with fights like that!!! Joke. Good comment mate, well thought out. You don’t have to like people to admire their ability.
What do you mean “you people”?
I mean all people who think fighters are being protected because they haven’t fought a top contender ( ie Lester the pimp’s comments ). Bisping will have Frankin or Hendo next then people will have to find another reason to hate him. Why not just say you don’t like the guy and leave it at that. No one is getting protected, this is MMA, anyone can be knocked out or submitted on the night, there are no easy fights unless your name is Anderson Silva, but even he’ll get caught again one day just like what happened against Chonen. Have a think about it > Gonzaga vs Cro Cop, Jardine vs Alexander, Serra vs St Pierre, Couture vs Belfort, all touted as easy fights for the favorites if I recall. Didn’t turn out like that did it???
I was joking, its a quote from a stupid movie.
Damn it, still haven’t seen that film yet so was wasted on me.
Chumpy,
Movie sucked. Line was funny, but the movie sucked.
The movie wasnt great but id deff didnt suck…
Never go full retard!! haha
Zoo sinilar to Maxim. Hmmmm. Think Zoo costs about £1 and is mainly bought by 15 year olds.
Not dissing Bisping or anything. Mate met him in Dublin the other day and had nothing but good to say about him
Yep Jealousy turned to hate..
He is so cool they call him “culo”
I know enough Spanglish to find that hilarious.
Bisping is so lame.
I voted over the internet you had to pick top 5 and worst 5! I picked “Dizzy Rascal” in all 5 of my worst picks. Franklin or Hendo it doesnt matter as there both going the same way!
Bisping seems to be rehabilitating himself somewhat lately from the Matt Hamill fiasco.
Is anyone else besides me at work today in a brutal snow storm doing nothing but surfing Mania?
I hope they bring in a translater when he’s on TUF.
sorry if you don’t speak English….(JK)
If they think he’s cool, they should see Anderson Silva. Or any other top 10 MW for that matter….
But are they British? It’s the “100 Coolest British Men of the Year” (2008) by Zoo magazine.
I threw up in my mouth a little
lol…nice
if he was on the cool wall he would be sub zero. who is the least cool ufc fighter tho? im voting for gurgel for his post fight faces.
bisping he the man
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ……………..HA, god if he’s the coolest man, the place must be the nerd capital of the world
^^^^
Says the man writing on an internet forum about MMA, while Bisping is a professional MMA fighter…LMAO
nathan you must be the coolest ever, you proud internet hero.
pretty unbelivable, since everything’s about football in England..
what a load of crap. his is a wanker and a piece of crap. if only he would get a beatin’ i would feel better.
Still sad over the Leben loss?
Go and teabag your dad!
among the blind….
If this is true, remind me not to go to the UK. Bisping is a tool, not to mention a boring fighter, who has been spoon fed easy opponents his whole career, just so the UFC can try to build a bigger fan base in England. That’s enough Dana! The fans are there. You can finally give your poster boy a real opponent so that he will finally be exposed for what he is: A slightly above average fighter who talks too damn much, and never finishes a fight against anyone that matters.
Rubbbbbbish!
foot note: GSP 2nd – RNC
Badr Hari should win the world’s coolest man!
And the dumbest man too…
If he just took the fight serious and not too personal he would’ve won, the fight, the belt, the honor, the cash.
What he did was wrong but Remy was just playing also, I’ve seen that clip over and over and when Remy can put in his acting to win he will.
It’s like in soccer, you barely touch the guy and he’s acting like a fish out of water.
Rashad Evans spoon fed? Evans didn’t do anything to worry Bisping. never been subbed or ko’d either.
Cheers to the UK for setting the coolness bar to a new all time low!
Making fun of deaf people is not…
COOL. Especially after he pounded and schooled Bisping.
Show some class and have a rematch…
He knows he got out of there by the skin of his teeth.
Thats why he RAN to another division.
Have met him,got my picture with him,got his autograph with him,and even had a few beers with him and Hendo.I’m just a normal fan and all I can say is he is 100%,a cool guy.The list isnt about the best fighter,or most succesful,but a list of coolest british man,and personally,he was top of that list even before I voted.
BISPING IS AN ASSCLOWN! DANA WHITE ALLOWS HIM TO WIN IN ORDER TO MARKET TO THE TOOTHLESS ENGLAND PEOPLE. WE ALL KNOW IF IT WASNT FOR BISPING, THERE WOULD BE NO FIGHTS AT ALL IN THE CAVITY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!
DANA WHITE ALLOWS HIM TO WIN IN ORDER TO MARKET TO THE TOOTHLESS ENGLAND PEOPLE. WE ALL KNOW IF IT WASNT FOR BISPING, THERE WOULD BE NO FIGHTS AT ALL IN THE CAVITY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!
Toothless? Yeah, 2-300 years ago maybe, when we spent all our time at sea taking over the world – so lacked the right vitamins for a shiny, fully “plastic-surgeried” complexion, fake tan and long flowing mullet to go with our chemically whitened teeth and hormone altered meat-based oversized physiques – a’la US citizens.
Same old stereotypes from the colonies as usual, well done in voting Bush in for two terms too – a great display of intellect both from him and the morons who voted for him.
Say what you like about Bisping, he’s better now he’s fighting at the correct weight and always looked slightly chubby & undersized at 205 – Hamill did beat him but then he’s comfortably 205. If you look at Bisping’s record there’s plenty of decent fighters there, if you don’t think so then it’s your MMA knowledge that’s lacking.
Like him or not, critisising (noted: that word is not spelt with a “Z” despite the Americanised auto spell-checker’s attempts to correct me :p) he deserves his place in the UFC, he does speak English – if you can’t understand him it’s because he’s not shouting all the time like a certain nation’s people do (the only way they can get anyone to take any notice of them) and yes, I work with Americans daily and the previously quoted “full-retard” is an apt comment.
Just FYI, I know plenty of intelligent and decent American’s too – it’s very easy to stereotype though isn’t it?