To hear British slugger Michael Bisping (21-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) tell it, he's really only a win or two away from a shot at UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

 "I'm always myself," Bisping today said on a media call promoting the Spike TV reality series. "I never change, and I always speak my mind. Sometimes that does me good and sometimes that does me harm."

Unfortunately for Bisping, fight fans in the U.S. have generally preferred to view the Brit as a perennial heel. He owns one of the best career records of any fighter currently competing in the promotion, yet many fans on this side of the Pond would prefer to watch a non-stop reel of Dan Henderson blasting Bisping into unconsciousness at UFC 100 than to take a single glimpse of any of the Brit's wins over Yoshihiro Akiyama, Denis Kang, Chris Leben, Dan Miller or Jorge Rivera, among others.

More.

Don't believe it? Take "The Ultimate Fighter 14" opposing coach Jason "Mayhem" Miller's word for it.

So why is it he couldn't initially seem to even get the respect of the fighters he was charged with coaching on the soon-to-debut 14th season of "The Ultimate Fighter"?

"I gave Mike the benefit of the doubt, but he fully proved himself to be a [expletive] by week two," Miller (24-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC) told MMAjunkie.com  (www.mmajunkie.com).

While the stateside disdain for Bisping seems to date back even further, "The Count" believes a run as coach opposite Henderson on "The Ultimate Fighter 9," where each coach captained squads from their native country, likely solidified U.S. fans' opinions.

"There was a lot of backlash, obviously, from that," Bisping said. "To be honest, I can't see what the big deal was. I didn't do anything wrong. All I wanted to do was have my team win. It just so happened that that team was from the U.K., so I think a lot of people in America took offense to that."

Of course, one particular incident from that season – in which Bisping squeezed a water bottle in the face of one of the opposing team's contestants – did little to endear him to Spike TV viewers. Bisping admits the split-second decision was poor but also believes his opposing coach's laid-back demeanor may have caused a too-harsh contrast to his own outspoken style.

"The only thing that I shouldn't have done was squirt water in DaMarques Johnson's face," Bisping said. "That said, he was going on, and I could have punched him, but I didn't. I squirted water in his face. Other than that, I can't see anything I did wrong. I just tried to make it entertaining.

"I guess Dan Henderson wasn't the most outspoken of guys, so maybe I looked a little loudmouthed at the time. Going into this season, I did the exact same thing: just try to be my entertaining self."

Of course, this season includes coaching a team of Yanks, not a host of fellow Brits. Bisping admits he feared the worst.

"I've never put an act on," Bisping said. "I'm always me, and that's why some people care for me and some people don't. When I was going into the season, I thought I might get a little hostility from the guys because there's a preconceived image of me that some people in America have."

And Bisping also admits that those fears were recognized when filming for "TUF 14" first started but that things quickly changed as his team saw his true colors.

"The team, when I picked them, after a couple of days the team gels, and you start opening up to one another," Bisping said. "A few of them were saying, 'I really expected you to be an [expletive].' Then they all said what a nice guys I was and how much they cared for me at the end of the season. They said they were shocked that I did build the character of the team, that I did care for their well-being and their progress on the show as opposed to being there for myself. Ultimately, that's what 'The Ultimate Fighter' is about.

"It's not about me or Jason. It's not about the coaches. It's about the contestants on the show and trying to get these guys a break into the bigtime. I felt I did my best to do that. I was very conscious as to whether some people would have a preconceived image of me, but everyone was just fine."

Exactly how this season of "The Ultimate Fighter," the 14th and final season to air on Spike TV, will affect Bisping's image in the U.S. remains to be seen. The first episode of the season airs on Wednesday, Sept. 21. Of course, knowing the personalities of Bisping and Miller, both are likely to ruffle a few feathers.

That's OK, Bisping says. Looking back on his second stint as a "TUF" coach, he has no regrets. Take the time to learn the real Bisping, he says, and you'll understand.
"I've said many times that I was never very comfortable with U.K. vs. U.S.A.," Bisping said. "It kind of seemed like I was anti-U.S.A., which was never the case. This time, I had a great time filming the show. My team was a fantastic team. … They trained very hard. They listened to everything I had to say. They wanted to improve. They weren't there for airtime. They were all real fighters, and when you see the fighters this season, you'll know what I mean.

"The fights were absolutely incredible, and all in all I'm very happy with it. I feel it was a good season. My team did a good job, and I feel I represented myself pretty well. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it."