Michael Bisping vs CB Dollaway: 'Bringing the gold to the UK is still my dream,' says Bisping ahead of UFC 186 showdown

The event in Canada takes place on Saturday night

Michael Bisping kicks Tim Kennedy (Josh Hedges/ LLC)

Michael Bisping has been one of the UFC’s most enduring, and successful competitors across his nine year tenure with the company, and at 36-years-old the British fighter is aiming to begin an Indian Summer that will end with the Middleweight championship belt that has so far eluded him.

On Saturday night, Bisping fights in Montreal, Canada on UFC 186 against C.B. Dollaway, a 31-year-old competitor who hails from the appropriately named Battle Creek, Michigan. This is an important contest for Bisping who lost his last UFC bout to Luke Rockhold in November. Across a 32 fight career, which includes 21 appearances in the Octagon for UFC, he has never failed twice in a row.

Speaking to The Independent from Montreal, Bisping was enthusiastic about his future in MMA, and his impending fight.

“Dollaway is going to be under a lot of pressure, and how he handles that is important because after the first exchange in his last fight he was on the floor,” he shares.

“He took a body kick and went down. But that was against Lyoto Machida, and in his defence the kick that was landed was a perfect one, thrown at the perfect time. Will that affect his confidence? Who knows. It will be interesting how he comes out, but I’m expecting him very motivated and in the best shape of his life.”

The UFC 186 card has seen many iterations across the past few months, with fights cancelled or postponed due to a myriad of reasons, including injuries, drug test failures, and even in the case of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, court cases. Despite regularly featuring in the main or co-main events throughout his UFC career, Bisping was originally scheduled to compete earlier in the event than usual.

Michael Bisping punches Tim Kennedy (Josh Hedges/ Zuffa LLC)

However, after the raft of cancellations, the Brit has now been moved up to third from the top, and was even scheduled for the co-main event slot before the re-emergence of Jackson earlier this week. Bisping offered his thoughts on his placing on the card, and what it can do to a fighter's mentality.

“I was happy to be on the fight card nice and early because it’s less pressure,” he reveals. “If you’re in the main event, the tension and pressure builds throughout the night, and you see people backstage who have been knocked out, or are getting stitched up. You handle that pressure because we are those individuals who can do that, but it certainly adds apprehension and those inner demons can creep in.

“So I thought it was awesome that I could be one of the first fights, handle my business and then sit in the front row watching the rest of the bouts. After the cancellations and injuries a lot of people have been down on this event, but I want to prove to everybody it’s worth tuning in just for my fight alone.

“I’m going to give everybody what they’ve paid to see which is an amazing world class fight, and I’m going to completely blow C.B. Dollaway out of the water.”

Bisping has managed to stay versatile in a sport which demands every extremity of the word, and has been working hard to negate Dollaway’s attributes. “I think his main strength is his wrestling, though just recently he has started using his striking more, and I think he will do that in our fight,” he suggests.

“Ultimately he will be throwing strikes looking to set up his takedowns, but after Machida finished him quickly, and he can have all the confidence he wants, but those inner demons will creep in and he will think “shit, I fought a good striker in my last fight and I ended up winded on the floor within seconds,” he adds.

In many of his UFC appearances Bisping has sought to showcase his prodigious boxing talent, and he sees Dollaway as the perfect opponent to utilise those weapons again.

“It’s fair to say he doesn’t have the best chin, he’s been wobbled and knocked out a few times by people that aren’t necessarily known as power punches. I’ve been stopped in my career only by a prime Dan Henderson and a juiced to the gills Vitor Belfort, and they’re the only ones that have put me down.

“He’s been dropped by Mark Munoz and Jason Miller, who couldn’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag, wobbled him all over the place.”

Despite his recent setbacks, Bisping maintains the belief that even after all the many years of competition, the ultimate crown could still be in his future.

“I’m not a superhero, I’m just a normal human being, a very average guy but when it comes to my fighting ability I am very confident for a good reason. If you’ve got to convince yourself or take classes to be confident in a certain area then you’re not confident, it’s as simple as that.

“I’ve fought the best guys in the division time and time again, and there has certainly been no shame in losing to the guys I have lost to. You would think that doesn’t make a World Champion, but after my last fight Dana White called me and asked me how I was doing. I told him I was a bit pissed off after losing, but he said Mike, you lost because you face the best guys in the division constantly.

“Against Dollaway I will be showing the world that I’m one of the best, and the world title is very much in my grasp. Bringing home the gold to the UK is still my dream and my ultimate goal, and I have the potential to achieve that.”

Watch Bisping in action at UFC 186: Johnson vs. Horiguchi live on BT Sport 1 from 1am BST on the morning ofSunday, April 26, or catch the Early Prelims from 11:30pm on Saturday, exclusively on UFC Fight Pass