UFC 114 shows Bisping ready for next step

"Ultimate Fighter 3" winner Michael Bisping came into his fight Saturday night at UFC 114 against Dan Miller looking to rebound from a tough stretch that saw him lose two of his past three fights.

The cagey Brit was able to work Miller over with superior striking en route to a unanimous decision victory. The bout was scored 30-27 on two judges' cards and 29-28 on the other.

“I hit him with some big shots but he was hungry and he wanted to win bad, and he hung in there,” Bisping said of his opponent after the fight.

But Bisping (19-3) was also quick to point out that his only losses were to very tough opponents -- Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson and Wanderlei Silva -- and said he hopes to use this victory to continue momentum toward winning the UFC middleweight championship.

“I want to be the first Englishman to win a title,” he said. “I was the first to win the Ultimate Fighter, first Englishman in a main event, and I will be the first English champion.”

The victory was not easy, as Miller continued to come forward throughout the fight but was unable to capitalize on getting the fight to the ground until very late, instead being content to box with Bisping, which proved to be a mistake.

“I thought he was trying to lull me into a false sense of security,” Bisping said. “At the end of the first round I commented to my corner man, 'This time he's going to come out and shoot in the second round.”

A successful shot did not come until the final frame, but Bisping also mentioned how his jiu-jitsu is underrated.

“Everybody seems to think they're going to submit me,” he said. “I've done jiu-jitsu for years, I went to world championships in New Zealand when I was 16 years old, people don't know these things. I just prefer to punch people.”

With a possible rematch with Wanderlei Silva a possibility, it is time for Bisping to prove that he can compete with the elite fighters in the middleweight division and capitalize on the potential and opportunity that winning the Ultimate Fighter gave him.