Issue 024
April 2007
Life is good for The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner Michael Bisping. Dana White says he will be a “superstar”. Fans from the UK and abroad love his straight talking as much as they do his fighting style. He’s made a splash in the UFC in Las Vegas but April will see him in action closer to home as he features on the first UFC event in England for four years. We followed Mike around and got to see exactly how life is treating this Ultimate Fighter.
11am: Morning training session: Though he fights out of the Wolfslair gym in Widnes, Mike and his teammates also make use of a nearby gym. The cold weather sees them practice their striking in the well-heated Warrington Thai Boxing, only a short car journey away.
1pm: Morning training over, Mike makes the long journey home in his brand new Audi.
He lives in the sleepy Lancashire town of Clitheroe and makes an hour and a half round journey to the gym every day.
4pm: Having picked up 5-year old Callum from school Mike goes for a walk up to the local castle with his wife Rebecca and 4-year old daughter Ellie. It’s no exaggeration to describe this young family as about as close to perfectly happy as you can get. Mike makes a great dad, constantly entertaining his kids (and wife) with his jokes and stories.
6pm: Back home at his modest yet comfortable terraced house, Mike grabs a quick bite to eat, checks his emails and decides with Rebecca what they’ll have for dinner.
He spends time with son Callum in front of the telly watching a Star Wars DVD. Though he is only five, Mike’s son sometimes watches his dad’s fights and is enrolled at a local martial arts school.
7pm: Weighing 100kg, the Atlas Stone makes for difficult lifting apparatus, and this is the core of Mike’s evening workout. Preferring the strongman approach to strength training as opposed to a body builders routine, Mike regularly chucks stones, barrels and tractor tires around as part of his workouts.
7.30pm: Evening training session: Xyience-sponsored Mike necks a protein shake straight after his evening workout. His mornings are spent with the fight team, and evening training sessions are where he does his strength and conditioning training. Rather than a go to a swanky health club, he uses a gym close to his home that is a no-frills place full of strongman athletes and hardcore weightlifters.
