Bisping realised immediately that up against a decorated American war hero, he was always going to have to play the heel. “I suppose that's the way they're marketing it. In fact, I'm sat in this office in Las Vegas and there's a piece of paper here that says ‘UFC 152 – Saturday. American Hero versus British Bad Boy’.”

It is difficult to know whether Bisping is playing with the truth with the paper in front of him on the table, but he has certainly read the script. Stann, with his strength, power, and indeed, self-belief, is more than a handful, while Bisping has shown vulnerabilities against dangerous power punchers.

Bisping has no issue with being ‘the hate figure’. “That's definitely the route that the marketing is going down but I've got no problem with that. The important thing's the fight. He's a tough fighter, I've trained hard and I've expected a really hard fight. I'm doing a million interviews promoting the fight and just having fun with it. All it was, was a little, light-hearted smack.”

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tags: Michael Bisping (detail)  Brian Stann (detail)  UFC 152