Michael Bisping is getting angry. ''I hate it when people call me a cage fighter,'' he rails, sweat beading on his forehead after a demonstration of jujitsu techniques at the Wolfslair Academy in Widnes. ''I'm a mixed martial artist. But people take one look at what we do and they just start making assumptions.''

It is easy to see how people could jump to conclusions about Britain's highest-profile Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star. With cauliflower ears and a scarred shaven head, Bisping certainly has the look of a brawler. When his brow furrows, it is only to reveal electric blue eyes that sear with intensity. At 6ft 2ins and - when I spoke to him two weeks ahead of tonight's fight - 13st 11lbs, he cuts an imposing figure.

Or at least he would, were it not for the way he just keeps on smiling. Outside of the octagon, Bisping possesses the demeanour of an oversized Ricky Hatton - all mischievous grins, wisecracks and gentle ribbing of his sparring partners.

''Sparkling, to match my teeth,'' he grins when a PR flunky asks if he'd like some water, before laughing off his seven-year-old son Callum's hopes of following in his footsteps. ''He's like his mum, bless him, he's such a little sweetheart. I was a little bastard when I was six. You can see the difference. I fell down the stairs, hit my head on every step and got up and probably attacked someone.''

The only thing that does get him going, it seems, is a perceived lack of respect from sections of the public. ''A lot of people are just giving ignorant views,'' he continues. ''They've watched it for two seconds. They've said: 'Oh, that's terrible,' and they haven't given it a chance. It's actually less dangerous than boxing. It might look bad when you've got one guy on top of another on the floor, but the guy on top can't actually get any power in his strikes, because all your power is in your legs. The guy underneath, sometimes he's controlling the fight, sometimes he's winning it - people don't know.''

With 15 victories in 16 mixed martial arts (MMA) fights to date, Bisping knows a thing or two about winning. His only defeat came after a controversial split decision against hometown hero Rashad Evans at UFC78 in New Jersey. And yet there is no lingering bitterness. Pointing out that he benefited from a similarly contested decision when beating Matt Hamill in London last September, Bisping was keen to focus on the positives.

''Rashad is a world-class opponent. He's still undefeated,'' Bisping says. ''And he beat me on a split decision. I was at no point beat up. I wasn't out of my depth. A lot of people thought that in that fight I was going to get manhandled - completely destroyed - so I think I silenced a lot of my critics, to be honest. And I was fighting out of my natural weight class. So I take a lot of positives from that. And I know in a re-match, I could beat him.''

A re-match is an unlikely prospect, however, given that Bisping confirmed he would be dropping down from light-heavyweight to middleweight shortly afterwards. It was not a hard decision for a man who had long been aware that he was probably fighting at too heavy a weight.

''I was walking around at about the light-heavyweight limit between fights at the time, and I would be eating all sorts - pizzas, sandwiches, whatever,'' he admits. ''I remember going out to the States and you could see the light-heavyweights out there were a lot bigger. Everybody told me I could get down to middleweight but I was winning my fights and doing it impressively - in the first round. So I thought I'll keep going till I get beat, because you never know, I could end up winning the bloody title. And I did pretty good: I went 14 fights undefeated, which is rare.''

But if Bisping's outlook seems relentlessly positive at times, there is also an undeniable undertone of vulnerability. He admits having felt envious at school of kids who knew what they wanted from their lives, and remembers pouring over college prospectuses in which none of the courses held any appeal. In the end he opted for a course in electronic engineering, but gave it up after three months.

With hardly any qualifications to fall back on, the world of work didn't come naturally. Bisping worked in manual jobs during his late teens and early 20s, but they never lasted more than a few months. By this stage he was training as a kickboxer - despite winning a number of British titles, he couldn't earn enough to make a full-time living.

In the end, MMA found him. He got back in touch with former coach Paul Lloyd Davies in 2003 after deciding to try his hand at boxing. Davies persuaded Bisping to begin training in MMA instead, even though he had never even seen the sport on TV. Soon he had been earmarked as a future talent by the UFC. Since winning the Ultimate Fighter TV series in early 2006, he has refused to let go of his opportunity.

''I'm terrified of having to go back to a day job,'' he admits. ''And that's why I'm training like a man possessed. Because I want to keep winning. I've got to keep winning. Unless I want to go back to doing that, that's what I've got to do.''

Born on a British military base in Cyprus, the one other career Bisping seriously considered was joining the army, as his father and both his brothers had done. Despite getting all the paperwork together on more than one occasion, he could never quite go through with it.

''I always shit my pants at the last minute to be honest,'' laughs Bisping, though after the experience of his brother Konrad, it's a wonder that he can discuss it so lightly. A lance corporal at the age of 26, Konrad Bisping was attacked by Grant Kenyon, an 18-year-old soldier from his own unit, during a training exercise on Salisbury Plain. Angry after being shouted at by Konrad during the exercise, Kenyon responded by plunging a pickaxe into his skull.

''He got read his last rites,'' recalls Michael of his brother, who survived but suffered brain damage and permanent loss of vision. ''But he's a Bisping, he's my brother, we're fighters and he fought through it. Now we look at the positives. He's living a life. He's got a baby on the way. He's an inspiration. He doesn't wallow in self-pity over what happened. He sits there and he's positive. He's the life and soul of any party.''

Reflecting on his brother's aggressor may have turned out to be the second thing that could make Bisping angry, but as quickly as the emotion comes, it recedes. Immediately he is looking to the future, not the past.

''I want to be involved in this my whole life,'' he shoots back when asked how he envisages life when he's done fighting. ''Maybe when I'm done fighting I'll open a gym and manage fighters and train fighters.''

If Bisping's career continues as it has started, you can be sure it will be a popular establishment. Cage fighters need not apply.