MICHAEL Bisping will offer to throw our photographer into Sydney Harbour.

But not yet.

No, currently, this outspoken Englishman — a fighter right down to those three stitches above his left eye — is leaned so tight into the face of American rival Luke Rockhold, it’s impossible to know where one beard stops and the other starts.

Reminding in that thick Manchester accent how “come Saturday, you’ve no f ... en idea what you’re in for pal”.

But, hey, does anyone?

For if you understand only one thing about Saturday’s UFC main event at Allphones Arena, let it be the following: this isn’t the usual faux hostility served up to Aussie fight fans.

This rivalry nothing like the boxing razzamatazz that, in recent years, has roped in everyone from Frans Botha and Kimbo Slice to Gary ‘The Babboon’ Gurr.

media_camera Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping stared at each other intently.

Put simply, Bisping and Rockhold genuinely hate one another.

A truth proved on Sunday when, roughly 24 hours after jetting into Sydney, The Daily Telegraph brought them together for an exclusive photo shoot.

“And, look, maybe under different circumstances we’d get on,’’ Bisping had told you earlier in the hotel lobby. “I mean, Luke Rockhold could be a great guy.

“Although from what I seen, I don’t think that is true. I think he’s an absolute tool.”

And so arriving at Circular Quay separately, and each with security, the two fighters waited 20 metres apart until called together for pictures which had to be completed, we were told, within five minutes — or effectively one round in the UFC.

Which is exactly what we got.

media_camera ... and did the same with sunnies on.

The warring middleweights no sooner together than they were erupting into a shouting, pointing mess which, to be fair, UFC boss Dana White has already spent thousands of dollars trying to avoid.

See, while both camps flew into Sydney from Los Angeles, the company placed them on separate flights. Next, separate floors at the Mariott Hotel.

A UFC separation policy so intense, Thursday’s Opera House press conference involves two shuttle buses, two green rooms — even lobby departures separated by more than a dozen minutes.

None of which our photographer was completely aware of when, with the two men eyeballing each other and spraying obscenities, he suggested, hey, why not take a quick break — then resume after that?

At which point Bisping politely explained how, should he be kept one second longer with Rockhold than necessary, “someone here is going for a swim in the f ... en sea”.