In the process, Bisping became one of the UFC’s most compelling villains. He has talked a truly remarkable amount of trash over the years and, in his lowest moment, spat at his opponent Jorge Rivera’s corner after winning a fight in 2011. The fact that he scored the knockout victory after rocking Rivera with an illegal knee to the head was seen as generally emblematic of his personality.

Despite the consistent and well-earned opprobrium from many fans, Bisping has always oozed charisma and personality, and he has fulfilled the prizefighter’s main goal: making the crowd care about his fights, whether they were rooting for him or hoping he’d get knocked out. Even if he could never quite break through to the ranks of the division’s elite, his notoriety and value to the UFC were still major accomplishments.

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What has been less appreciated about Bisping’s long and productive career are the consistent improvements he’s made over the years.

There are good reasons Bisping was able to upset the heavily favored Luke Rockhold back in June to win the middleweight title, and it’s not a coincidence that the 37-year-old veteran is showing his best stuff now. Why? What has changed to turn a career gatekeeper, if a compelling personality, into the top-ranked middleweight on the planet?

Bisping’s ascent to the top is a lesson in the importance of small changes. Bisping isn’t a drastically different fighter than he was five years ago. His core competencies remain the same, but he’s sharper and better able to impose his preferred game.

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At heart, Bisping is a classic outside fighter. He moves through the cage at long distance, picking his spots to dart into striking range behind a crisp jab and a sharp right hand and then getting out of distance before his opponent can hit him back. Pace is the best part of this approach, and Bisping piles up shots and forces his opponent to work and work until he tires. As his opponent slows down in the third and fourth round, Bisping picks up his work rate and pours on the offense, landing shot after shot after shot until he either wins a decision or his opponent quits.

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The key to all of this is Bisping’s preference for engaging his opponent on his terms. Above all, he wants to be the one dictating when and where he strikes.

Not all fighters are this choosy – many are happy to let their opponent dictate the action, and then respond – but it makes perfect sense for a disciplined fighter like Bisping, who relies on technical craft and cardiovascular fitness more than raw explosiveness, athleticism or power. He’s very nearly a parody of the stereotype of the physically underwhelming but durable and hardworking blue-collar athlete, and tightly controlling the terms of engagement is essential to that approach.

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This has always been Bisping’s game, but in the past he struggled with two kinds of opponents: pressure fighters who could take away the space he needs to operate, and big punchers who could exploit his porous defense and reliance on distance to avoid his opponent’s shots. In other words, Bisping struggled when opponents tracked him down, got in his face, and threw heavy leather.

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That happens a great deal less now. Why? Two reasons: improved footwork and an increased willingness to exchange punches with his opponent in the pocket.

Let’s take a look at footwork first. Bisping always moved a great deal, but more isn’t necessarily better. Too much movement can take a fighter out of range of his opponent or expose him to danger as he tries to escape. Bisping moves less now, but his pivots are sharper, which keeps him closer without sacrificing his defensive responsibility. This also provides more angles from which he can attack.

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Here’s an example from Bisping’s fight with Anderson Silva last February:

Bisping steps in with a left hook that clips Silva and then pulls back out of range to avoid Silva’s right-hook counter. When Silva stumbles, Bisping steps back in with a straight right and another left hook, both of which land flush on Silva’s chin. Bisping steps back again to reestablish a safe distance, but pounces when Silva falls.

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The thing to note here is how short each of Bisping’s steps is. He doesn’t pull back any further than he has to in order to avoid the counters and stay out of the danger zone, and he’s still close enough to capitalize when Silva makes a mistake.

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Here’s a great example from the Rockhold fight in June. From the overhead view, we get a perfect look at Bisping’s footwork:

Bisping is circling, trying to get his lead foot to the outside of Rockhold’s. This is called the “outside angle”, and it does two things: first, it shortens the path for the right hand, and second, it makes it harder for the opponent to see it coming. In order to get that outside angle, Bisping is taking small steps with his left foot and then pivoting to bring his right foot into place behind him. This sounds basic, but it’s not easy to make it look this fluid while standing this close to a dangerous opponent.

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The outside angle is the reason Bisping is able to plant his counter right hand on Rockhold’s chin when Rockhold tries to throw the kick. Rockhold is too close for it to land effectively, but Bisping’s right hand is on the money. That’s thanks to his footwork. Bisping ends the sequence by stepping, pivoting, and throwing a jab to establish his preferred distance and his dominant angle.

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Here’s another sequence from his fight with Silva that shows both Bisping’s footwork and how it plays together with his pace and ability to wear down his opponent:

This is classic Bisping in late-round, turned-up mode. He takes very small steps to establish the outside angle while probing with his lead hand and opens up with a left hook when Silva’s back hits the fence. It doesn’t land, but the jab and right hook that follow connects cleanly. Bisping dances back out of range to avoid a counter, but when Silva makes no attempt to get off the fence, the Englishman steps back in with a jab-cross-hook combination.

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Note, for all of these strikes, how short and efficient Bisping’s accompanying footwork is. He establishes dominant angles from which to throw and never moves further than he has to, which leaves him in position to keep the pressure and the workrate high.

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The second improvement to Bisping’s game is his willingness to exchange. In his younger years, Bisping avoided exchanges like the plague. After all, he wanted to be sticking and moving on the outside, not trading punches with opponents who were invariably harder hitters with harder chins.

Yet now he’s taken the seemingly counterintuitive step of embracing exchanges. Why? How does this help him?

Even if his opponent is more dangerous in that range, Bisping is telling his opponent that he can’t be pressured with impunity. Counters also force his opponent to give him room, which allows Bisping to escape away from the fence into the open space at the center of the cage where he prefers to operate.

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Let’s take a look at some examples. Here’s one from his fight with Rockhold:

Bisping steps in with a jab and narrowly avoids Rockhold’s counter right hook. This is where the old Bisping would have crumbled in the face of Rockhold’s pursuing jab-cross combination and run himself right into the fence.

The new Bisping, however, sticks a series of backpedalling jabs in Rockhold’s face as he retreats. Sensing the fence behind him, he plants his feet and launches a straight right-left hook combination as Rockhold enters the pocket. He moves his head to avoid Rockhold’s counter right hook, and then cuffs him with a right hook of his own to finish the exchange. The .GIF doesn’t show it, but Bisping used the space that right hand provided to circle back to safety in the middle of the cage.

Here’s one last exchange, this one from the Silva fight:

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Silva pursues Bisping. The moment he gets into range, Bisping fires off a right hand and then follows with a push kick in an attempt to force Silva back to a manageable distance. Silva stays in the pocket, however, so Bisping unleashes a jab-cross-left hook combination and tries to use it as an opportunity to pivot out and get off the fence.

The Brazilian sticks with him, however, and Bisping once again plants his feet, this time clocking Silva with a flush left hook and straight right that stagger the former champion. Now Bisping pursues, avoiding Silva’s right hook while missing with his own shots. Note how Bisping finishes the exchange with another push kick to reestablish his preferred long range.

Better footwork and the willingness to exchange don’t seem like huge changes, but they have turned a competent, charismatic gatekeeper into the middleweight champion of the world.

The footwork allows Bisping to be more efficient and push an even quicker pace than he did before while providing better angles from which to throw; the exchanges make it more difficult for opponents to take Bisping out of his preferred game. Put them together, and you get a champion.

Patrick Wyman is a mixed martial arts scout who’s earned his PhD. He hosts the Heavy Hands Podcast and contributes analysis to The Post.