...Mainstream exposure in the Uk<br /><br
<br /><br />Michael Bisping used to make a living plastering walls. Now his job is to fight inside eight of them.A world-renowned athlete in mixed martial arts - a sport contested in a fenced ring and made famous by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) - the Englishman has been a plasterer, postman, tiler and DJ.<br />But after years of barely being able to pay his bills, Bisping can now make hundreds of thousands of dollars in one night inside the UFC's octagon.Just don't call it a cage.<br /><br />"You'll never hear me call myself a cage fighter. I detest the term. I'm a mixed martial artist - I'm not a thug. This is a lifetime's work," Bisping, 35, tells BBC Sport."I think people use that expression to have negativeconnotations."Yes, to the layman, we fight in a cage. We call it an octagon and it's there as a safety measure to stop people falling through the ropes."<br /><br />A decade ago, Bisping committed fully to the pursuit of an MMA career. Initially it was a financial nightmare - until he hit the big league.<br />"Once I started fighting in UFC, things took a big U-turn," he says. "After my second fight I came home and paid my mortgage off."<br />Born to an English father and Northern Irish mother at an army base in Cyprus, Bisping grew up in Clitheroe, Lancashire, and is now a bona fide American sporting star. MMA, particularly the brand played out under the bright lights of the UFC, is a phenomenon Stateside, and Bisping is one of its major players.In a sport based around kickboxing, karate, jujitsu, wrestling and other combat styles, the concept is simple: knock out your opponent or make them submit. Bisping, married with two children and based in Orange County, is a top-10 middleweight and one of the UFC's highest earners.<br /><br />In April last year, he reportedly took home $425,000 (£265,000) after winning a fight in front of a New Jersey crowd of 15,000 and more than half a million pay-per-view subscribers.<br /><br />Rest of article can be read here: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/29879419 (Blue please)