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TORONTO -- Michael Bisping is used to being the villain. The English middleweight might as well have worn a black hat to the cage for his fights. But now living in California, the 33-year-old Bisping seems to be enjoying an image makeover of sorts. Hes not exactly cage-fightings answer to Mother Teresa these days but he seems to have more fans than before. "I dont know what it is, but Im certainly getting a lot more love on Twitter these days," Bisping told The Canadian Press. Some of the Bisping-related tweets used to be R-rated, but times have changed. "Now every day theres at least five, 10 tweets of people saying I used to absolutely hate you but now Im actually a fan. Good luck in Canada etcetera etcetera. I get a lot of that type of thing these days." The Twitter-sphere does show examples of Bisping backers. "Good luck this weekend mate, weird to see so many positive comments from americans about you these days haha," offered one Bisping believer. "Good luck on ufc 152 Count!" said another. "Always been a fan of u, ur not just a fighter but also a great good example to all dads out there!" Odds are Bisping wont be the target of the boo-birds at UFC 152 in Toronto this weekend. That may be reserved for light-heavyweight champion Jon (Bones) Jones, who has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently (DUI and dispute with UFC boss Dana White over his opponent). Jones takes on Brazilian Vitor (The Phenom) Belfort on Saturday at the Air Canada Centre while Bisping (23-4) meets (All-American) Brian Stann (12-4) in a fight that has 185-pound title implications. While Bisping has been short on self-editing in the past, he rarely fails to charm in person. And hes not the type to say one thing in private and another in public. "I know Ive made my fair share of mistakes over the years. Im not perfect," said Bisping, who used to work on a furniture assembly line. "But Im certainly not fake either and I think some people respect that ... With me, what you see if what you get." North American fans have got to see more of him, thanks to his proximity to Los Angeles and his ease in front of the camera. In the past, Bisping has fought best when he was angry with his opponent. That has made for plenty of trash-talk. He made Jorge (El Conquistador) Rivera pay for comments he thought were critical of his family. And he punished Jason (Mayhem) Miller after their stint as rival coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter." Bisping admits its hard to work up a hate for a war hero like Stann, whose day job is finding jobs for wounded veterans. "He seems like a pretty decent guy, unfortunately" said Bisping, who did the high-in-the-sky CN Tower walk with the decorated ex-marine as part of the pre-fight publicity. "Theres not much meat on the bone in terms of trash-talk," he added. "Hes a nice guy." Still, old habits die hard and Bisping couldnt resist a few shots at Stann in a recent blog for Yahoo! Sports. "A stupid mistake aside, I mince Brian Stanns arse like burger meat nine times out of 10," he wrote. "Stann has talked big about how hes going to put me to sleep. Well, thats a fact. I cant avoid it. None of us can. Brian is going to tell some more deathly boring old war stories at the pre-fight press conference, and we are all going to be in for a snooze," the Brit added. And after an appearance on "The Jim Rome show," Bisping was quoted by the TV host on Twitter as saying middleweight Alan (The Talent) Belcher -- famous for his prominent Johnny Cash ink --"has the worst tattoo this side of that fat pervert in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Back in the cage, a win over Stann and Bisping can move to the top of the middleweight contenders ladder, joining the likes of Chris Weidman. The problem is champion Anderson Silvas dance card is filling up already. Silva, stepping in to help fill a main event void at UFC 153, is moving up to light-heavyweight (205 pounds) to fight Stephan Bonnar on Oct. 13 in Rio de Janeiro. For the record, Bisping has been quoted saying Silva will "decapitate" Bonnar. After that, theres talk that Silva will meet welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at a catchweight of 180 pounds, providing that GSP can dispose of interim title-holder Carlos Condit first. "(UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva said if I beat Brian Stann in a dominant fashion then that sets me up for a title shot," said Bisping. "But with all the talk of GSP and Anderson Silva ... I dont think its likely Ill be the next in line." First up for the Brit is the hard-punching Stann, however. The American has won four of his last five, with the only loss coming at the hands of Chael Sonnen two fights ago. Stann, 31, knocked out Alessio Sakara in April. Bisping has also won four of his last five, dropping a decision to Sonnen last timer out on a televised card in January. While not the hardest puncher in MMA, Bisping is a good technical striker with a good all-round game who rarely comes into the cage with a poor game plan. He has worked hard on shoring up his wrestling and it shows. "Now Im happy with where my wrestling is and I can dictate where the fight takes place. Im good at defending and I can also take people down as well." Bisping took Sonnen, a decorated wrestler, down in the third round and stopped three of Sonnens seven attempts. "Who knows. Brian Stann, Im going to go out there and bang with him but if the opportunity for a takedowns there, I certainly will take him down and punish him on the floor as well." Bisping won Season 3 of "The Ultimate Fighter" and served as coach on Seasons 9 and 14 of the reality TV show. In particular, Season 9 -- a U.S. versus United Kingdom format -- did little for Bispings image on this side of the Atlantic. Never a wall flower, Bisping acknowledges he "said and did a few things maybe when I was younger" than he shouldnt have. Loose lips aside, Bisping has steadily built up his fight resume. His UFC record is 12-4 with the losses coming to Sonnen, Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva, Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans. Sonnen, Silva and Evans were all decisions. Henderson stopped Bisping in the second round with a knockout as brutal as they come "I personally believe Ive only lost one fight and that was to Dan Henderson," Bisping said. "The others have always been debatable decisions that judges felt I lost on the night. Ive never had my ass kicked, Ive never been completely smashed for three rounds. "Dan Henderson caught me with a good shot and put me to sleep. Fair play. Other than that, Ive got a near perfect record in the UFC after six years in the organization. "So yeah, I feel I deserve a shot. Ive got to get past Brian Stann first, though. Ive got my hand full with that. Hes no pushover but if I do that job, then yeah, I think I deserve a shot pretty soon." The Brit reckons the time is right. "Im in my prime. I dont know if Im going to continue getting better but right now Im certainly the best mixed martial artist that Ive ever been in my life, without a shadow of a doubt -- technically, athletically and mentally as well." Bisping was due to fight at UFC 149 in Calgary but was sidelined by a knee and shoulder injury. Colin Kaepernick Jersey . A brief statement from Galatasaray on Saturday said a deal was reached with Inter but that talks with Sneijder were ongoing. It did not disclose terms of the deal with Inter, which is in a contract dispute with Sneijder and wants him to take a pay cut. Colin Kaepernick Womens Jersey . Begin, who missed all of last season due to hip surgery, returns to the team that drafted him back in 1996. http://elevatedcolor.com/new.html . He couldnt help the Rangers on Tuesday night in their 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. Mike Trout and Albert Pujols hit home runs in a three-run sixth to help make a winner out of Jered Weaver. The Angels followed up a nine-run sixth inning on Monday by sending seven hitters to the plate in the sixth on Tuesday.(Sports Network) - The San Antonio Spurs seemed to have righted themselves from a brief funk and look to remain perfect on a four-game homestand when they host the Toronto Raptors tonight at the AT&T Center. Toronto has been on a roll lately with five wins in a row and will begin a three-game road trip against the Spurs, Hornets and Orlando Magic. The Raptors have struggled away from Canada this season, losing 14 of their 16 road games, and are 0-9 as the visitor against teams from the West. The Raptors extended their season high winning streak to five games with a 93-90 triumph versus Orlando as DeMar DeRozan led six Raptors in double figures with 17 points and also pulled down eight rebounds. DeRozan has been playing well all season and has scored 14 or more points in 10 of the first 11 games in December. Jose Calderon added 13 points and nine assists for Toronto, which has held opponents under 100 points in a season-high seven straight games and won despite shooting 40.7 percent for the night. Terrence Ross had 13 points in a winning effort and is averaging 10.4 ppg in the previous five. "Hes playing well," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of Ross. "Hes earning every second hes on the floor, mainly on the defensive end. He got some key rebounds, some tough rebounds in traffic. "Were not developing Terrence Ross, hes earning every minute of it. If he wasnt, he wouldnt be out there." For how well Toronto has been playing defense lately, the Spurs can light it up practically every night. The Raptors are a dismal 0-13 when allowing the opposition to reach the 100-point mark. The Raptors havent won six in a row since Marchh 22 - April 4, 2009.dddddddddddd. They lost to the Spurs, 111-106, in double overtime at Air Canada Centre back on Nov. 25 and are winless in the past four meetings. Toronto has dropped its last three and nine of 10 games in the Alamo City. DeRozan is averaging 20.7 ppg in six games against the Spurs. The Spurs had lost two straight and four of five games until opening the homestand with a win over the New Orleans Hornets last week. They then made it back-to-back victories courtesy of Sundays 129-91 blowout of the rival Dallas Mavericks and spoiled the return of Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki had missed the opening of the season to recover from offseason knee surgery and was held to eight points in 20 minutes of action. Danny Green led the Spurs with 25 points and made 7-of-8 3-pointers, while Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard scored 18 and 17 points, respectively. Tim Duncan posted 14 points for the Spurs, who shot 56 percent for the game and hit 20-of-30 from beyond the arc (66.7 percent). "Luckily it felt good tonight. Some nights you have it and some nights you dont," said Green. "Good thing we had it tonight. Not just myself, but everybody else on the team also stepped up and knocked down some shots. It helped us open up the lead a little bit." San Antonios 20 3-point makes set a new franchise record for most in a single game. The Spurs, who scored 25 points off 20 Dallas turnovers, have won six in a row at home and are 10-2 in the Alamo City this season. They will wrap up the residency Friday versus Houston. In injury news for the Spurs, guard Gary Neal is questionable Wednesday with a strained right calf. ' ' '