Michael Bisping and Sharabutdin Magomedov took the phrase, ‘seeing eye-to-eye’, quite literally. Because that’s exactly what they did when they met up. Both fighters have just one functioning eye and are living testaments to the oddity of the fighting business.
Although Bisping does not fight anymore, the Brit became a UFC champion with one glass eye! And while ‘Bullet’ is still raw and on the rise, he has a long way to go before he reaches the level of the Brit.
One can only imagine how difficult it must have been for someone with an obvious disadvantage to try and make it in a sport that depends on all the senses working in tandem with utmost proficiency.
But for Shara ‘Bullet’, it helps that there is someone there at the very pinnacle of the sport, who overcame the exact same physical disadvantage.
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Ahead of his next fight, the Russian fighter finally got a chance to meet his idol and fans loved to see the pair interacting, joking, “Definitely seeing eye to eye”.
One fan reiterated this being a super cool moment, especially for Magomedov, and said, “This is pretty wholesome ngl”.
Another fan spoke about how the pair may have only one eye each, but they make up for it: “Two eyes between them but the heart and mindset of 10”. This fan compared the pair to the mythical one-eyed Greek creature, “Bisping looking out for his fellow cyclops in the fight game #oneeyegang”.
Regardless of the jokes, it was good to see a young fighter meet his hero in a sport he’s currently pursuing.
Magomedov on Bisping, his inspiration
Sharabutdin ‘Bullet’ Magomedov made it very clear when he joined the UFC that there was one man he looked up to; a man who shared the same circumstances as him, former middleweight champion Michael Bisping.
After running into him ahead of his next fight, the Russian went on to talk about how the Brit inspired him when he was the man of the hour
“Bisping has really motivated me a lot when he was fighting in the UFC. I know about his health issues and that was also a factor…It’s a huge motivation for me especially since he became champion.”
‘Bullet’ sees Bisping as the blueprint, a one-eyed UFC fighter who became champion. He fights in the UFC with the same goals in mind right now.
However, that is easier said than done. Sure, he has the potential to do it, but the division he fights in is stacked to the brim and he needs to take his place.
The middleweight title currently belongs to Dricus Du Plessis, who just beat one of the greatest middleweight champions of all time, Israel Adesanya, and is poised to fight former champion Sean Strickland.
At the same time, two of the biggest contenders in the division, Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev are going up against each other to determine who fights DDP next.
So yes, right now Magomedov has a long way to go. But given that he’s already made the difficult journey to the UFC, this should be well within his reach in some time.
