As the clock ticks away for the highly anticipated showdown, UFC 308, popular sensation Sharaputdin Magomedov opens the Abu Dhabi card with a middleweight ringer against Russian-Armenian Thai boxer Armen Patrosyan in the main card. Despite losing vision in his right eye, the Dagestani is undefeated in his professional campaign, which begs the question, is he the first of his kind in the UFC?
Well, of course, the answer is yes! British middleweight Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping faced similar challenges.
Magomedov suffered a career-altering injury similar to that of the former champ and current UFC commentator, Bisping.
While ‘The Count’ Bisping sustained a grave injury when he fought Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX after the Brazilian’s kick detached his retina, Magomedov injured his during a training session in Thailand.
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According to reports, this happened back in 2018 and it almost drove him out of competition for a prolonged span of three years.
Now, besides these two, has any other one-eyed fighters ever competed in the UFC? Not likely. However, there have been a few who have hurt their eyes while fighting.
UFC women’s Flyweight fighter, Miranda Maverick, experienced something similar when she went “completely blind” in one eye during a decision loss to Jasmine Jasudavicius.
Towards the end of her three-rounder last year at UFC 289, the fighter admitted that she was fighting “scared” and revealed that her blurry vision worsened by the end of R2, and her left eye was completely blind by the last round. Then there was Swedish MMA fighter Renato Vidovic was forced to hang his gloves due to a serious eye injury.
Even though he never competed in the UFC, Vidovic after his fight at FCR 19 woke up the next day with an intense headache. Upon review by the doctors, flyweight’s orbital bone was found to be broken and he had an aggressive infection in his body that needed immediate surgery.
Sadly, Vidovic lost his left eye and eventually retired from MMA with a heavy heart.
However, ‘Bullet’ hasn’t let the injured right eye stop him from competing and it’s all thanks to his inspiration – Michael Bisping! As a matter of fact, the fighter was vocal about the Brit’s role in his career.
Magomedov tips his hat off to his inspiration
Despite the obvious disadvantage, the ruthless Russian has amassed an impeccable 14-0-0, going undefeated in the UFC with three straight wins. This wouldn’t have been possible without former MW champion, Michael Bisping. Ahead of his UFC 308 bout, during the promotion’s media day event the Russian paid a befitting homage to the fighter who inspired him.
“When it comes to Bisping, yes he is a motivation because he’s somebody who has went down this path already. He’s laid down the path and he should set an example for me. So it’s much easier to follow somebody’s path as opposed to wander around in the dark.”
He also talked about how Bisping made him believe he could do anything he wanted to and added:
“I think the way he is a motivator for me and for other people is he said that everything is possible. The most important thing is not to let your hands down and keep on going forward and keep on chasing your dream, and then it’s possible.”
In the case of Magomedov, while he is currently a rising prospect in the 185 lb division, Bisping overcame all adversity with a blind eye to capture the middleweight title.
As a matter of fact, on his route to the title, he beat several champions including ‘The Spider’ Anderson Silva, Luke Rockhold among others. Hopefully Shara can continue with his unique legacy.
