Michael Bisping, the celebrated UFC champion, has made a startling confession: he secured his title and prolonged his fighting career despite being blind in one eye. His ability to compete at the highest level was maintained through deliberate deception during mandatory vision tests.
Bisping, a former middleweight titleholder, has been candid about the severe eye injuries that plagued him following a head kick from Vitor Belfort in 2013, which resulted in a detached retina. Currently, he uses a prosthetic eye cover, having been legally blind in his right eye for several years, a consequence of the damage and subsequent surgeries.
The initial detached retina from the Belfort fight marked the beginning of his ordeal, but Bisping revealed on his YouTube channel that this was merely the start of his extensive eye issues.
“While training for a UFC fight in Manchester against Mark Munoz, my sparring sessions were intense,” Bisping recounted. “The intensity was such that one sparring partner fractured his hand, another his foot, and I ended up re-detaching my retina.”
Following this, another surgery was necessary. Over time, Bisping developed glaucoma, a condition known to damage the optic nerve and potentially cause blindness. This necessitated further surgical intervention. In total, Bisping underwent six or seven eye surgeries. It was after one of these later procedures that he received the devastating news of permanent vision loss in one eye.
Despite this life-altering diagnosis, Bisping admits that retirement never crossed his mind.
“The day after surgery, I was informed that I would never regain sight in that eye,” Bisping explained. “However, I was determined to continue fighting. I won’t detail exactly how, but it involved a lot of lying and manipulating vision tests. It was an incredibly stressful period.”
Vision tests are a mandatory requirement for all fighters before competing. Bisping described the methods he employed to circumvent these tests after losing sight in one eye.
“I vividly remember an elderly Indian doctor in England who was about to conduct an eye test, genuinely believing I was there for a routine check-up,” Bisping recalled. “My strategy was to memorize the eye charts. To pass, you needed to demonstrate 20/200 vision, which on a traditional chart meant identifying the large top letter and the two letters beneath it.”
“During the test, this kind doctor covered my impaired eye first and asked what I could see. I recited ‘D, L, M,’ or whatever it was, and he didn’t even rotate the chart. I pretended to only see those initial letters. He then declared me fit to fight but cautioned me to be extremely careful, warning that any damage to my good eye would result in total blindness. I acknowledged his concern, saying I’d consider it, fully knowing I wouldn’t.”
Bisping successfully navigated these eye tests repeatedly, including before what was arguably the most significant fight of his career – the bout where he knocked out Luke Rockhold to claim the UFC middleweight championship.
“My driving ambition was to fight, and to achieve this, I had to bypass doctors, tests, and all related obstacles,” Bisping stated. “Fortunately, I was able to lie, deceive people, and exploit the trust of some kind, innocent doctors.”
“Leaving the doctor’s waiting room in England, I felt an overwhelming sense of triumph. Passing the test meant I could continue my career, provide for my family, and ultimately, as I had envisioned, become world champion. It’s an achievement I am immensely proud of, especially considering I accomplished it with only one functional eye.”
During his active fighting career, Bisping`s primary concern was simply being cleared to fight. However, as he transitioned into a television career, he recognized the need to address the aesthetic appearance of his non-functioning eye, which had become visually unappealing after he was declared blind.
This realization led Bisping to adopt a prosthetic eye cover, which he continues to use today. The prosthetic, fitted with a hand-painted lens, creates the illusion of normal vision, despite the fact that he has been sightless in his right eye for many years.
