Can one fight with bad eyesight? While the most common answer might be a huge NO, you’ll be surprised to know that there are UFC fighters with bad vision. One such athlete is Sharaputdin Magomedov. He made his UFC debut at UFC 294 in 2023 against Bruno Silva in Abu Dhabi. He won the fight via a unanimous decision. As he awaits his second fight on UFC on ABC 6, let’s have a look at what the fighter said about his vision.

Be aware! It is not for the fainthearted. In 2023, even Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier were left stunned.

‘Shara Bullet’ shared the story of brutal eye surgeries

In a September 2022 interview with ‘ATHLETISTIC’, Sharaputdin Magomedov revealed that it took a total of eight eye surgeries, and his fighting career was put on hold before he could finally return to the sport he loves. Magomedov pulled back the curtain on the terrifying ordeal he had to go through. “There were such operations when an injection in the eye had to be made, where it was removed, one might say. At this time, local anesthesia is administered, but you feel everything.”

He admitted that he lost complete vision in one eye. And prior to the surgeries, he was afraid of infecting his injured eye every time he trained. But when did this happen? His distress began before he joined the UFC. One unfortunate day, things went south after a tough training session in Thailand. His eyesight deteriorated after that. Owing to that, he had to stay away from competing for three years- March 2018 to July 2021.

“They pierce it from two or three sides. It seems that a puncture is a camera, and the other two are something to pump, upload something there. I had many different stages, my eyes were tortured specifically,” he stated. Surely, it was a tough time for an elite fighter like him. But when the doctor stated, “The worst thing that can happen to your eye has already happened. Therefore, you can practice,” he got right back to the cage.

It is quite surprising to know that despite being partially blind, the fighter has an undefeated record. Historically, the Russian won most of his fights via KO/TKO. In fact, even Rogan and Cormier were awestruck to know how Sharaputdin Magomedov fought with limited vision. Last year, they discussed it on the JRE MMA Show.

“He’s good”: When Joe Rogan wouldn’t stop raving about Sharaputdin Magomedov

Discussing Sharaputdin Magomedov’s debut win at UFC 294, Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier during the JRE MMA Show #150 looked stunned at Magomedov’s ability to fight with compromised vision and this led to the pair diving deeper into ‘Shara Bullet’s story. Rogan’s podcast producer, Jamie, brought up an article that the podcast host read out loud, exclaiming, “Meet the controversial UFC prospect who is partially blind in one eye. He can see light, I think, in that other eye, I think.”

Cormier seemed impressed by the fighter’s spirit as he lauded Magomedov’s nickname affirming, “They call him Shara bullet….there it is, yeah he can fight Joe” to which Rogan responded by stating, “Oh, he’s f**king good…. He’s had a ton of surgeries on that eye too… try to save it.”

The pair also pulled up a highlight video of Magomedov and Cormier was stunned to find out that the fighter didn’t always have compromised vision, prompting Rogan to explain what took place. “… Yeah, he got his eye poked, had a detached retina, had multiple surgeries on it.”

In a past interview, Magomedov had revealed that he wasn’t blind in the damaged eye but rather had partial vision. While Rogan has asserted that it was due to an eye poke, it’s hard to find verifiable sources as to what the cause of the injury was. However, let us not forget that Michael Bisping did it too. He fought with just one eye.

In 2013, he faced Vitor Belford. He wanted to get into title contention, and Bisping was the right opponent. After a bit of back-and-forth in the first round, Belford’s head kick dropped ‘The Count’. The Brazilian won via KO but for Bisping, the damage was more than a fight loss. He suffered a detached retina.

Unfortunately, it took the fighter and the doctors months to notice it. This added to the severity. However, for the longest time, the British fighter kept his injury a secret, afraid that the promotion wouldn’t let him compete. For the rest of his MMA career, he fought with a 20/200 vision. He competed in 11 fights after this incident and his last bout was in 2017. It seems Magomedov aspired to do something similar.

What are your thoughts on Sharaputdin Magomedov’s story of perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds? Let us know in the comments below.