“I Was in So Much Pain”: One Eye Lost, Michael Bisping Discloses Other Life-Threatening Injuries Suffered While Chasing Greatness

From Michael Bisping losing an eye from Vitor Belfort‘s slightly misplaced head kick to Anderson Silva breaking his leg against Chris Weidman, there are tons of examples of UFC fighters suffering frightening injuries throughout their careers. And a harsh reality of sports, including MMA, is that athletes often fight through injuries because giving up isn’t essentially an option.

This is what makes Bisping’s story so inspirational, too. He fought Belfort in 2013 and went on a rocky run with two wins and two losses. Then came the resurgence of “The Count” as he racked up three consecutive wins, which also included a hard-fought decision victory against Silva, headlining the O2 Arena in London. Next was a short-notice title shot against Luke Rockhold, and as a massive underdog, Bisping pulled off one of the biggest upsets in history by knocking out the UFC middleweight champion in the first round.

Bisping went on to defend the title once against Dan Henderson and eventually lost it to Georges St-Pierre, in another war, to say the least. He retired after the KO loss to Kelvin Gastelum, but left behind a legacy celebrated to date. However, this path has been much harder than it already looks, as the former UFC champ recently opened up about several other injuries that distressed him.

Bisping, while talking to Mike Bohn, shared his health troubles since retiring, “Last year was so bad I honestly didn’t know how I was going to continue living my life. I was in so much pain. It was insane. I had three surgeries back to back. None of them helped; in fact, all they’ve done is made my condition worse.”

A rundown of Bisping’s injuries is truly nerve-racking, “I’ve got one eye. I’ve got two total knee replacements. I’ve got a torn labrum I need to get operated on. I’ve got a gigantic lump on my wrist; they want to do an operation on that. My nose is destroyed because they took my ribs and rebuilt my nose, but they messed that up, so I can’t breathe through my nose at night.”

The UFC star, as jarring as it sounds, admitted that injuries are a part of MMA and if he wanted to become a champ like he did, he had to endure them. “But this neck is so bad, man. It’s so bad. But it is what it is. I lived an absolutely phenomenal life and I still live a great life. As the hours go on throughout the day, it gets tougher and tougher. But, we crack on mate, we crack on, I knew what I was signing up for,” said Bisping on the interview.

Now, all this makes one wonder, how did this guy ever manage to win a UFC belt?

How Michael Bisping managed to fight for a UFC title with one eye

Bisping was aware that a lot of MMA commissions in the USA do not allow fighters with one eye to compete officially because of the obvious physical advantage for the opponent. So, through some lying and other tricks that he definitely won’t share, “The Count” managed to pass the physical exams ahead of his fights and continued to fight until he faced problems seeing out of his other eye, too.

On the Jaxxon Podcast, Bisping also talked about the stress he went through because he could always be pulled out of a fight just a day before if the examiners ever caught his secret. A more light-hearted memory that he now laughs about is him planning code words with his coach to help him pass the eye tests where each eye’s vision is examined separately.

All in all, Bisping might be one of the craftiest trash talkers in UFC history, but the most important highlight of his career is battling through countless injuries and not stopping until finally becoming champion. In hindsight, his 30-9 record, which mostly includes defeats to championship-caliber fighters, should not be judged by the losses but by how many fights he won against all odds.