Former UFC champion Michael Bisping removed his prosthetic eyeball during an interview with middleweight contender Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov.
Magomedov is undefeated inside the UFC Octagon since signing with the promotion in 2023, and extended his record to a perfect 15-0 with a performance of the night bonus-winning double spinning backfist against Armen Petrosyan in October.
On Saturday the 30-year-old faces the toughest test of his career to date when he takes on elusive striker Michael ‘Venom’ Page in the co-main event of the UFC’s first event in Saudi Arabia.
In the lead-up to the clash, Bisping – who will serve as colour commentator for the event – sat down with Magomedov for a pre-fight interview.
Early in his fighting career, Magomedov suffered an injury that went untreated and despite several surgeries reportedly left him with just 60% vision in his right eye, an issue Bisping is all too familiar with.
Like Magomedov, Bisping also famously endured a serious optical injury during his career, stemming from a detached retina suffered in a KO loss to Vitor Belfort in 2013.
GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
Michael Bisping removed his prosthetic eyeball during his interview with Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov
The UFC middleweight contender is partially blind, leading to Bisping branded them the ‘one eye brothers’
Magomedov revealed that Bisping’s battles with adversity led to him continuing his own career
The first Brit to win a UFC title now wears an ocular prosthesis in his right eye.
As the interview came to an end, Bisping removed his prosthetic and branded the pair the ‘one eye brothers’.
The 45-year-old also asked Magomedov whether he had considered a similar procedure to which the Russian insisted that he had not.
Bisping then added: ‘It doesn’t matter, you look good, you own it.
‘I’m a p****, everybody was bullying me online, saying mean things, they hurt my feelings so I tried to hide it.’
Magomedov later insisted that Bisping’s battles through adversity had helped him continue on in his own quest to capture UFC gold.
‘You are a legend,’ Magomedov said. ‘Honestly, if it wasn’t for your example, I probably would have stopped fighting.’
UFC Fight Night 250 in Riyadh also features the return of former middleweight king Israel Adesanya, who takes on surging contender Nassourdine Imavov in the main event.
