The rise of MMA can be told through the eyes of England’s own Bisping, the former UFC Middleweight Champion who has been at the top of the mountain.
In a recent question and answer session at the Bang Tao Muay Thai and MMA gym on the island’s west coast, Bisping reflected on his career while answering fans.
“When I started my career, I remember being in little rooms, with puddles on the mats. We would figure out ways to avoid that, having to look up ways how to train. Now you can come to Phuket at this amazing facility, it’s incredible,” he told the crowd.
The Q&A session was the first of several events that the English legend took part in across the weekend of Aug 9-10 at the famed gym, which culminated in a special training seminar for would-be fighters on the last day.
During the talk with fans, however, Bisping answered fan’s questions about some of the biggest moments of his career including his famous win over then-UFC Middleweight champion (185 pounds, 83.9 kg) Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 in June 2016 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, USA.
As a late replacement, Bisping knocked out Rockhold in the first round to become the UFC Middleweight Champion. It was one of the most inspiring comeback stories in UFC history. What made it extra special was the fact that the two had fought two years earlier, with American Rockhold taking the win.
Bisping then went on to successfully defend the title against Dan Henderson on Oct 8, 2016 in Manchester, UK, in a rematch of their infamous UFC 100 bout seven years previous where Henderson secured the win via second round knock-out.
Bisping retired in 2018 with a record of 30 wins and 9 losses, having fought the best opponents of his era, including Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.
Clinically blind
But what is even more incredible is the fact that 47-year-old Bisping fought the latter half of his career essentially with one eye.
“My vision (in my right eye) was pretty much non-existent since 2013,” he told MMA Junkie years later. “It was difficult. To pass the medical test, you’ve got to have 20-200 vision, which is classed as clinically blind anyway, so it’s not very good – it’s not a very hard mark to pass. Some days I could, some days I couldn’t. But fortunately, I was just able to scrape by.”
Bisping suffered a detached retina in his fight against Vitor Belfort in 2013 in Brazil. The injury worsened over time and he eventually lost the use of his right eye. Now, years after his retirement in 2018, Bisping doesn’t hesitate to show fans how the prosthetic eye fits in the palm of his hand.
The resilience to be able to withstand the loss of half your vision, and not just continue, but thrive, is what has endeared Bisping to fans around the world.
“My body is destroyed, but I have no regrets. I have made an incredible life and still live an indelible life and my family is living an incredible life,” he told the fans at the Bang Tao Q&A.
“So to me this is nothing. Yeah I’m in pain… but its all been worth it. I could have spent my life working a dead-end job, being miserable. But I have lived life.
“So, yeah, the eye happened, and I was still able to continue fighting, but it didn’t feel like anything at the time.”