Michael Bisping ångrar sista matchen – var rädd att bli helt blind

Michael Bisping har aldrig varit någon som nobbat möjligheter. Detta höll på att kosta honom hårt i slutet av hans karriär.

Den forne UFC-mellanviktsmästarens ögonproblem är väldokumenterade och orsakades vid knockoutförlusten mot Vitor Belfort år 2013 då hans näthinna lossnade. Enligt Bisping lossnade den senare en andra gång och han har även lidit av grön starr. I nuläget bär han en protes över det skadade ögat.

Bisping uttalade sig till Submission Radio att skadan tvingade honom att anpassa sig till livssituationen. Han menar att skadan är anledningen till att han blivit så ambitiös att arbeta inom media:

It certainly impacted my fight career. My depth perception was pretty much nonexistent. So, people always say, ‘How did you fight with pretty much one eye?’ And I always say the same answer: With great difficulty. And it was very difficult. … In hindsight, I guess it was a blessing in disguise, because in 2013 I got all these troubles, and this is where it all started to happen, and then I knew I was on borrowed time.

So, that gave me the mindset that I had to create a living, essentially, outside the octagon, because I was just all-in on fighting, and I was like, well, at any time I might get my license pulled away from fighting, so I’ve got to start opening doors. I started working on being an analyst, being a commentator, doing my podcast, really trying to ramp up my acting career, and just whatever business endeavors I could find myself or get involved with outside of the octagon. So it wasn’t ideal, and I wish I had two fully functioning eyes, but as I say, every cloud has a silver lining.

I slutet av karriären mötte Bisping Kelvin Gastelum och drabbades då av en än större fasa när även hans friska öga började visa skada vilket kom att influera hans beslut att lägga handskarna på hyllan:

I fight Georges St-Pierre, I lose that fight, and he knew I was blind in one eye – he targeted it. Then, I fly to Shanghai, couple of weeks later I fight Kelvin Gastelum, I get cracked, I think I’ve had a good run and that was that.

And then we go to an after-party afterward, and I’m sitting there in this club, and every time I look this way, I get a flash of light. I was like, what was that? So I look again, another flash of light. And every time I look to the left, I would get a flash of light. And I started panicking because I’m thinking, holy s*it, I don’t believe this, I’ve got a detached retina in my good eye. And I started getting emotional, in a night club. I’ve had a couple of drinks, but I’m like, f*ck, I’m thinking I’m gonna go blind.

It’s a long flight back to (Los Angeles), and I wake up halfway through and I look to my left, and there’s that flashing light. Holy sh*t, I’ve forgotten all about that. So when I land, I call my eye doctor straight away, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, you need to go see someone.’ I go in there — and whenever I’m uncomfortable, I always use humor as kind of like a mask — and I went in and I see this doctor and I say, ‘Listen, doc, I think I’ve got a detached retina in my good eye.’ And he said, ‘Alright, well, let’s take a look, I’m gonna put some drops in you’re not gonna be able to see for a while.’ And I make a joke, I say, ‘Oh well, I guess I better get used to this view, ey?’ And he says, ‘Calm down, we’re not there just yet.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not f*cking there just yet? Jesus Christ.’ I was freaking out. And anyway, turns out I had a vitreous detachment. So anyway, I was like, well, that’s it, the game is up – I don’t want to go blind.

Bisping har inte lika starka känslor kring hans just matchen mot Kelvin Gastelum. Han säger att matchen var en tjänst till UFC som förlorat Anderson Silva då denne testat positivt för steroider. I efterhand ser han valet att möta Gastelum endast några veckor efter submissionförlusten som ett stort misstag.

Anderson Silva failed a steroid test and Kelvin Gastelum needed another opponent. I was over-trained for GSP, and I was like, screw it, whatever, it is what it is, I’ll fly out there, get another payday. So, I went out there. So, listen, money’s one thing and legacy is another. You can’t buy a legacy. So, I do regret doing that Kelvin Gastelum fight, because I had no business doing that.

I was over-trained. In fact, I didn’t train for that fight whatsoever. I was overtrained from the GSP one. Then I went on the piss for a couple of weeks, and then flew out to China with my mates, you know what I mean? He was training for the biggest fight of his life, I had already been choked out a couple of weeks ago. So, the conditions weren’t right. But there was a lot of money on the table, but I knew I was almost done. And for me, that’s why I got into this, I got into it to give my family a better life. And as I said, I won’t go into the actual number, but it was a big number, it was a huge number. And I’m like, alright, well I’ll go out and collect that, and I’ll fly out to China.

Ni kan se intervjun med Bisping nedan: