Shara Magomedov’s rising star in the UFC seems to be unhindered by even a first defeat back in February as fans continue to follow the Russian.
With more of a kickboxing background than the traditional sambo and wrestling of his native Dagestan, Magomedov burst on to the scene in 2023. He continued to knock out rivals until eventually meeting his match in Michael ‘Venom’ Page in Riyadh earlier this year.
Now, he returns at UFC Abu Dhabi against Marc-Andre Barriault in an effort to re-enter the win column. Indeed, all of his UFC wins have come despite the fact that ‘Shara Bullet‘ is blind in one eye, and competes with a glass eye.
How did Shara Magomedov lose his eye?
It is unclear when exactly Shara Magomedov suffered his eye injury, but it is understood that during a Muay Thai sparring session he was injured and eventually lost vision entirely. He attempted to stem the damage, but after eight surgeries his vision was unable to be saved.
Doctors eventually recommended that he remove the eye altogether, which he explained during an interview with Athletistic. This terrified the fighter, who didn’t so much as want injections in his eye much less to lose it altogether.
“Before the operation, I was mainly afraid of an injection in the eye,” he said. “I watched this video. Very unpleasant. I thought that was the most boring thing ever.
“And 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.”
In the end, between his injury and the fact that he was struggling financially to live in Dagestan, he considered retiring altogether. But he ended up instead transitioning to MMA, where he made a name for himself in Russia before landing a UFC contract.
As a result of his injury, it has been difficult for the UFC to book him around the world. He is able to compete in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but it appears many major states would refuse to licence a fighter who only has one working eye, which has curtailed his career.
Shara Magomedov was inspired to compete by Michael Bisping’s rise
After his MMA retirement, Michael Bisping became infamous for having fought to a world title without vision in one of his eyes. Years prior he had been blinded during a fight with Vitor Belfort, and by the time he knocked out Luke Rockhold for the belt he only had one working eye.
He has since taken Magomedov under his wing in a certain sense, despite the pair having a pretty considerable language barrier. The Russian cannot speak a word of English, and even if he could Bisping’s dialect from Northern England is likely confusing for those new to the language.
“It’s incredible, man, what you’ve achieved so far,” Bisping told Magomedov during a video on his YouTube channel before the Page fight. “I know what you’re going to do in the future and you should be very proud, I’m inspired by you, I really am and I truly mean that.”
“You are a legend,” Magomedov said in a rare moment of emotion from the otherwise stoic knockout artist. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for you, I probably would have stopped fighting.”