Michael Bisping Announces MMA Retirement Citing Vision Problems

Michael Bisping has announced his retirement from mixed martial arts. 

The former UFC middleweight champion confirmed his decision Monday on his Believe You Me podcast, saying "issues" with his eye had played a part in his decision. Per Steven Marrocco of MMAJunkie.com, Bisping had surgery on a detached retina, courtesy of Vitor Belfort, in 2013.

Bisping, 39, shared that "of course I've got issues with my eye. After the (Kelvin) Gastelum fight, I started having issues with my good eye, which I've never spoken about before."

He continued: "It ain't worth it. What else am I going to do? I won the belt, I've had tons of wins. I've done everything I set out to achieve. 

"What's the point of flogging a dead horse? Not that I'm a dead horse, but what's the point? … I've used my platform to open other doors. You've got to know when to walk away. I'm almost 40 years old—the time is now."

MMA journalist Ariel Helwani relayed a statement from Bisping's manager, Audie Attar:

The British fighter bows out with a 30-9 professional MMA record (20-9 in the UFC) and reached the peak of his career back in 2016 when he stunned Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 to claim the UFC middleweight title. 

He subsequently defended the belt against Dan Henderson before back-to-back defeats to Georges St-Pierre and Kelvin Gastelum in November of last year.

In the wake of the second defeat, Bisping said he was not planning to retire, per Matt Erickson of MMAJunkie.com.

And, per Marrocco, a third meeting with Rockhold or potential bout against Nick Diaz were still on the table until recently.

However, Bisping has now opted to call it a day after an eventful and impressive career.