UFC fighter says he can't see opponents clearly until they get close

Kurtis Campbell can’t see his opponents clearly inside the Octagon.

Campbell wears considerably thick-lensed glasses when out of competition. The Liverpool native seems to be heavily dependent on them, putting them back on immediately after his fights. Campbell recently revealed that his eyesight is poor and that his opponents appear blurry to him until they get close.

While Campbell tried contact lenses when he was young, he was too nervous to put them in. The Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight eventually got used to fighting without contact lenses and prefers it this way now.

“My eyesight is really bad, but at the same time I love my glasses,” Campbell told Ariel Helwani. “I would never change them… I tried contacts when I was younger, but I was always too nervous; I couldn’t put them in. So, I got used to fighting without them and I don’t think I’ve ever gone back since. I’ve always preferred it that way… Because of how big the UFC cage is, [my opponent] is blurry and then once we get closer, it gets a little better.”

Campbell (9-1) earned his UFC contract with a first-round technical knockout win on Dana White’s Contender Series last year. He then suffered a knockout loss to Danny Silva in his UFC debut in London this past March. “The Pink Panther” rebounded with a dominant submission win over Trevor Peek at UFC Paris.