Blindsided: Miranda Maverick details gambling with vision and optical concussions — ‘The world came crashing down’

Miranda Maverick’s dream of being a UFC fighter almost ended before it even began.

The 26-year-old flyweight competitor rose to prominence in Invicta FC, where she started in 2016 and gained the necessary experience that propelled her to the big show with a 7-2 record. However, a concerning issue with Maverick’s eyes was discovered during a doctor’s check-up 24 hours ahead of her clash with Liana Jojua at UFC 254 in October 2020.

“It changed how I look at fighting as a whole,” Maverick told MMA Mania. “When they told me a day before I was supposed to make my UFC debut that I’d never fight again, that I’d never do much of anything again and I’d have to have emergency surgery on both my eyes. I was very freaked out, very concerned about my overall health.

“In that moment, the world came crashing down. I was like, you’re telling me I can’t look at screens anymore, which means my career outside of it was basically over. School was out of the question for a while because I couldn’t see to do my schoolwork or anything for two months. They were like, ‘You’ll never fight again so get over that idea.’ And I was like, what is happening with my life?”

Maverick still went on to have her UFC debut opposite Jojua, which she won in a one-sided fashion with the utilization of her strong striking game that led to a first-round TKO. Coincidentally via a doctor’s stoppage, albeit a cut rather than an internal issue for opponent.

The time to reassess and find solutions came after. Maverick sought out the aid of surgeons who may be able to help and fears only escalated. With aspirations of one day starting a family, Maverick was met with the jarring conclusion from two surgeons that she wouldn’t be able to have children without risking her vision because of the pressure labor would put on her eyes.

Ultimately, Maverick did find a surgeon who could help, as they had dealt with similar issues working with children.

The Tunas, Missouri native went 4-2 to start her UFC stint before running into Canada’s Jasmine Jasudavicius at UFC 289 this past June. Unfortunately for Maverick, she suffered a unanimous decision loss and performed uncharacteristically in the three-round affair.

Perhaps the largest reason for that was because Maverick suffered an optical concussion in the bout, which is where the optical nerve of the eye gets hit “wrong” and swells, leaving vision blinded for roughly 30 minutes — the span of two full non-title MMA fights. This is just the reality the flyweight permanently lives with now and the occurrences are regular, says Maverick. It’s all about working with it and adjusting to compete.

“Obviously, my retinas are okay now,” she said. “They’re still high risk, but I’m fine to fight, I’m very careful with them in training, and I do what I can to stay safe and healthy with them. But in that few days, you learn to not take it for granted. Not just the fighting, but life in general. Specifically in fighting, it’s like, every second I’m in there, I’m grateful I have the opportunity to be in there. Every second I’m in there, I’m like, ‘Wow, all this could have went away like that.’ And the people who are like, ‘Oh, I’m the best’ and get cocky, you better be careful, or something is gonna sit you on your ass and you’ll never be able to say that again.

“Go in there with a heart of gratefulness, but also be confident in your abilities.”

Maverick has since rebounded off the Jasudavicius loss with a dominant effort over Priscila Cachoeira to earn a third-round armbar at UFC 291 only one month later. Ideally, Maverick has wanted to keep her activity levels high following her duo of summer dances. The outlook has certainly changed: Be and do the best that you can because you never know when it may be gone, while also coming to the calming reality that there’s more to life than being just a fighter.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

For the time being, Maverick is fully in the midst of her near-10-year pro career (12-5), though. The Invicta alum now gets set to return with a full circle matchup against a fellow former member of that roster, Andrea Lee, at UFC 298 in Anaheim, California on Feb. 17, 2024.

“She’s always been an inspiration as I’ve gone through the sport and it’s kind of my time to shine,” Maverick said. “I respect her and I think she has good skills everywhere and I think I’m just better in a lot of areas.

“She’s been working on wrestling a lot lately and I know — I watch my own fights, just like I watch my opponent’s fights and I criticize them a lot. I’ll go through and if I was my opponent watching my fights, what do I see that the weaknesses are? So, obviously, me and my coaches go through and try to improve on those weaknesses. I know one of the things has been like wrestling defense in a lot of people’s eyes. I’ve got great top pressure but not so much on bottom and well, that’s about to change.

“Ever since the Erin Blanchfield fight I’ve really been improving on that working on it making wrestling and bottom grappling a big focus of mine,” she concluded. “So I plan on on going in here, using my striking to set up everything of course and maybe getting a knockout. We’ll see. That’s the hope, I would find that very exciting but if not, I’m hoping to get a finish on the ground.”