Blind MMA fighter Lee Hoy is a real-life 'Daredevil'

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Lee Hoy, of South Shields, U.K., has been visually impaired since birth, but it wasn't until he started doing mixed martial arts fighting three years ago that he gained a confidence he felt he'd never had before, he told the Shields Gazette in 2015.

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"I'm a totally changed person because of the sport, and feel a lot more confident in myself and happy," he said. "I can walk the streets with my head high, and feel that I can look after myself if I need to."

Hoy's retinas were damaged by toxoplasmosis, and he grew up being told "I'd never be able to read, write, ride a bike or even go to school," he told the Gazette. But, he said, "I did all of that."

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Now he's trying to push himself "further." Hoy started doing MMA fighting as a way to learn "self-defense skills," the Gazette reported, but now he competes — taking on both visually-impaired and sighted opponents.

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Hoy recently showed off his moves in a series of advertisements for U.K. company iD Mobile for its #DoYourOwnThing campaign — and he explained that, when he questions his own abilities, "Something snaps, and I say 'You know what, no more.'" The video then cuts together some quick highlights of Hoy in the ring, and he answers a question he's posed several times throughout the ad: "'How can you fight if you can't see?' — That's how."