CTE in MMA - What It Is And Why We Need to Talk About It

I wanted to become an MMA fighter or boxer. But after looking into CTE I decided I will just train for fun.

Stop sparring so hard and that's 80% of the damage gone already.

This video needed to be made

I find it increasingly difficult to enjoy the sport knowing I am watching people destroy their brains a little more with each strike taken.

This is the biggest thing that worries me about fighting myself

I just wish UFC fighters received better compensation for the risk they take.

I sadly agree that CTE is an unfortunate and likely underdiagnosed side effect of MMA. Personally I like Max Holloway's approach of not sparring hard or getting concussed in his training camps. Dude is still an elite MMA fighter, former champion and he has never been KO'd or TKO'd. He might be on to something.

I did bjj for awhile and tried to pick up boxing later on. I met an old boxing trainer who said some things that really steered me in the right direction. He said if I’m already in bjj, I should focus on that. He doesn’t train anyone that hasn’t been at it for a long time and advises anyone new to not even start. He said if he could go back, he’d learn something other than boxing to stay fit and make a living. He didn’t know what horse he was riding when he started and it cost him his mind. People don’t mind an old man with a mangled body but people can’t stand an old man with a mangled brain. He said he donated his brain to a terrible sport at a young age. He said anyone in his gym already did the same and their brains are all going to be shot when they are as old as he is. Bunch of sad shit. We talked for about 10 minutes. By the end of the conversation, I was able to see exactly what he was talking about. So glad I met him. I quit before I started.

Concussion Awareness training is required for coaches by USA JUDO, USA BOXING, & USA WRESTLING as part of their Coaches Certification training.

Homeless already at 11, you might guess I fought a lot as a kid. Later I started training Muy Thai which I did for 11 years... for years I've dealt with memory loss. Sometimes I'll lose minutes or hours and have even lost days, I just won't remember it at all. Scariest thing I'm feeling right now is the fact there's no way to test for CTE - doubt the tests would be available here in Philippines even if they did exist.

To all you young guys out there, if you are reading this. Have fun and do what you want, but be careful. I laughed at all the old timers who told me these things when I was younger (46 now). A big part of me wishes I had listened as I even had to leave my home in search of a place to live where it never gets before 70 as I just can't take the pain anything below that, tons of nerve damage sucks. As it was told to me by the doctor who diagnosed my nerve damage, "When you sustain traumatic injuries, such as crushing your hand, there are things inside of you getting damaged other than just bone."

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Man it sucks getting older.. i hate how fast time goes by

This the one aspect of training that legitimately worries me having done multiple combat sports over the past decade. I don’t train at a pro level or anything and only compete occasionally but it makes you wonder just how much the bumps are adding up even in the dojo.

I boxed for about two months many years ago. One night in sparring, I got matched with a much superior athlete. He punched the crap out of me. I was sore, had headaches and was in a bad mood for a few days.

I never went back. Took up BJJ instead. Sometimes you dont need science to tell you something is bad for you.

The effect of these dramatic weight cuts also has an effect on shrinking the brain *from dehydration, and making further brain trauma an avoidable problem in the cage. This also really needs to be studied further. Also, how about the damage to the other organs these weight cuts inflict?

It's crazy seeing this ,yet Floyd Mayweather has been criticized about his style of fighting everytime saying it's boring, but in actuality, he's the one who has to endure the hits, not anyone else, and he barely got touched which is what should be done. In every style of combat, the name of the game should be to hit and not get hit. In the end, you'll have your health and piece of mind.....and I do mean piece of mind!😁

Educate people, and then let them make their own choices and suffer their own consequences..
That's how it should be in a free world!

Hey,

Thanks to everyone involved with this video. As someone who loves to watch and train MMA, I learned a lot from this and appreciate your
insights.

The sheer fact that once a successful MMA star gets knocked out and then continues to get knocked out after each fight must be proof enough that’s there’s irreparable damage being done. They used to say how hard Mark Hunts chin was but then he went on a series of devastating losses, one of which had 300 successful shots against him.

this is why i like to train light when sparring, like we dont hit each other hard, not at the head anyway. it's all controlled and worked to preserve health. I think wonderboy trains this way as well, and recent sparring vids tells that McGregor has started to as well

Used to spar without helmets for a couple years, got dazed a few times, never knocked out or knocked down, but once I took a hit that caught me off guard, and that night almost felt like my brain was bleeding.. I regretted not fighting competitively, but now I’m happy I got out of it, although I loved the training and felt incredibly strong and fit.