The Darkside of the UFC: Brain Trauma and CTE скачать в хорошем качестве

The Darkside of the UFC: Brain Trauma and CTE

It’s the part of combat sports that everyone knows about but would rather not talk about. For all the greatness that we see these fighters achieve in the cage, ring, or octagon, there is generally a cost that must be paid… And oftentimes, you don’t see the effects until it's too late. For this video, we’re looking into the dark side of brain trauma and CTE within the sport of MMA. One fighter who has been quite open about his brain-health struggles in his retirement life is the former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion, Georges St-Pierre. GSP has enough self-awareness to understand that he is probably suffering from some form of CTE… but even still, when you hear him speak about time-skips and encounters with aliens, it’s hard not to think that he is now paying the price for the hard work he put in during his career. Few fighters in the modern sport openly invite chaos as much as the lightweight living legend, Justin Gaethje. We’re not trying to be callous when we say this, but there are not many fighters of his era who have willingly thrown themselves into the fire as much as Justin Gaethje. In fact, part of his appeal as a mixed martial artist comes from the guarantee that his fights will be exciting. In fact, every single one - barring perhaps the Khabib fight - has been either a brutal knockout or a back and forth war. How about the former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub, a guy who gets relentlessly mocked online for his own CTE symptoms… But it’s not just his own struggle he’s referring to; he has also experienced the decline of his friend, the legendary Shane Carwin. Max Holloway is a guy who seems to have grown wiser as the years have gone on about the importance of having good brain health. Perhaps, like many of these warriors, starting a fighter has changed his perspective on things… but for as much as Max’s fighting style gives him the highest output offensively of any fighter in UFC history… there are also drawbacks. This next one is a real tough watch, the former UFC fighter Nam Phan has experienced the type of deterioration that you can quite literally see, or in this case, hear. Nam Phan is unfortunately one of the prime examples of CTE at work. He fought 38 times in pro-MMA, including a solid stint in the UFC. But many active fighters are young and bold enough to accept whatever it is that comes for them later in life… Donald Cowboy Cerrone is one of the foremost examples. Perhaps it will take a few years for Cerrone to come around… because it’s very easy to laugh off any notions of post-career brain damage when you’re in the middle of your prime. But like many fighters, Cowboy has taken his fair share of damage… and so we do hope that he genuinely doesn’t end up regretting the decisions of his youth. Joe Rogan famously quit kickboxing due to experiencing headaches from blows he took to his skull. Rogan has been around the sport long enough to have seen the rise and fall of many great talents. But for as much as Father Time is undefeated in a competitive sense, Rogan also keeps in touch with a lot of fighters after they hang up their gloves for good. And some of the stories he has heard are truly rough. Watching the great Gary Goodridge dealing with such a tough battle post-fighting career is truly heartbreaking. Goodridge was an action-fighter through and through… and seemed to be a pretty nice guy beneath it all. But the true fight of his life only seemed to begin in his post-fight career. For all of the great fighting memories he gave the fans, it’s hard to know where guys like Goodridge would make any significant changes if they had the chance to do it all again. Seeing the former fan favourite Spencer Fisher these days is a truly harrowing sight… and he is unfortunately paying a dear price for the way he made his career. Spencer was an electric member of the UFC roster for the 17 fights he spent under the promotion’s banner. Fans like to joke about Tito Ortiz and his verbal screw-ups on the mic, but it’s important to remember that he wasn’t always like this… Ortiz, these days, is better known for his shameless self-promotion in totally pointless fights - like his trilogy with Chuck Liddell. He’s not the only one, either. And finally, we come to the former lightweight and welterweight champion, B.J. Penn, a guy who is literally in the middle of what appears to be a real break from reality. Penn has found himself in a major struggle to stay afloat during his post-fighting days - and his financial issues and also his involvement in several ugly street fights, things only got worse. In recent times, Penn genuinely believes that his family has been abducted and replaced with lookalikes that are actively trying to extort money from him. He posts about wild conspiracy theories every day - and from the sounds of things, the entire MMA community is very worried about him.