MMA & Long term head injuries

[chadsexington]

Through the fear of long lasting head injuries of repeated knockouts, Dana White's convinced Chuck Liddell to retire, and might be in the process of doing the same with Wandy.

I noticed something yesterday that made me think about the possibilities of people that may have gone on a little too long. I saw a recent interview with Gary Goodridge, and it looked to me that he might have an early onset of Parkinson's Disease.

This kind of stuff is pretty scary to me, especially since I've had some family affected by Parkinson's, one who went out for a walk one time, and disappeared for hours because he couldn't remember where he was and where he was going (eventually, he found his way home.)

Anyway, back to Goodridge...I've read a couple places (and apparently he's acknowledged) that with the amount of times he's been knocked out in his martial arts career, he suffers from some brain damage. The Marc Savard thread started to make me think about some of the scary prospects for fighters that just keep on going. Jens Pulver told me last year that he was starting to train differently to avoid headshots and things since he now has a son that he wants to have a future with. He himself hasn't been TKO'd since the Leonard Garcia fight, but I can see where some of these veteran fighters are starting to get concerned.

Anyway...I want to start the discussion here. It's documented well that MMA has monumentally less deaths per year than boxing, but we've yet to see what sort of long term ramifications the sport has on peoples' health. There's a spot in Kelly Crigger's book "Title Shot" where he speaks to Marcus Davis about the fact that he was once knocked out so cleanly in a fight that he spelled his first name "Macus" for a month before he realized he was forgetting a letter. Do you think there's going to be anything done externally in the future to try to minimize long term injuries (especially head injuries) amongst MMA fighters, or do you think it's going to continue being the fighter's decision? I should add I'm completely on Dana White's side here in stepping in and advising fighters to retire before it's too late. There's only so much he can do outside of convincing and/or releasing them, but at least he's identifying the need to have to step in.

 

[canucksfreak19]

I don’t necessarily believe that Parkinson’s is going to be seen across MMA, as one has seen in boxing. The simple fact is that there is not the accumulation of punches to the head to most MMA fighters, and often; although admittedly not always, when knocked out have the fight stopped unlike in boxing. The diversification of training also sees to it that MMA fighters are taking fewer shots to the head.


The cases that people will often point to, I do, are Wanderlei and Big Nog. The thing that has to be taken into account in these situations are the unknown number of bare knuckle Vale Tudo fights that they had while in Brazil. It is unknown how many times they have been knocked out, or how many punches/kicks/elbows/knees they’ve each taken. But their faces, and speech seem to show that the number is quite high.


I don’t see much that can be done in the cage to curb anything as refs almost always make good stoppages to prevent the dramatic accumulation of punishment. And in training it really has to be up to the trainers to ensure that their charges aren’t taking any consequential damage while preparing for fights. But ultimately it has to be up to the individual to be responsible for his/her own body. You cite a conversation with Jens where he talks about adapting his training regimen and that’s good. But I would have a serious issue with any attempts from an organization to impose restrictions, or limitations on what a fighter can do in that regard. Like you I don’t have a problem with Dana advising fighters on considering hanging up the gloves, but again if someone wants to keep fighting Dana also has an obligation to keep giving him fights, or release the fighter so that he can continue to make a living fighting under some other banner.

Matt, what do you think can or should be done in this regard?

 

[chadsexington]

Dave...I agree we won't see Parkinson's in such large numbers amongst MMA fighters for sure.

Wandy sticks out to me as someone who needs to reassess what he's still capable of in the Octagon (or ring if he gets released.) Bas Rutten has told stories time and again of how hard the Chute Boxe guys used to push each other, and beat each other senseless. Wandy's career hasn't been the same since Crocop knocked him out. He's since been KO'd 3 times very cleanly by punches that wouldn't have affected him as much previously and you can see things catching up to him.

I'm not thinking anything needs to be done in the cage. MMA is regulated well enough to my satisfaction. I don't quite know what can be done outside though...hard to say. Do you subject the fighters to psychological testing and such after they've been knocked out a certain number of times? Who knows.