Matt Brown talks concussions in MMA, reveals thoughts of suicide creeped in

Hannya MMA

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Matt Brown hasn't had it easy. "Immortal" survived a heroin overdose only to later choose a career in professional mixed martial arts (MMA). That's not exactly the healthiest alternative, considering that MMA requires repeated blows to the head. In fact, the years of wear-and-tear finally culminated at UFC 201 three months ago, where Brown was finished by Jake Ellenberger via strikes in the first round.

"That was the first time in my entire life that I have been dropped by a head shot," Brown recently revealed on ‘The MMA Hour.’ "In sparring — at any time in my life — street fights, anything. I see people all the time coming back too soon and saying they shouldn’t have. Of course, you see the boxers, which has been well documented for years with concussions and brain injuries.

"I had a concussion last year for the first time in my life," he continued. "It’s no fun, it was serious. I wasn’t finishing sentences to my kids sometimes — I actually fell over, which is when my wife told me I had to go to the doctor. I literally got up and fell down. Things like that happen and you begin to realize like, man, this sport is real. This ain’t just fun and games and a paycheck anymore."

The concussion was not suffered at the hands (and feet) of "The Juggernaut." Nonetheless, the series of alarming events has forced Brown to change his diet, as well as his approach to training -- he does not spar as much. In addition, he now treats his brain like a muscle, exercising it with computer games and puzzles to stay mentally fresh. Perhaps the biggest revelation during the conversation was how Brown handled his most recent loss, which was his second straight and fourth in his five most recent appearances.

"I dealt with it really tough," Brown said. "I probably felt like Ronda Rousey -- I wanted to kill myself, which is after every loss, you know ... we're all the same. But, you know what? I have three kids and I had to come home and be a role model to them. I had to get up the next morning and make breakfast, and show them that no matter how many times you get taken down, you get your ass up and do it again."

Moments later in the interview, Brown clarified his comments.

"Well, my point I guess is that you really do feel like you want to kill yourself," he said. "You feel like that low of a person. You get beat up like that in front of millions of people, your friends and family. It's not right to feel that way -- and you shouldn't feel that way -- but you do feel that way. I'm fortunately mature enough to be able to handle those feelings and not act on them, but I guess it's more of an expression that you really do feel that low at that time."
 
The feeling you get after a hard ass whopping is truly shitty.
 
This makes me respect Matt Brown even more.
 
Jake's beard makes me suicidal
022_Jake_Ellenberger.0.0.jpg
 
Damn.

Start thinking about hanging thoses gloves Matt.
 
Concussions are fucked up. As someone that watches and plays hockey, when a player gets concussed it takes them a while to gain their form back. It's usually a pretty severe injury and hard to deal with just the first time.

Now think about guys like Overeem (or any old-school HW really) who have had their lights completely shut off multiple times. I'm astounded Overeem and others still sound as good as they do.
 
I dont remember Matt getting dropped with a punch. I thought Ellenberger went southpaw and hit him with a liver kick. Was he dropped before?
 
Its from your lifetime of hardcore street drugs not just fighting...now go fight.
 
Last Chance Ellenberger is a motherfucker.
 
Concussions are fucked up. As someone that watches and plays hockey, when a player gets concussed it takes them a while to gain their form back. It's usually a pretty severe injury and hard to deal with just the first time.

Now think about guys like Overeem (or any old-school HW really) who have had their lights completely shut off multiple times. I'm astounded Overeem and others still sound as good as they do.


They are serious and they are scary. A girl at work had some luggage fall out over the overhead storage on a plane and it hit her on the head. She was messed up badly for almost two months. She had to spend a month in a dark room with no sound. Yikes.

I watched this madman in high school get a concussion playing football. He was this random dude the coaches saw walking around. He was strong as fuck and they lobbied him to play. On the first play he was ever in a game he tried to kill a guy on the kick off. He launched into another guy at full madman speed and speared him head to head. lol.

An ambulance had to take the other guy away with a major neck injured and the dude I knew was KO'd for a bit, and he was taken to the locker room where the coaches told him he had "collision shock." This was the 90's. lol, the kid started spraying puke everywhere and was so out of it. It was terrifying. He had to go to the hospital and never played again. The sound of the hit is still a thing of legend, as is the one play football career of the weirdo from the hills.
 
"I dealt with it really tough," Brown said. "I probably felt like Ronda Rousey -- I wanted to kill myself, which is after every loss, you know ... we're all the same. But, you know what? I have three kids and I had to come home and be a role model to them. I had to get up the next morning and make breakfast, and show them that no matter how many times you get taken down, you get your ass up and do it again."

Let the game of inconsistency begin, sherbros.
 
Concussions are fucked up. As someone that watches and plays hockey, when a player gets concussed it takes them a while to gain their form back. It's usually a pretty severe injury and hard to deal with just the first time.

Now think about guys like Overeem (or any old-school HW really) who have had their lights completely shut off multiple times. I'm astounded Overeem and others still sound as good as they do.

-1 for inconsistency.
 
They are serious and they are scary. A girl at work had some luggage fall out over the overhead storage on a plane and it hit her on the head. She was messed up badly for almost two months. She had to spend a month in a dark room with no sound. Yikes.

I watched this madman in high school get a concussion playing football. He was this random dude the coaches saw walking around. He was strong as fuck and they lobbied him to play. On the first play he was ever in a game he tried to kill a guy on the kick off. He launched into another guy at full madman speed and speared him head to head. lol.

An ambulance had to take the other guy away with a major neck injured and the dude I knew was KO'd for a bit, and he was taken to the locker room where the coaches told him he had "collision shock." This was the 90's. lol, the kid started spraying puke everywhere and was so out of it. It was terrifying. He had to go to the hospital and never played again. The sound of the hit is still a thing of legend, as is the one play football career of the weirdo from the hills.

Football is such a retarded fucking game
 
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