CTE and the scary price fighters can pay

[IGotAHugePeckah]

This is a scary reality that boxing fans have been aware of for many decades, but with MMA being such a relatively new sport, we're at that time now where we're going to see guys who had careers in the the early 2000s showing signs of CTE. Especially guys who trained in gyms with the mentally to go all out every day, getting KO'd only to walk it off and get back into sparring.

It makes me sad to see guys getting such mediocre pay in the UFC. At least in boxing you take the risk and you can end up making millions if you reach the top, or even near the top. In MMA, the #1 p4p guy Mighty Mouse was making a couple hundred grand a fight.



Gary Goodridge is MMA's worst example, but to be fair I think he took the majority of his head trauma in K-1.
He basically needs his family to take care of him around the clock and can't function on his own.



By his 40s, Jerry Quarry couldn't spell his own name anymore and needed 24 hour care from his brother. He died at age 53 from CTE related causes. Exact same thing happened to his brother Mike, who died the same way at 55.

When you hear guys like James Toney, Meldrick Taylor, Terry Norris, Riddick Bowe, etc, talking today, it sounds like they have a mouth full of marbles.

Is this what MMA fighters have to look forward to in retirement? Going through a life of pain, barely staying above the poverty line while fighting in the "big show" of MMA?

Fuck, at least these boxers made great money and got to be rich at some point. The average UFC fighter is taking the same head trauma and making peanuts. Sad!

 

[AP_RESURRECTION]

I def agree with you. Unfortunately these people sign up under their free will because they want to fight so badly. No one really cares about the fighters except themselves and hopefully their family and friends. The UFC is great at getting fighters to sign the contracts and they are also excellent at using the legal system to their advantsge. Good luck changing that

 

[tasticles]

Yeah and there are plenty of people that do it for free. Youve got to do what you love or you havent lived at all.

 

[Sensei Student]

You guys need to watch the movie "concussion". It's about football and CTE and it baffles me how ignorant the general public still is about CTE.

 

[Wizzlebiz]

Yea I feel bad for the older fighters who really had no clue what they were in for. There was no talk of CTE until about 8 years ago.

And anyone who knows the probability and still wants this career well I dont know what to say nicely about that. So im leaving that alone.

 

[Dorkman]

Yea I feel bad for the older fighters who really had no clue what they were in for. There was no talk of CTE until about 8 years ago.

And anyone who knows the probability and still wants this career well I dont know what to say nicely about that. So im leaving that alone.

Yep. For a time I had the mentality of "being a pro fighter would be a dream". That opinion has very much changed with time.

 

[kflo]

This is a scary reality that boxing fans have been aware of for many decades, but with MMA being such a relatively new sport, we're at that time now where we're going to see guys who had careers in the the early 2000s showing signs of CTE. Especially guys who trained in gyms with the mentally to go all out every day, getting KO'd only to walk it off and get back into sparring.

It makes me sad to see guys getting such mediocre pay in the UFC. At least in boxing you take the risk and you can end up making millions if you reach the top, or even near the top. In MMA, the #1 p4p guy Mighty Mouse was making a couple hundred grand a fight.



Gary Goodridge is MMA's worst example, but to be fair I think he took the majority of his head trauma in K-1.
He basically needs his family to take care of him around the clock and can't function on his own.



By his 40s, Jerry Quarry couldn't spell his own name anymore and needed 24 hour care from his brother. He died at age 53 from CTE related causes. Exact same thing happened to his brother Mike, who died the same way at 55.

When you hear guys like James Toney, Meldrick Taylor, Terry Norris, Riddick Bowe, etc, talking today, it sounds like they have a mouth full of marbles.

Is this what MMA fighters have to look forward to in retirement? Going through a life of pain, barely staying above the poverty line while fighting in the "big show" of MMA?

Fuck, at least these boxers made great money and got to be rich at some point. The average UFC fighter is taking the same head trauma and making peanuts. Sad!

the average boxer is taking the same (greater) head trauma and making peanuts too.

it's sad across the sporting landscape.

 

[Wizzlebiz]

Yep. For a time I had the mentality of "being a pro fighter would be a dream". That opinion has very much changed with time.

I got lucky. I was training for it. Then I got into a car accident and couldnt roll anymore. At the time I thought it was a cruel joke from the powers that be. Now I recognize it was the single best thing that happened to me in my entire life.

No CTE. Well maybe some from training. I met my wife which wouldnt have happened if I didnt have to work a normal job. My life is good and my mind is clear. I thank god for that daily.

 

[CerebralKnievel]

the average boxer is taking the same (greater) head trauma and making peanuts too.

it's sad across the sporting landscape.

It's insane how many people here seem to believe that boxing pays immensely more than MMA. Undercard boxers on Mayweather cards are earning $1500.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

So many different, more lucrative, safer ways of making money. On the flip side though, MMA has opened up careers for guys that without it would have ended up in prison or early grave.

You guys need to watch the movie "concussion". It's about football and CTE and it baffles me how ignorant the general public still is about CTE.

General public wants to be entertained at all costs. They don't want to think of the negative side effects caused by their entertainment.

 

[ignorant MMA fan]

This is a scary reality that boxing fans have been aware of for many decades, but with MMA being such a relatively new sport, we're at that time now where we're going to see guys who had careers in the the early 2000s showing signs of CTE. Especially guys who trained in gyms with the mentally to go all out every day, getting KO'd only to walk it off and get back into sparring.

It makes me sad to see guys getting such mediocre pay in the UFC. At least in boxing you take the risk and you can end up making millions if you reach the top, or even near the top. In MMA, the #1 p4p guy Mighty Mouse was making a couple hundred grand a fight.



Gary Goodridge is MMA's worst example, but to be fair I think he took the majority of his head trauma in K-1.
He basically needs his family to take care of him around the clock and can't function on his own.



By his 40s, Jerry Quarry couldn't spell his own name anymore and needed 24 hour care from his brother. He died at age 53 from CTE related causes. Exact same thing happened to his brother Mike, who died the same way at 55.

When you hear guys like James Toney, Meldrick Taylor, Terry Norris, Riddick Bowe, etc, talking today, it sounds like they have a mouth full of marbles.

Is this what MMA fighters have to look forward to in retirement? Going through a life of pain, barely staying above the poverty line while fighting in the "big show" of MMA?

Fuck, at least these boxers made great money and got to be rich at some point. The average UFC fighter is taking the same head trauma and making peanuts. Sad!

If the UFC made $30,000 per fight their minimum payout, would you be pleased? If not, how much money do you feel CTE is worth?

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Yeah and there are plenty of people that do it for free. Youve got to do what you love or you havent lived at all.

You'd be surprised with number of fighters who don't like fighting. Nick Diaz, Rampage, and Rumble immediately come to mind.

To them fighting was something they were good at and could earn a paycheck without going to jail.

 

[Sensei Student]

So many different, more lucrative, safer ways of making money. On the flip side though, MMA has opened up careers for guys that without it would have ended up in prison or early grave.

It's the easiest way of making the biggest bucks. If you watched some of the earlier TUFs or maybe even the current ones, there's always a few in every episode claiming "I must win because I have a family to support and I got nothing else. If I don't win, I'd have to go back to working at MCDonalds or fighting for pennies"

To a lot of these people, UFC was a way out. Or they'd go back to crimes or other bullcrap.

 

[Prex32]

just don't sign the dotted line while you still fresh

 

[Natural Order]

These people know what they're getting into........is it sad? Sure, but it's self-inflicted so my empathy fades rather quickly.

We all die at some point. These guys can at least say they got to make a living (surely debatable!) doing something they loved so much.

 

[PlayTheGame]

And it's not only CTE, fighting (as any contact sport) destroys your body in general. You're lucky if you made enough money to last you through the rest of your life, other than that you're kinda screwed IMO, especially when you're in your 50's and 60's.

That's what Forrest (who at least made several millions and seems like a savvy guy overall) said like 5 years ago:

I physically can't (come back). I didn't want to be done, in the beginning. When I announced my retirement, that was actually when I was trying to come back and I realized, it just wasn't viable. It passed me by. My shoulder is done. I brush my teeth with my left hand now. That's just the way it goes. I can't shoot a basketball, I can't throw any kind of ball. I was right handed.

No wonder a former top-5 BW Mayday Mcdonald just said "fuck it, woodworking is a more lucrative job" at the age of 28.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

It's the easiest way of making the biggest bucks. If you watched some of the earlier TUFs or maybe even the current ones, there's always a few in every episode claiming "I must win because I have a family to support and I got nothing else. If I don't win, I'd have to go back to working at MCDonalds or fighting for pennies"

To a lot of these people, UFC was a way out. Or they'd go back to crimes or other bullcrap.

Real question is how many of these guys have families without a proper way to support them? They just couldn't pull out?

 

[Deicide030]

God as these savage men that shed blood and years off their lives for our entertainment. i admire anyone that can jump in a locked cage and bust heads for pennies these men deserve to be showed in pussy and gold coins

 

[RightToBareKnuckles]

The way people train has to be a big part of it. Fighting once or twice a year can't be a the main contributor, unless you're consistently in 3-5 round wars.

 

[snackgod]

This is a scary reality that boxing fans have been aware of for many decades, but with MMA being such a relatively new sport, we're at that time now where we're going to see guys who had careers in the the early 2000s showing signs of CTE. Especially guys who trained in gyms with the mentally to go all out every day, getting KO'd only to walk it off and get back into sparring.

It makes me sad to see guys getting such mediocre pay in the UFC. At least in boxing you take the risk and you can end up making millions if you reach the top, or even near the top. In MMA, the #1 p4p guy Mighty Mouse was making a couple hundred grand a fight.



Gary Goodridge is MMA's worst example, but to be fair I think he took the majority of his head trauma in K-1.
He basically needs his family to take care of him around the clock and can't function on his own.



By his 40s, Jerry Quarry couldn't spell his own name anymore and needed 24 hour care from his brother. He died at age 53 from CTE related causes. Exact same thing happened to his brother Mike, who died the same way at 55.

When you hear guys like James Toney, Meldrick Taylor, Terry Norris, Riddick Bowe, etc, talking today, it sounds like they have a mouth full of marbles.

Is this what MMA fighters have to look forward to in retirement? Going through a life of pain, barely staying above the poverty line while fighting in the "big show" of MMA?

Fuck, at least these boxers made great money and got to be rich at some point. The average UFC fighter is taking the same head trauma and making peanuts. Sad!

cte is a problem in all combat sports like boxing mma wrestling wwe type hockey and nfl.

im sure there are alot of noname boxers who made nothing but to be cans for people got cte 2.