MC mayor's phone to try to get a match up with him got him goes [Applause] the CTE chronic traumatic encylopedic threat to the long-term health of Fighters it all worked on being knocked out when you see somebody bow gets knocked out drops on the floor their eyes roll in the back of their head and they don't wake up for 2 minutes everybody sees R cheering in the stands and and everybody getting up and and it's a good fight and they're shaking the guy's hand and and everything's going on and really the the concern that everybody don't see is the damage being done in this individual so why take the risk how much do we know about CTE and what can be done to mitigate it we address all this and more as we dive deeper into the Unseen battle between martial artists and their own brains CTE also known as boxer's dementia is a progressive brain condition that's believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head over time repeated impacts can lead to a buildup of abnormal proteins in the brain the symptoms of CTE can be variable but often times it's a personality shift a behavioral change Maybe mood changes like depression uh there are things like aggression and violent behaviors a impulsivity a short fuse Joel Lockwood found five studies that estimated between 28% and 46% of all matches Ended as a result of ko or TKO meaning that at best one and four of the fights we're watching on Saturday night result in someone experiencing a concussive brain injury so how prevalent is this issue what examples can we point to well in 2012 doctors diagnosed him with degenerative dementia a type of CTE it's caused by repeated blows to the Head Gary Goodridge has been very open about the impact fighting has had on his life since he retired mental disability is a is a huge thing it's uh it's uh it's it's got me crippled do you remember that were we here at those no it was in Los Angeles no I don't remember that was 4 years ago how would you say that your condition was has changed over the past four years you know what it it's just it's got worse Kat zingano also found herself struggling with symptoms of brain trauma and found the UFC not all that helpful in assisting her my memory was and these were all things that I went to the ufcpi to talk to them about cuz I'm like I don't know what to do like I I want to fight they offered me to fight Chris cyborg at 145 money out of my pocket trying to figure this out cuz none of this is covered by the UFC especially because you know not something I claim in a fight so even though it clearly came from that fight you still don't get covered mm- what and then there's n f speech deteriorating at my my school at the modu Academy 10 out this morning one recent UFC veteran to make the news was Julie KY after retiring from mixed martial arts in 2013 Ki reported to have suffered from depression anxiety hyperactivity impulsiveness and lack of sleep since wrapping up her fighting career all of these are symptoms of traumatic and sephy apathy and in late 2023 Ki agreed to donate her brain for research after she dies it is worth noting Julie never suffered a single knockout loss and still experiences the repercussions of traumatic brain injury but how can this be well research now shows that even an impact to the brain as innocuous as heading of football can still count as a subconcussive episode meaning that even if you're never knocked out you can still experience significant brain injuries from repeated blows to the head I don't believe I've ever had a traumatic brain injury from a fight one important thing to remember in all this these are prize Fighters they're knowingly risking their lives for financial compensation so how much are they being paid the short answer not very much I'm coming for the money a pie the UFC holds roughly a 90% share of both domestic and international market space in MMA this gives them control over not just the fighters in their roster but the potential growth of the other promotions as well despite the massive growth in UFC profits year after year fighter pay does not correlate with this increase in fact one could argue that since Fighters can no longer wear their own sponsors they're earning Less on average than they were 10 years ago and this they need to grow this whole thing needs to grow together our lives are on theing line Healthcare needs to be taken care of our health needs to be taken care of even potential Superstars like Patty pinet are signed on to a basic 12- 12 contract and sure they can receive bonuses but that entails taking more risks just take a look at the fighters who've received the most bonuses in UFC history notice how every single name on that list has also taken a significant amount of damage so is fighting worth it for some we ask Fighters why they fight some love it some were bullied and some have nothing else but the most common answer I'm fine for money show me that money 60 Che baby and the UFC knows this they know the main pool of people they recruit from are often desperate and struggling financially you can even see how it can frustrate the UFC when a fighter has made enough money and seems to be too inactive in their eyes they understand how much more diff difficult it would be for them to matchmake if the whole roster made enough money that they didn't need to fight on demand I think Francis is in a place right now where he wants he doesn't want to take a lot of risk feels like he's in a good position this of course raises a question about individual autonomy if a person wants to fight and pursue greatness who are we to tell them no take us inside the mindset When someone tells you what to do and what you should do well how does that make you feel that's why I think I'm a fighter in beginning with cuz I'm never able to have somebody tell me what to do right real jobs were after all there are hundreds of life-threatening extreme sports and hobbies that we don't stop people from participating in surely if someone's fully aware of all the risk then it's ultimately their choice to step into the cage and it would appear that the majority of Fighters at least in the professional leagues are very aware of the dangers of fighting and my record is 91 and one I know the damage of what this sport can do and what consequences are but I know what I'm getting myself into I chose to fight and I just know what I signed up for I just don't want to obviously I don't want to be like someone with a glass jaw when I'm like 40 and I'm going to be fighting like to peanuts and I'm still trying to survive while I'm getting knocked out every fight I want to achieve great things and I feel the only thing I know how to achieve great things is fighting it makes me feel alive I it feels like it's therapy for me and it's like peace in away although some less so words back to me cuz I don't know anything about it I don't know damn thing about this head trauma I don't know anything about a concussion I don't know anything about wear ter I don't know anything about it but why are Fighters willing to take this risk in the first place when we look at the demographic of Fighters across the UFC roster we see the majority of them come from underclass backgrounds and they chose fighting because they lacked the opportunities to do anything else 5 years old I was sweeping the floor and I was like I was like man this is not what I meant to be like I'm supposed to be something great but uh but everybody around me is like no this is what you do you live in this little town and you do you follow the rules he delved into growing up in Stockton and not having a father figure at home and having to take care of Nate and be the head of household and not liking to fight and the Damage that it causes you but as we've already discussed fighter pays in a crisis itself implying that there's a trick being played here some smok in mirrors if you will a mirage of some potential Glory that's being dangled in front of hungry young Fighters like a carrot and when once they try to reach out and grab it it vanishes in Wilfred Owen's famous poem Dum EST Owen describes the horrific reality of war and how it compares to what was being sold to young men at the time if you could hear at every jolt The Blood come Garling from the froth corrupted lungs obscene as cancer bitter as the cud of vile incurable sores on innocent tongues my friend you would not tell with such high zest to Children Arden for some desperate Glory the old lie the old lie Owen speaks of here is that it's sweet and fitting to die for one's country but why do we mention this well the parallels between fighting and War are often expressed not by critics of the practice but by the fighters themselves we don't if one of us go to war we all go to war but you guys I'm going to go have a war for you guys don't I plan for a war it will be a bloody war and it's going to be an absolute war and we're going to be thankful this is the Art of War despite all we know about the horrors of War our governments are still successful in recruiting new troops into their front lines this is because the old lie is still sold to us today but not all of us specifically at advertisements tend to sell the military lifestyle to the young and disenfranchised I left school at 16 brought my arm P the bank 18 I knights in the castle sure I was born in car but I was made in the Royal Navy we see a similar depiction happening to the UFC fighters today also they're sold a violent and glorious path to immortality and some do appear to achieve this dream but for the overwhelming majority who don't it's only a matter of time before the UFC's own old lot reveals itself I want be no we got this Max you're a champion you're Champion shop it I don't have stop it Champion as it turns out if you take a poor and uneducated man and convince him he's going to be a world champion and a millionaire one day he'll be willing to risk it all on ESPN for $112,000 most fighters of course never become Champions or Superstars once most Fighters realize they've been sold this lie it's too late they've already been chewed up and spat out by the Combat Sports Machine left broke with few employable skills and potential brain damage some Fighters seem at peace with the fact that they may suffer from CTE in the future either believing that it simply won't happen to them or if it does it'll be worth it because they will be a champion but as we all know anyone can get caught I've always felt I was winning the fight and I got caught Anderson Oh my he got hit look at the bro the near the to he's Hur him three times in the last 60 seconds and if anyone can get caught anyone's life can change I was a professional boxer from Puerto Rico and I they found lesions in my brain and which led to further studies and I found that I have dementia believing you'd survived this Gauntlet unscathed is to believe you're impervious to bullets I don't want that type of life for myself I want to be the greatest just fight the reason both of these recruitment strategies work is because these young men tend to be desperate for a way out of the monotony of their regular lives they want to fulfill the expectations they have of what a man should be and both war and fighting fit this criteria they're willing to risk their health and even their lives on the altar of Glory but both are serving the whims of wealthier men but this is the point brain damage shouldn't be this cheap shouldn't be this cheap outside of a drastic change to the rules a miracle drug or some undiscovered medical procedure very little can be done to make fighting safe it's like smoking there isn't a safe way to do it the only way to make CTE make sense is to finally make it worth the risk when Nick Diaz Was preparing to make his most recent comeback against Robbie Lawler people debated whether or not the Legend's speech had begun to slur I don't like you for that if if I'm looking in at me and you do that I don't I I'm like I why I'm like I'm like okay oh you got to feed your family I'm like well fed mine you know um if it's good for him after I saw that interview with you I was kind of concerned Erol to be honest with you I was like man maybe maybe this guy has he gotten some CTE damage here what what's going on here however what was shocking to those who had followed Nick's career wasn't apparent symptoms of brain injury but that he felt he had nothing to show for it if you're 36 years old and you're still talking about being haunted by and bothered by and living through the problems that you were articulating to a strong degree 5 10 arguably 15 years ago that's a problem to me was well he didn't sound the same he was saying many of the same things after years of fighting getting hit and suffering the consequences the saddest part isn't that Nick is struggling with his health he like all fighters knew what he was getting into no the heartbreaking part is that despite being considered a legend of the game Nick doesn't think it was worth it therefore the solution isn't to blame Fighters for not realizing they were a part of the Chosen Few nor to Nerf mix martial arts or even change its rule set the UFC tells aspiring Fighters This is a place for the best in the world if you fight your heart out you will be rewarded an ultimate meritocracy perhaps it's about time that was true Nate what would you say to kids who are aspiring who want to be UFC fighters don't get hit