Former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen speaks on the reality of head trauma and the punishment he took in his career.
The issue of fighter safety and more specifically the brain trauma that they are subject to, still looms large over the sport, just as it does in every contact sport. For every dramatic moment and stunning knockout, there are equally just as scary examples of what this violence does.
Talking on True Geordie’s podcast, Sonnen discussed the issue of CTE and head trauma, an issue that he had not considered up until recently.
“I do, yes [think about head trauma] and I didn’t use to”, Chael Sonnen said. “Somebody I looked up to, could have even been my father said that’s a guy looking for an excuse, having a concussion and thing likes this then that movie came out called concussion with will smith it was based on a true story and impacted me and it made me start thinking in that direction, I did see several fighter – a lot of boxers that were slowing down and having a hard time.
“So, you start to see this a real thing, guys in the NFL some even led to suicide they were talking about the pains and the depression they were having from CTE”, said Sonnen. I’m very aware of it, I don’t believe that I took some of those shots but I appreciate that it’s a very real thing and coaches are monitoring it, hat doctors now know what to look for. For the longest time we didn’t even know what to look for, I was in college wrestling and you head butted and you were seeing stars as they say, get back in there shake it off.”
Chael Sonnen talks Fedor Emelianenko ‘missile’
Chael Sonnen has had close to 50 professional MMA fights and has taken on some of the most dangerous men that middleweight to heavyweight had to offer over his career. It’s no surprise then that Sonnen has taken a big shot, or two, over his career. However the 45-year-old recalls one delivered from Fedor Emelianenko that shook him to his boots.
“I got hit with a missile five seconds into my fight with Fedor, I mean this thing was a missile, I would have quit that fight right there”, described Chael Sonnen. “As I was falling to the canvas I knew if this fight gets stopped it’ll be the fastest knockout ever and I’m just windmilling my legs trying to get a couple of seconds.
“I felt as though after that fight, for a couple of months that something was amiss, my memory wasn’t quite there or maybe I would be speaking and I was having a hard time finding the word.”
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