(Everyone head over to Gary’s Twitter and wish him the best of luck.)
Some really sad news today, Potato Nation. It is being reported that none other than MMA/kickboxing legend and regular CP columnist Gary Goodridge has been diagnosed with early onset CTE/pugilistic dementia at the age of 46. Goodridge, who built a reputation for his hard hitting style and aggressive attack, has fought an incredible 84 times since beginning his professional career in 1996.
CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is brain damage that stems from repeated blows to the head, and is a common occurrence amongst boxers, football players, and hockey players for obvious reasons.
Though the outlook is grim for “Big Daddy,” Goodrige says he wouldn’t change a thing in hindsight. But perhaps a little surprising is the fact that he places most of the blame on his K1 career.
You get the news you just have to deal with it, live with it. There’s no treatment that goes along with it. There’s pills to make it slow down the process, but it’s inevitable.
I have no regrets. I love the way I live my life, I mean I would like to make little changes, but no, I have no regrets. I loved the way my life was, I lived a good life, and I’m happy with what I did.
I would like to share with people, but I think most of my damage came from K-1. MMA really wasn’t an issue because there’s hardly any shots to the head. 90-percent of my injuries came from K-1, where there’s nothing but head trauma, head injuries over and over again.
Goodridge recently released an autobiography titled Gatekeeper, and plans on traveling to Australia to perform a kickboxing seminar in the near future. We’d like to wish Gary the best of luck, and will keep you informed as more details become available.
We’ve added a highlight reel of Mr. Goodridge, courtesy of Sherdog, below.
-J. Jones