Despite its violent nature, MMA students and fans routinely point to the sport as a life-enhancing, life-affirming pursuit.
That’s the way it was for Stuart Scott, the longtime ESPN anchor who passed away Sunday morning at age 49 of cancer.
According to a report published Monday morning by TMZ Sports, Scott continued MMA training in Connecticut even in the final stages of his life, when his chemotherapy treatments had become so frequent that doctors inserted a chemotherapy port into Scott’s chest.
“He was such an impressive person,” said Scott’s MMA trainer, Darin Reisler, in the TMZ report. “During his last round of chemotherapy, when he would train, he was training with the chemotherapy port surgically implanted in his chest. He did mixed martial arts…with a chemo port in his chest!”
In recent years, Scott had become a vocal MMA practitioner and supporter. A March 2014 profile published in The New York Times detailed Scott’s training as a way of restoring the energy sapped by repeated, highly toxic treatment sessions.
Scott himself also frequently discussed MMA and UFC fights on ESPN and his own social media accounts.
“Here’s what I do right after chemo,” Scott tweeted in January 2013. “Leave the infusion center and go straight to either do a P90X workout or train MMA.”
From Octagon training to GQ.. Gr8 doin @SportsCenter segments w champ @ChrisWeidmanUFC & contender @GilbertMelendez pic.twitter.com/AvH4Yh0KLw
— Stuart Scott (@StuartScott) June 25, 2014
Headed home 2 CT. Blessed 2 have visited #Maui & #LagunaBeach #LIVESTRONG #MMA flying knee on the beach! #FUcancer pic.twitter.com/x8Fc6LZuhM
— Stuart Scott (@StuartScott) March 21, 2014
Gr8 day of #MMA training w my sensei at #PlusOneDefense Darin Reisler. We worked pads, rolled, sparred..DID WORK. pic.twitter.com/7OFulQbsOV
— Stuart Scott (@StuartScott) February 25, 2014
It seems Scott’s devotion to MMA, to his training and to life continued up until his final moments, despite the difficulties his disease presented.
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