Iaquinta believes the iconic rapper Snoop Dogg has no place calling fights in MMA and would like to see him removed from his duties While many have welcomed the novelty and comic relief of Snoop Dogg’s input on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series (DWTNCS), not everyone is so convinced. Outspoken UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta […]
Iaquinta believes the iconic rapper Snoop Dogg has no place calling fights in MMA and would like to see him removed from his duties While many have welcomed the novelty and comic relief of Snoop Dogg’s input on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series (DWTNCS), not everyone is so convinced. Outspoken UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta […]
Matt Brown is happy to have been a part of Jesse Taylor’s camp leading up to his victory on “The Ultimate Fighter” (TUF) 25 Finale. It was Taylor who made the decision to train in Colorado with “The Immortal.” Brown explained to Flo Combat why Taylor felt the change was necessary: “It’s always nice to […]
Matt Brown is happy to have been a part of Jesse Taylor’s camp leading up to his victory on “The Ultimate Fighter” (TUF) 25 Finale. It was Taylor who made the decision to train in Colorado with “The Immortal.” Brown explained to Flo Combat why Taylor felt the change was necessary: “It’s always nice to […]
Matt Brown is happy to have been a part of Jesse Taylor’s camp leading up to his victory on “The Ultimate Fighter” (TUF) 25 Finale. It was Taylor who made the decision to train in Colorado with “The Immortal.” Brown explained to Flo Combat why Taylor felt the change was necessary: “It’s always nice to […]
Matt Brown is happy to have been a part of Jesse Taylor’s camp leading up to his victory on “The Ultimate Fighter” (TUF) 25 Finale. It was Taylor who made the decision to train in Colorado with “The Immortal.” Brown explained to Flo Combat why Taylor felt the change was necessary: “It’s always nice to […]
MMA fighters are used to living life on the edge, knowing that every time they set foot in the cage they risk getting injured, knocked out or choked unconscious. However, some of these battle-hardened warriors have gone far beyond that in their personal lives outside of the cage, finding themselves in truly terrifying situations where […]
MMA fighters are used to living life on the edge, knowing that every time they set foot in the cage they risk getting injured, knocked out or choked unconscious.
However, some of these battle-hardened warriors have gone far beyond that in their personal lives outside of the cage, finding themselves in truly terrifying situations where they have stared death straight in the face and yet somehow lived to tell the tale.
In this article we’ll explore 10 such stories, from near-fatal accidents to deadly altercations, not to mention several alarming incidents where it’s the fighters themselves who have been their own worst enemies.
Court McGee
Before he became an MMA fighter, Court McGee enjoyed drinking alcohol far too much for his own good.
It was a problem that got worse during his college years, but things really started to get out of hand when he broke his collarbone and clavicle in 2003 and then began mixing painkillers with the booze.
Over the next two years McGee would fall deeper into addiction, moving on to snorting crushed up Oxycontin, then cocaine, before finally turning to heroin as life began to completely fall apart.
One September 9th, 2005, McGee’s self-destructive behavior caught up with him and he overdosed on heroin, falling limp to the floor in the bathroom of his cousin’s trailer.
When paramedic’s arrived on scene they frantically tried to resuscitate McGee, whose heart would stop beating for eight minutes in total. It was only when an officer found a syringe that they realized he’d overdosed and were able to take the appropriate steps to bring him back to life.
Afterwards, McGee would spend six days in a coma and then had to undergo extensive rehabilitation to re-learn basic motor skills like walking.
Remarkably, just five months later McGee would relapse, emerging after a four-day binge with no pants on looking for a place to score meth.
That was the final straw and McGee sobered up soon after, got into recovery and found a sense of purpose in mixed martial arts, which would eventually lead to him fighting in the UFC, where he remains to this day.
As MMA fans we’ve almost become immune to stories of fighters getting injured, from broken hands and feet through to fractured noses, orbital bones and torn ACL’s. These kinds of ailments are easily diagnosed from MRI scans and x-rays, but what’s harder to pinpoint is the toll that being repeatedly punched, kicked, elbowed and kneed […]
As MMA fans we’ve almost become immune to stories of fighters getting injured, from broken hands and feet through to fractured noses, orbital bones and torn ACL’s.
These kinds of ailments are easily diagnosed from MRI scans and x-rays, but what’s harder to pinpoint is the toll that being repeatedly punched, kicked, elbowed and kneed in the face does to the brain and overall mental health of the fighters.
In recent years the brain disorder Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) has come to light in American Football, a condition caused from repeated blows to the head that can cause memory loss, difficulty thinking and eventually dementia, but it’s something that can only be fully diagnosed via an autopsy after death.
It’s often argued that MMA is still such a young sport, relatively speaking, that we don’t fully understand the extent of the damage it may or may not be causing, but while that may be true to an extent, there are already a growing body of anecdotal evidence that some fighters are paying a high price for their exploits in the cage.
In this article we’ll acknowledge the elephant in the room and focus in particular on 10 alarming stories of MMA stars who have suffered from one of the leading symptoms of brain trauma – memory loss, whether it’s in the immediate aftermath of some of most violent knockouts in UFC history, or in some particularly troubling cases on a daily basis even long after they’ve retired from the sport.
Krzysztof Soszynski
In 2014, 35-year-old UFC fighter Krzysztof Soszynski not only announced his retirement from the sport, but also bravely spoke out about the deeply troubling reasons for his decision.
By that stage Soszynski was already over two-years removed from his last fight against Igor Pokrajac at UFC 140, where he’d been knocked out cold for the first time in his career after just 35 seconds.
Soszynski said on ‘Inside MMA’ that his brain didn’t wake up for 40 minutes after the fight and so he has no recollection of being in the Octagon, giving a post-fight interview backstage, showering or changing afterwards.
Soszynski took six months off afterwards, but then admitted to UFC President Dana White that he was still having “head trouble,” including forgetting things, struggling to find words, mixing things up and having difficulty counting backwards from 20 to 0.
Upon hearing that White retired Soszynski on the spot and sent him to a brain specialist to get checked out, but unfortunately for ‘The Polish Experiment,’ even a few years later he was still dealing with the same issues.
“I’m sitting here now, and I can tell you I don’t remember Wednesday. And that’s two days ago,” Soszynski told Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice on ‘Inside MMA’.
Soszynski hasn’t bowed down to his ailments though and has gone on to become the UFC’s Director of MMA for their U.S. gyms as well as landing small roles in movies like ‘Logan’ and ‘Here Comes The Boom.’
When Matt Brown isn’t competing, he’s enjoying his time coaching other fighters. Brown has had quite the mixed martial arts (MMA) career. There was a point when “The Immortal” was written off by many. Then something clicked. Brown went on a seven-fight winning streak and even found himself in a title eliminator. When it’s all […]
When Matt Brown isn’t competing, he’s enjoying his time coaching other fighters. Brown has had quite the mixed martial arts (MMA) career. There was a point when “The Immortal” was written off by many. Then something clicked. Brown went on a seven-fight winning streak and even found himself in a title eliminator. When it’s all […]
