[div class=”notice” class2=”icon”]The following is from an article on LiverKick.com, part of the MiddleEasy Network.[/div]
There is something to be said for the risk that fighters put themselves under each time they enter a ring to fight as professionals. Many of us get caught up in a lot of the facts, statistics, the drama and the whole insular world of professional combat sports, sometimes putting aside the most important aspect of them all; combat sports are a form of entertainment. Professional fighters enter into unarmed combat with another fighter, with the purpose being defeating said opponent in combat. Period. This can lead to a lot of injuries, some worse than others, and some that can affect a fighter for the rest of their lives. If you need an example, Muhammad Ali is a prime example, if anything.
So there is no shock when former UFC, PRIDE and K-1 veteren Gary Goodridge comes out and says that he has suffered a lot of brain damage in his stint as a professional fighter. The effects of combat sports on the athletes is a topic which should be taken far more seriously and get the spotlight more often, as opposed to Dana White’s latest twitter tirade or which esteemed member of the fraternity of Mixed Martial Arts media “broke” a story first. Sadly, the world that we live in tends to focus more on the immediate as opposed to the long term, and in MMA and K-1, we will finally see a generation of fighters nearing the age of retirement and how their careers have affected their bodies and minds. Goodridge recently released a tell-all book, and it turns out that he has been diagnosed with Pugilistic Dementia. He spoke with our good friend Jonathan Snowden, and he actually blames K-1 for most of the damage he received in his career.
