Joe Rogan believes CTE could be to blame for Conor McGregor’s questionable actions over the last several years.
CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a progressive brain disease that can develop after repeated brain trauma. Essentially, the more blows to the head you take, the higher the risk, so it should come as no surprise that those considered to be at the highest risk are athletes who engage in contact sports, like mixed martial arts.
As a result, fighters like Julie Kedzie have agreed to donate their brains to science in the event of their passing to help further the research into an illness we simply don’t know all that much about. After all, it’s been less than 10 years since an MMA fighter was first diagnosed with CTE , that being Jordan Parsons, a former Bellator competitor who died following a hit-and-run accident in May 2016.
Five months later, Parsons became the first mixed martial artist to be publicly diagnosed with CTE.
Some of the symptoms associated with CTE include confusion, mood and behavioral changes, difficulty concentrating, immobility, headaches, speech problems, and changes in sleeping patterns. To try and cope with some of those symptoms, some partake in recreational drugs, including athletes. In particular, athletes who have reached the tail end of their careers, as Rogan suggests.
“A lot of fighters when they’ve sustained a significant amount of damage over the course of their career and there’s no way to not get that, right? We’ve all seen Conor get beat up and knocked out,” Rogan said on his JRE podcast. “We’ve all seen Conor’s sparring footage. He spars pro boxers, he’s sparring elite fighters… You’re getting hit in the head a lot and a lot of fighters, especially toward the end of their career turn to drugs and I think there’s probably a constant state of discomfort that they live in where their dopamine levels are all f*cked up. Their cortisol levels are all f*cked up.
“Their bodies are — you’re not supposed to get punched in the head 1,000 times a year. It’s just not supposed to happen and that’s the reality of consistent training. So if you and I are sparring and we meet at the gym three times a week — five rounds at five minutes each three times a week. You might hit me 15-20 times per round and we’re doing that three times every week over and over again.”
Joe Rogan Believes Sparring Plays a Big Role in MMA Athletes Developing CTE Symptoms
In a fight, it’s almost impossible for an athlete to take some type of damage to the head, but Rogan believes the constant sparring is often overlooked when discussing CTE.
“Sure, sparring light is important, but sub-concussive trauma to the head is what causes soccer players to CTE. Now, soccer players getting CTE from a soccer ball — I played soccer when I was a kid. That doesn’t hurt, but that thump is giving you CTE. People who ride jet skis get CTE.”
Symptoms of CTE typically start 10 years after repeated head injuries begin. Unfortunately, there’s no way to diagnose the disease until after death. To learn more about CTE, check out Boston University’s FAQ right here.
Watch the full episode below:
