Sean O’Malley is taking precautions to ensure that his brain stays healthy throughout his fighting career.
Coming more and more to the forefront of concerns through all contact sports is brain health. The more research that is being done has risen concerns over concessions and CTE after sporting careers are over. Many sporting leagues with high head trauma injuries have been taking steps to limit the number of concessions and up the strictness of the protocols if concessions are to happen. The UFC has been doing its part as well to safeguard its fighters from having brain damage later in life.
This topic is a personal one to Sean O’Malley. He recently took to his YouTube channel to explain some of what the UFC is doing to help fighters stay healthy. He explained a protocol sent to him by a member of the UFC Performance Institute staff, Dan Garner. He explained just how important his brain health is to him.
Sean O’Malley says his number one concern in fighting is his brain health
O’Malley is currently on the fast track to a UFC title but along the way wants to keep himself and his brain well. He mentioned a protocol that was sent to him by a member of the UFC PI.
“My number one thing is my brain health. I want to make sure that I’m, you know, not f–king [expletive] when I’m done fighting,” he said. “On Monday he (Garner) said, hey bro really, really proud and excited to finally send this to you right now, I’ve been working on this and validating it in the scientific literature for what seems like forever. Below is the brain protocol that will protect you for the rest of your life…having this on top of your own elusive skillset is going to make your brain bulletproof for the future.”
He did not give too many details about the protocol but explained that it included dietary information, supplementation, exercises, and more. O’Malley believes that the UFC is giving these recommendations to all fighters. O’Malley even spoke briefly about wanting to get involved in expanding these protocols to all.
“I mean the UFC if they’re smart, you know, I mean, I would love to bring it up to whoever I could talk to and say you guys need to f–king, I mean, this protocol is probably for everyone,” he said. “It’s not, I don’t think it’s specifically for me, I think it’s specifically for your brain after getting hit. And now I was reading through it and it says no alcohol after, I said, well, I might skip that but it was saying how bad that is. Your brain is already inflamed and you’re gonna f–king pound alcohol. So we’ll see if I stick to that part. But I’m gonna do my best.”
O’Malley has been pretty good at avoiding too much damage in his career so far. He has only suffered TKO once in competition, and although he probably spars, has his future health in mind. CTE has become a large problem for former UFC fighters and the UFC has been involved with some brain clinics to try and rectify or prevent these problems.
