Gary Goodridge diagnosed with CTE/pugilistic dementia

Caused by repeated head trauma. Very common in boxers and football players.......and soon, probably MMA fighters.

Hate to say it, but this is probably just the beginning. I wouldn't be shocked if we hear this news about a lot of the old-school fighters.

Quote :

Former UFC, Pride and K-1 star Gary Goodridge has a new battle on his hands, but just like his fights in the cage or ring, he won’t go down without swinging.

Goodridge recently visited a top neuro-physician in Canada where he was diagnosed with early onset CTE/pugilistic dementia.

CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) by definition is brain damage caused by repeated head trauma, resulting in degeneration of brain tissue. It’s commonly found in boxers, football players, ice hockey players and other athletes who have suffered repeated traumatic shock to the head.

When Goodridge first got the news from his doctors, it shocked him like it would any other athlete, and it wasn’t easy to swallow.

“You get the news you just have to deal with it, live with it,” Goodridge told MMAWeekly.com on Monday. “There’s no treatment that goes along with it. There’s pills to make it slow down the process, but it’s inevitable.”

Goodridge, who just released his autobiography titled ‘Gatekeeper: The Fighting Life of Big Daddy Gary Goodridge‘, says that he would like to get the word out about the dangers of repeated concussions to other athletes.

He most specifically points to his kickboxing career that took off in 1999 and lasted until early the end of 2010.

“I would like to share with people, but I think most of my damage came from K-1. MMA really wasn’t an issue because there’s hardly any shots to the head,” said Goodridge. “90-percent of my injuries came from K-1, where there’s nothing but head trauma, head injuries over and over again.”

While some would feel bad for Goodridge going through the debilitating disease where there is no cure, he doesn’t want anyone’s pity because if he had his choice he’d do it all again.

Goodridge isn’t a man who lives with regret. Even on Monday when he was playing the new UFC Undisputed 3 with his daughter, watching her compete with his character on the game, he loves every minute of life he has and never looks back on anything with regret.

“I have no regrets,” said Goodridge. “I love the way I live my life, I mean I would like to make little changes, but no, I have no regrets. I loved the way my life was, I lived a good life, and I’m happy with what I did.”

http://www.mmaweekly.com/gary-goodridge-diagnosed-with-ctepugilistic-dementia-says-no-regrets-about-his-fighting-life

This is a shame, but I dont think well see this in a lot of the older MMA fighters.

Goodridges later record resembles that of a journeyman boxer than an MMA fighter.

This is sadly a common thing in boxing, where older fighters cannot hang them up and they continue to take head trauma.


I agree with this article in that his K-1 career probably had much more to do with this than MMA.