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SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
November - 2014
21
er’s recent stand-off with the
police.
Here’s what the former champ
had to say:
“Us fighters put our lives on the
line to entertain the fans that
watch. Look at Jason “May-
hem” Miller, War Machine. I’m
not defending anything they
did. Everything they did was
wrong in their own right, but
a lot of these fighters take a lot
of head trauma, head damage,
as you see in professional foot-
ball. Maybe UFC and Bellator
should take care of the fighters
when their careers are done, as
the NFL takes care of their play-
ers. Because they’re making so
much money off us. It’s blood
money.”
And Ortiz is right.
The UFC and other MMA pro-
motions have a responsibility
to protect their fighters who
put their bodies and lives on
the line.
While the issue needs to be ex-
plored and studied on a deeper
level, there are already reports
suggesting a link between
head trauma and violent be-
havior. Now, being more vio-
lent may be good for fighting,
but it’s how this behavior af-
fects an athlete’s home life that
is the real problem.
We’ve seen the real life reper-
cussions of this issue far too
many times over the years, and
it’s time to make a change.
Some have already called on
the UFC to adopt a similar pro-
gram to the NFL’s “88 Plan,”
which MMAFighting.com says,
“provides retired players up to
$88,000 per year for medical
and custodial care.” Now that
would be a nice start, but it’d
be nearly impossible to imple-
ment seeing as how there’s no
union for these fighters, who
are considered contract work-
ers.
To its credit, the UFC has ex-
pressed its support for doing
more research into head trau-
ma, but there needs to be tan-
gible systems put in place now
so that today’s mixed martial
artists aren’t left out to pasture
when their careers are up.
It’d be a shame to see some of
our favorite fighters go the way
of many past, popular boxers
who now suffer from things
like dementia or, worse, end
up in jail for lashing out physi-
cally at their loved ones.
However, there will likely be no
movement on the subject un-
til some sort of fighters union
that can handle a collective
bargaining agreement is es-
tablished. The onus is on peo-
ple like Ortiz to get his fellow
fighters together and force the
promotions into taking brain
trauma issues head on.
Until that day, fans shouldn’t
be surprised when they see
more stories in the future simi-
lar to the War Machine or May-
hem cases.