“We Have a Better Understanding”: UFC Founder’s Daughter Raises Awareness About CTE

While combat sports fans love to witness a deadly knockout, many are also worried about CTE; something that such athletes are vulnerable to. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a condition caused by repeated blows to the head. As a result, boxers and MMA fighters can be highly vulnerable to it. UFC founder Rorion Gracie’s daughter raised questions about the same.

Rorion Gracie played an important role in the MMA world. However, about three decades later, his daughter Rose Gracie too seems to be doing something similar. She has raised her voice to bring more awareness to CTE.

Rose Gracie like other members of her family has learned the art of grappling as a child. As per an article by ‘MMA Fighting‘, she, however, never felt welcome on the mats because of the older generation’s sexist mindset. However, she helped her father in the gym in Torrance, California.

It had become quite popular during the early days of the UFC. She was just 19. However, now she has a new mission; to educate fighters about the dangers of CTE. In an interview, she said (h/t MMA Fighting), “We understand more about it today. Nothing really changed. Everybody still gets hit in the head the same way. Maybe even more.”

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“But now we have a better understanding of what really happens.”

Rose Gracie made it her mission to educate people about the degenerative brain disease after her close friends and then-husband started experiencing health problems. She spoke about how her MMA fighter close to her would experience headaches and other symptoms.

CTE symptoms Rose Gracie saw in a UFC fighter

Gracie’s then-husband Javier Vazquez had fought about 21 MMA fights. Out of these, only one was at the UFC. While speaking about him, she pointed out a few signs that she felt could have been symptoms of CTE.

She said, “I saw depression and anxiety, things I didn’t see before. I began to notice something was wrong. Irrational behavior, memory [loss]. His [memory loss] was even a joke to us, really. … But that was something normal at the time, I didn’t understand it could come from some place else.”

Gracie further revealed how actor Will Smith’s movie ‘Concussion’ helped her realize what symptoms Vazquez might be showing. In addition to this, Chris Nowinski’s TED Talk on the subject was also a help.

The UFC too seems to understand the danger fighters are in. Hence, they had extended their partnership with the Cleveland Clinic to fund studies on CTE.

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What do you think about Gracie’s efforts to educate fighters about CTE?