UFC flyweight Ian McCall has revealed that he is currently undergoing transcranial magnetic stimulation due to head trauma suffered in his career
McCall appeared on Monday’s episode of The MMAHour and opened up on the effects of being a professional Mixed Martial Artist for 15 years. The alarming news is set to reignite fears among fighters regarding brain trauma in MMA and the ramifications it can have on a fighter’s mental health.
The 33-year-old refrained from blaming the UFC as he gave explicit details into the treatment he is undergoing and his fears for the future as a result of a fighting career which he says he regrets:
“I don’t want to say anything bad about the UFC,” McCall said. “The UFC has taken care of me since day one. They’ve never wronged me, they’ve never done anything bad. This is my own fault. This is my own doing. Picking this sport as a profession … overdosing on drugs when I was down and out. There’s a lot wrong with my brain, it’s not just the punching. And on top of that 15 years of fighting professionally isn’t good for you.”
“I don’t know if I’ll fight again. I have to figure out these issues. We still have no idea what’s wrong with my stomach. Doctors haven’t been able to figure out anything really, so I’m on my own. I’m sitting here trying this brain stimulation treatment for six weeks and hopefully it works.”
“I’m doing brain treatment down in San Diego that’s helping,” McCall said. “Jeff Novitzky set me up with transcranial magnetic stimulation, it really does help my brain so that’s a plus. I saw a lot of bad signs, still seeing a lot of bad signs just with CTE-type stuff, TBI stuff, so it scared me. I went down there and I’m trying to fix it. Fix the depression and all the stuff that comes with that, we’ll see. I’ve got another month left.”
“My whole career is a regret … I don’t hold any ill will toward the sport, it’s a weird place that people at the end of their career kind of go over. And no one talks about it, people fight it. I’m not gonna fight it,” McCall said. “People make Chris Benoit out to be – I always thought he was a f*cking monster for what he did. And then being with (my wife) Alicia and being around wrestlers and the stories you hear about Chris and how good of a person he was and how amazing of a father he was, all of this stuff, and it’s the TBI or drugs – I’m not saying he was on drugs – or steroids or whatever.
“That stuff drives people crazy and for me to think that through hurting my brain I could hurt someone else, like the people I love? Sorry. Not gonna happen. I’m not going to ever, ever let that happen. So I’m at least going to hop on it now and try and fix it before it gets worse and if I can fight again then cool. If I don’t fight again then sure, my whole career is a regret, but whatever, I had a lot of fun.”
