Bipolar Rock ‘N’ Roller debuts Friday at 9 pm ET/PT

On Friday, May 25, Showtime will debut ‘Bipolar Rock ‘N’ Roller’ a documentary on fight commentator Mauro Ranallo. Fighting is brave – you are stripped down for all to see. That’s what Ranallo does here – the piece focuses on Ranallo’s lifelong battle with bipolar disorder.

As defined by NIH, “Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.”

No one is ashamed of having a broken leg, but mental illness carries a stigma even today, and far more so in the past. Now 48, Ranallo started working in broadcasting at the age of 16, and has always gamely addressed his illness.

I’ve always been an advocate for mental health, said Ranallo to MMAjunkie’s John Morgan, as transcribed byDann Stupp. I gave myself the nickname ‘Bipolar Rock ‘N Roller’ way back in the 1990s, when – as much as we don’t talk about mental health now, back then, it was almost nonexistent. And if it was broached, it was done in a very pejorative way.

I don’t mind being the proverbial canary in the coal mine. I don’t even mind being a casualty. If this were to cost me some work, so be it.

Thankfully, Showtime, WWE, Paramount Network, all of my media friends – the amount of feedback I’ve received? First, it’s humbling. I’ve got goosebumps. But the support, the fact that so many people are saying, ‘We need this now. You’ve inspired me to phone a therapist. You’ve inspired me to tell my wife’ – and it really is about the men, John. The alpha male syndrome we all – especially in my world and your world and our world, where you ‘show weakness,’ they say, or you’re shamed over the fact you may need to cry. Or maybe you need to get some help.

I want to make it so that it’s OK to not be OK.

‘Bipolar Rock ‘N’ Roller’ will debut on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Friday, May 25.