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Bellator’s Njokuani: I wouldn’t want my kids to fight

Chidi Njokuani: “If I were to have a kid, if they were trying to get into fighting, I’d encourage them not to.”

KJ
Kirik Jenness
August 19, 2017 · 1 min read

Bellator welterweight Chidi Njokuani appeared recently on MMAjunkie Radio and said that while he doesn’t regret his career, and that it has done a lot of good for him, if he had a child, he wouldn’t recommend fighting.

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I think about the boxers that are dying recently, said Njokuani as transcribed by MMAjunkie. It’s crazy to me. For instance, if I were to have a kid, if they were trying to get into fighting, I’d encourage them not to. But I’m not just going to go out and say it’s the worst thing to be doing. But I think about it a lot.

I see people in the gym getting dropped left and right. And it’s like, that can’t be good for them. It can’t be good, getting rocked, taking a little break and then jumping back into sparring. It goes through my mind a lot.

At the same time, it helps me work on my defense, too. I’m constantly trying not to get hit. Not that I’m afraid of getting hit, I just know the damage that it can do to you.

Njokuani fights former Bellator champion Andrey Koreshkov in the main event of Bellator 182 on August 25. The American-Nigerian Muay Thai specialist is on a seven-fight wins streak.

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