Jamie Varner ‘scared’ of future after 30+ concussions
Jamie Varner: “I thought it was normal and that’s what we have to do as fighters, part of the cross that we bear is having headaches and being beat up because we’re fighters.”
Article Sponsored by Draft Kings.
Former WEC Lightweight Champion and top contender Jamie Varner retired from the UFC at age 30, over concerns about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in mixed martial arts.
CTE is the modern term for what used to be called Punch Drunk, and later Dementia Pugilistica. It is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes in contact sports that involve repetitive brain trauma. This trauma can be be both symptomatic concussions, as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head.
The trauma triggers progressive degeneration of the brain tissue, including the build-up of an abnormal protein called tau. Symptoms include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, tremors, vertigo, impeded speech, an unsteady gait, and, eventually, progressive dementia. Symptoms can begin months, years, or even decades after retirement and the last brain trauma.
There is no cure.
Just over a week before his last fight at UFC on FOX 13 on December 13, Varner went to his doctor with a concussion. The MD determined he had suffered over 30 concussions in his career. The doctor recommended retirement; Varner went through with the final fight, and was tapped in the first. it was his fourth loss in a row, and his fifth loss in six fights.
Varner, 30, forget things now sometimes, like whether he brushed his teeth or washed his hair. Although he remains articulate, he has trouble sometimes enunciating simple words. He sees a cognitive therapist weekly; he says it helps.
Varner appeared recently on Ariel Helwani‘s The MMA Hour, and said he is scared for of the future. While hit in the head is part of MMA training, Varner did not realize he was suffering dozens of concussions.
“I had no idea,” he said as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com. “I felt like I was in a perpetual state of just constant migraines. I knew it was from sparring, but I thought it was OK. I thought it was normal and that’s what we have to do as fighters, part of the cross that we bear is having headaches and being beat up because we’re fighters.”
Jamie Varner has no regrets.
“I definitely would’ve become a fighter,” he said. “This is what I was born to do. This was the chosen path for me.”
Varner, who has a degree in finance from ASU, hopes to be employed by the UFC as an athlete development adviser. He has a trial symposium scheduled in June. He wants to pass on what he has learned to the next generation of fighters, and not just about head trauma, but finance and social media as well.
“There’s a lot of fighters that aren’t as knowledgeable,” Varner said. “They almost get used to those big paydays and rely on them, as opposed to me. I always planned for the absolute worst, which I think what you should do in life in general anyways. You can’t count on getting a knockout or fight of the night bonus. You can’t spend your money before you have it, which is what a lot of guys do.”
Varner also recently called out for fighters to spar only once a week, and only in the final six or so weeks of camp, as a means to avoid CTE. Still, Varner understands the rationale behind the kind of sparring that used to the norm.
“The best way to get in shape for a fight or to get ready for a fight is to get in a fight,” said Varner. “You’re sparring. Your training should always be harder than the fight. At least that’s what my coach told me.”
Coaches are now starting to tell fighters different advice, and that is good for the sport.
