Uncle Creepy: My whole career is a regret

UG hero Ian ‘Uncle Creepy’ McCall appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and said his career started to go downhill on March 3, 2012 in Sydney, Australia. He and Demetrious Johnson put on the fight of the night and he was announced the winner via Majority Decision; then a math error was discovered, and the fight was ruled a draw. Johnson won the rematch and went on to become arguably the best pound for pound fighter in the sport. McCall has gone 2-2 since and has seen a number of fights canceled, due to opponents and due to his own medical issues.

‘Uncle Creepy’ hasn’t fought since Jan. 31, 2015. He’s 33, has been fighting professionally for 15 years, and at his current 16 and 16 contract, he doesn’t see himself fighting again. McCall suffers unresolved stomach issues, but what worries him is his brain – he’s suffering bouts of forgetfulness, rage, bi-polar symptoms, and crying. The fighter doesn’t blame the UFC – he made the choices.

I don’t want to say anything bad about the UFC, said McCall, as transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting. 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. 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. People make Chris Benoit out to be – I always thought he was a f***ing 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.

Everyone loves highlight reel head trauma, but the fighters bear the cost. McCall is relatively lucky in that he is still in the UFC and the league is aiding his treatment. He is not alone in this condition.