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Former UFC, Pride and K-1 star Gary Goodridge has a new battle on his hands, but just like his fights in the cage or ring, he won’t go down without swinging.
Goodridge recently visited a top neuro-physician in Canada where he was diagnosed with early onset CTE/pugilistic dementia.
CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) by definition is brain damage caused by repeated head trauma, resulting in degeneration of brain tissue. It’s commonly found in boxers, football players, ice hockey players and other athletes who have suffered repeated traumatic shock to the head.
When Goodridge first got the news from his doctors, it shocked him like it would any other athlete, and it wasn’t easy to swallow.
“You get the news you just have to deal with it, live with it,” Goodridge told MMAWeekly.com on Monday. “There’s no treatment that goes along with it. There’s pills to make it slow down the process, but it’s inevitable.”
Goodridge, who just released his autobiography titled ‘Gatekeeper: The Fighting Life of Big Daddy Gary Goodridge‘, says that he would like to get the word out about the dangers of repeated concussions to other athletes.
He most specifically points to his kickboxing career that took off in 1999 and lasted until early the end of 2010.
“I would like to share with people, but I think most of my damage came from K-1. MMA really wasn’t an issue because there’s hardly any shots to the head,” said Goodridge. “90-percent of my injuries came from K-1, where there’s nothing but head trauma, head injuries over and over again.”
While some would feel bad for Goodridge going through the debilitating disease where there is no cure, he doesn’t want anyone’s pity because if he had his choice he’d do it all again.
Goodridge isn’t a man who lives with regret. Even on Monday when he was playing the new UFC Undisputed 3 with his daughter, watching her compete with his character on the game, he loves every minute of life he has and never looks back on anything with regret.
“I have no regrets,” said Goodridge. “I love the way I live my life, I mean I would like to make little changes, but no, I have no regrets. I loved the way my life was, I lived a good life, and I’m happy with what I did.”
Don’t expect Goodridge to slow down however. With his new book in release, Goodridge is also keeping very busy teaching seminars all over the world.
In April, Goodridge will travel to Australia to do a seminar and he’s always looking to share his secrets of kickboxing, ground and pound and everything he learned for the last two decades with the next crop of young fighters out there.
Gary Goodridge truly led a fighting life and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
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