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Earlier this week, PRIDE champion and MMA legend Wanderlei Silva revealed serious health issues and possible CTE symptoms in court documents related to the UFC antitrust lawsuit and possible settlement, which could award fighters $375 million if approved by the judge.
Sadly, Silva will not be the last champion revealed to be suffering from his combat sports career. Many athletes are declaring their own support for the settlement, using their health concerns as arguments for the judge to approve the lawsuit and grant them some financial relief.
One of the most eye-raising in the recently revealed (courtesy of John Nash, who has been an invaluable source in tracking the lawsuit) is that of Fabricio Werdum. “Vai Cavalo” is former Heavyweight champion of the world and fought just last year, but Werdum revealed there are serious concerns about his brain health.
Werdum’s statement reads, “While fighting for the UFC, I suffered many concussions. I fear that during my career I have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) and am noticing symptoms common with TBI and CTE including irritability, anger, anxiety, insomnia, and memory loss. I have many lesions and scarring in my brain, and I have a cyst that is located centrally within my brain making surgery impossible. I monitor this cyst with biannual exams to determine if it is growing. To date, no treatment for CTE has been found.”
I wouldn’t expect this to be the final unfortunate health update from this series of declarations.
Fabricio Werdum fought on the UFC roster in two separate stints. The first took place between April 2007-October 2008 after his PRIDE career, but a loss to Junior dos Santos saw him crossover into Strikeforce, where Werdum would score the most legendary win of his career over Fedor Emelianenko.
He rejoined the UFC roster in 2012, going on a six-fight win streak that would see him submit Cain Velasquez to capture UFC Heavyweight gold. He remained on the roster until 2020, when Werdum opted not to re-sign with the promotion. Most recently, Werdum suffered a split decision loss to Junior dos Santos in the Gamebred FC promotion on Sept. 8, 2023.
