Worrying footage showing veteran boxer Nam Phan’s speech declining over the years has shocked and devastated fans.
Phan began his professional boxing career in 2001 and is now a former mixed martial arts competitor.
Starting in 2010, Phan went on to win three “Fight of the Night” awards while competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The Bellator Mixed Martial Arts and Pancrase events were part of Phan’s illustrative resumè. He has entered the ring of 38 mixed martial arts fights and 12 boxing matches.
After losing against Robert Whiteford in 2017, he called it quits.
Despite this retirement from mixed martial arts (MMA) following stints with the UFC, the Americans kept fighting in boxing and Muay Thai fights.
A video of Phan’s speech decline throughout his career has gone viral on social media.
On Tuesday, the clips surfaced, comparing Nam Phan’s speeches from more than a decade ago to his more recent ones. The 2010 version of Phan (which included a post-fight interview) gradually evolves to footage of the pugilist in 2022. The contrast illustrates extreme cognitive decline.
The early clips show Phan speaking well and audibly, but in his most recent vision, he stutters, has trouble pronouncing words, and speaks exceptionally slowly.
Years of training in the ring and cage are most likely the culprit.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a fatal degenerative brain disease associated with severe head trauma. Dementia, behavioral changes, and sadness are all symptoms of this untreatable disease.
Last year, Julie Kedzie, a 43-year-old former UFC star, announced her intention to donate her brain for postmortem study.
On Wednesday, Greg Johnson’s family announced to the Concussion Legacy Foundation that the athlete had CTE. Johnson was a former NHL center and captain of the Nashville Predators. He passed away by suicide in 2019.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been detected in two Australian women who died after enduring decades of spousal abuse, which included scores of horrific assaults and brain injuries.