When Risks Outweigh Rewards, Fighters and Fans Face Uncertain Futures

I’d like to think a guy like Krzysztof Soszynski would be set for life.

A veteran of nearly 40 fights, Soszynski spent more than eight years in the trenches of professional MMA. He fought for several of the industry’s top promotions, including Strikeforce and the IFL, before mustering a three-year, nine-fight tenure in the Octagon.

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I’m told it's difficult to measure how long the average UFC career lasts, but with a final record of 6-3, Soszynski was likely more successful than most. He was never champion (or even a top contender), but he won more than he lost and three times pleased his bosses enough to win one of the fight company’s performance-based bonuses.

In reality, though, I know Soszynski probably isn’t a wealthy man.

When he announced his retirement last month on AXS TV’s Inside MMA, it likely just signaled a period of transition for the former light heavyweight mainstay. Like many of the fighters who give their best years to this sport, I’m guessing he’ll now have to find something else to do with his life.

The hard truth is, very few of these guys will have a fortune in the bank to show for the time they spent entertaining us all.

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It’s that last part that makes Soszynski’s other revelations so troubling. As part of his retirement announcement, he told hosts Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten he was walking away from MMA due to concerns over his brain health.

Soszynski said he doesn’t remember a thing about his final UFC fight—a 35-second KO loss to Igor Pokrajac at UFC 140—or anything else for roughly 40 minutes after leaving the cage that night. While training for what he hoped would be his 10th and final appearance in the Octagon, Soszynski said he noticed he was suffering from memory lapses, jumbled speech and having difficulty counting backward from 20 to zero.

After consultations with doctors, his family and UFC officials, he said he knew it was time to call it quits.

“Yesterday I spoke with my wife, and today I’ll probably ask her the same questions I asked yesterday because I don’t remember the answers to those questions,” Soszynski said. “It’s those little things that kind of bothered me. But the good thing is I don’t have any dizzy spells. I don’t have any long-term memory loss or anything like that. It’s just small, little things that you take for granted.”

In fairness, I should point out that I don’t know Soszynski and know nothing about his financial well-being. Fact is, though, this story isn’t really about him. This is about the sport we all love and my growing concerns as a fan over the consequences it seems to wreak on the people who participate in it.

Soszynski’s recent TV appearance was a sobering one, but it’s just the latest in a stretch of stories that raise alarms over the long-term health of our fighters.

We’ve already seen guys like Brian Stann and Mac Danzig walk away, citing various health and safety concerns. We’ve heard welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre speak on his own memory loss. UFC president Dana White has publicly fretted over his friend Chuck Liddell and whether he hung on too long. We’ve read stories about the damage done to pioneers like Gary Goodridge and continue to wonder about the futures of current stars like Alistair Overeem and Diego Sanchez.

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If anything, Soszynski may be one of the fortunate ones in that he knew when it was time to walk away and doesn’t appear the least bit conflicted about his decision. The mental afflictions he reports likely won’t keep him from living a full life.

Frankly, he’s always seemed like a great guy. He appeared on Inside MMA wearing a UFC-branded polo shirt, and I suspect if you asked him to reflect on his 39 total fights (and 26-12-1 overall record), he’d tell you he wouldn’t change a thing. I suspect he’d tell you his employers always took great care of him and that he feels indebted to them for giving him the opportunity to pursue his dream.

Reports indicate he works as a coach at a UFC gym in California, he's dabbled in acting and last weekend made his radio debut as a DJ. So there is plenty of reason to believe he's happy and is going to be fine. 

For fans of combat sports, though, hearing his story only reinforces the notion that the men and women who compete for our enjoyment put themselves at considerable risk. For at least some them, a costly physical toll will be paid somewhere down the line.

To continue to watch, plunk down money (for pay-per-view, for internet subscriptions) and invest the time and energy it takes to keep the gears of our industry turning, I guess you have to make peace with that in your own way.

We know this stuff isn’t good for their brains, bodies and futures, but we continue to watch. We cheer it on. Why? As information regarding brain injuries keeps piling up, I wonder if it’s getting harder and harder to justify all that to ourselves.

I know it is for me.