The UFC will give $1 million to the Cleveland Clinic's Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas as part of a continuing commitment to supporting the center's Professional Fighters Brain Health Study.
UFC officials announced the donation in a statement released on Friday.
“Research and awareness are key in setting new standards for athlete health and safety,” UFC Chief Operating Officer Ike Lawrence Epstein said in the statement. “UFC is always looking for opportunities to invest in industry-leading health and wellness programs.”
The study, which is led by neurologist Dr. Charles Bernick, has to date enrolled about 600 active and professional athletes. Participating fighters receive free assessments of their brain health and function, including MRI scans, for at least four years.
“We have learned quite a bit in the first four years of the study about how repetitive head trauma affects the brain and how we can detect accumulating injury,” Bernick said in the statement. “The involvement of the fighting community and organizations like UFC will only help us better understand the field and protect our athletes."
Created in 2011, the study aims to find ways of detecting early and subtle signs of brain injury in those who have been exposed to head trauma. It also wishes to determine which individuals may be likelier to develop chronic neurological disorders, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which most recently garnered headlines when doctors diagnosed late NFL quarterback Ken Stabler with the disease.
According to USA Today's A.J. Perez, CTE—which currently can only be diagnosed posthumously—has also been linked to the death of BMX star Dave Mirra, who committed suicide on Thursday at the age of 41.
Other combat sports organizations have previously announced support for the study, including Bellator MMA, Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank Boxing. With Friday's announced donation, officials said the UFC became the largest combat sports contributor to the study.
"[UFC] support has helped sustain the infrastructure of this very large study and will allow us to follow the participants over longer periods of time and develop ways to improve safety in combat sports, along with others exposed to repetitive head trauma," Bernick said.
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