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Leisher wrote:McGregor retires at 27.

The speculation is that he was there two weeks ago when another fighter was killed in the ring, and figured "fuck this".

Unretires.

Yeah, I learned this yesterday when Dana White was on Cowherd and laid it all out. He says McGregor wants more money and to not do the promotional stuff. What an asshat. Everyone does the promo work you prick. What makes you think you're above it?

Plus, it was literally a week (this week) and that's it. His camp, per the story Malcolm linked, is trying to pretend it's a ton of time. Fuck him.

It takes a special kind of dimwit to make me actually root for a Diaz.

Team name from pub trivia last week:

Ronda Rousey Knocks Out Girls Faster Than Bill Cosby

UFC 200 should be pretty entertaining.

Poser dead at 42.

Drugs are bad.

Needed a new heart.

You know how the NFL is getting blamed for all these concussions? Has anyone ever done a study to see if PEDs might contribute to brain trauma? Both it makes one more susceptible to the trauma and if the increased speed and strength have pushed us past some "safe line".

I ask because Kimbo was a steroid user, among other illegal substances, and there's no doubt they would have played some role in his heart weakening. I just wonder if that's an angle that's ever been examined in the concussion debate.

Why are some football players far more likely to experience long term damage from concussions versus others? Is it simply luck of the genetic draw or are we considering other factors?

Has anyone ever done a study to see if PEDs might contribute to brain trauma?

That really depends on the "PE" substance. Hell, bud is tagged as "performance enhancing" in a few places. Others simply have it as a "banned" chem. If you mean steroids, the prolonged and unsupervised use of those is well documented.

Well documented, but not in relation to CTE.

And illegal drugs were part of my question, not just PEDs.

I can only see a couple ways it'd affect the grey matter:

1) blood clots forming due to PED use and then traveling to the brain
2) hormones fucking with the huge, carefully balanced cocktail of other chems floating around inside you that keep your brain operating correctly

I don't think PED use has shown to decrease resistance to head trauma, or weaken bone or cartilage. It might make you more likely to smack your skull against something or someone.

Exactly. My point is there probably really hasn't been a ton of research on what effects they might have on the brain. (Illegal drugs clearly affect it, but have we studied that damage plus repetitive concussive force?)

And that last sentence you wrote is a big key too. I don't think the invincibility drugs give someone can be understated. Perhaps PEDs don't make the brain more vulnerable, but if they make the person more willing to perform unsafe acts, then isn't that the same thing?

Not many substances can directly effect the brain. The blood-brain barrier is pretty robust and hard to penetrate. There are active carriers for known and expected metabolic substances (like glucose) to get across it. Otherwise it has to be very small (like O2, CO2, and water) or hydrophobic (including hormones) to get past. THC gets in by mimicking anandamide, one of the molecules that gets past through active transport.

I don't know about the pharmacology of PEDs, but the question would be are the potentially harmful chemicals involved either hydrophobic or something that closely imitates known metabolic substances that get active transport. Or of course if they are something that actively attack the blood-brain barrier itself.

Hormones are PEDs. Testosterone, HGH, plenty of others.

Ah. Well, then, yes, those will absolutely have some sort of effects on brain chemistry during use, and heavy use could cause some behavioral abnormalities (which I guess is "roid rage"). If they are chemically identical to the natural hormones they probably would not cause any actual damage to the structure. But if they are artificial and not completely identical there could theoretically be physical damage due to dangerous metabolized by-products that don't occur with the natural hormones.

Point being, the use of drugs (PED or illegal) should be taken into consideration when discussing and researching CTE.

Ignoring it is like discussing global warming and not discussing the sun's cycles and affects on our weather.

Brock Lesnar is still a freak of nature.

38 years old, hasn't fought in 5 years, and puts on a dominating performance against a good fighter.