Former UFC fighter becomes doctor, now researches brain damage
· Yahoo Sports
Former
Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight Thiago
Tavares has taken on a new challenge outside the cage.
Tavares (24-11-1) retired from mixed martial arts in 2021 and used some of his career earnings to pursue medical school. The Brazilian is now a practicing physician specializing in neurology and is working on a master's thesis exploring potential markers of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in former fighters.
Speaking to Sherdog, Tavares explained that CTE can currently be definitively diagnosed only by examining brain tissue after death. His research aims to explore whether brain wave measurements and artificial intelligence could help identify a reliable marker in living patients.
“Unfortunately, the only way to confirm CTE is through the study of brain tissue (a post-mortem biopsy) in the anatomopathological exam,” Tavares said. “There is still no reliable marker able to indicate that an athlete is affected by CTE, so based on certain symptoms we say that he has traumatic encephalopathy syndrome.”
Tavares said the project will involve 40 former UFC fighters from his generation who competed between 2010 and 2017. The team plans to use a helmet equipped for electroencephalography to measure brain activity, along with an assessment of symptoms, to search for a potential marker.
“We will use a helmet that performs a functional electroencephalogram and measures the brain's waves, including the use of AI in an attempt to find that marker, on top of, obviously, the in-depth study of the symptoms that would allow us to state that an individual has CTE even before [they] die,” Tavares added.
The former fighter hopes his medical work can give back to the sport that supported his education and career.
“Everything I have in my life, the UFC gave me,” Tavares said. “I hope that at the next UFC in Brazil I get the chance to thank Dana White, Joe Silva and Sean Shelby in person. And I hope that, with my work in medicine, I can give some of that back by helping the future generations of this sport.”
Tavares (24-11-1) retired from mixed martial arts in 2021 and used some of his career earnings to pursue medical school. The Brazilian is now a practicing physician specializing in neurology and is working on a master's thesis exploring potential markers of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in former fighters.
Thiago Tavares seeks potential CTE markers in former UFC fighters
Speaking to Sherdog, Tavares explained that CTE can currently be definitively diagnosed only by examining brain tissue after death. His research aims to explore whether brain wave measurements and artificial intelligence could help identify a reliable marker in living patients.
“Unfortunately, the only way to confirm CTE is through the study of brain tissue (a post-mortem biopsy) in the anatomopathological exam,” Tavares said. “There is still no reliable marker able to indicate that an athlete is affected by CTE, so based on certain symptoms we say that he has traumatic encephalopathy syndrome.”
Tavares said the project will involve 40 former UFC fighters from his generation who competed between 2010 and 2017. The team plans to use a helmet equipped for electroencephalography to measure brain activity, along with an assessment of symptoms, to search for a potential marker.
“We will use a helmet that performs a functional electroencephalogram and measures the brain's waves, including the use of AI in an attempt to find that marker, on top of, obviously, the in-depth study of the symptoms that would allow us to state that an individual has CTE even before [they] die,” Tavares added.
The former fighter hopes his medical work can give back to the sport that supported his education and career.
“Everything I have in my life, the UFC gave me,” Tavares said. “I hope that at the next UFC in Brazil I get the chance to thank Dana White, Joe Silva and Sean Shelby in person. And I hope that, with my work in medicine, I can give some of that back by helping the future generations of this sport.”
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