Shane Carwin's UFC antitrust declaration reveals brain damage
Shane Carwin's UFC antitrust declaration reveals brain damage
The significance of prefrontal cortex brain injury
In the weeks leading up to the recent settlement of the UFC antitrust case, a number of fighters submitted declarations to the court in support of a settlement. I paid particular interest to one of the declarations, that from former UFC heavyweight fighter Shane Carwin.
His declaration reads, in part:
Cognitive tests conducted at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and Concussion Legacy Foundation at Boston University (among others) are indicating I have suffered damage to the pre-frontal cortex and left hemisphere. I spend days in bed suffering from bouts of paranoia, fear and anxiety…
Despite having a degree in engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, I have been unable to maintain adequate focus to hold down an engineering job.
Carwin’s words (or more likely, the words written on his behalf) caught my eye, because of the specific diagnosis that Carwin now carries; damage to the prefrontal cortex of his brain.
There’s no good area of the brain that one would want damaged, but speaking from experience having treated countless brain-injured people, damage to the prefrontal cortex is pretty bad.
When considering the purpose of the prefrontal cortex, it may help to remember the words complex and conceptual. The higher cognitive functions are complex, and are largely the responsibility of the prefrontal cortex.
As Frith and Dolan note1, “almost any difficult task can become an easy one with sufficient practice, even though the complexity of the task remains the same.” This is due in large part to prefrontal cortex processing of any number of physical stimuli, mental images, behavioral responses, conceptualization of a task, planning a response, comparing the planned output to the actual task performance… it goes on and on.
The prefrontal cortex is what I consider a ‘quality control’ relay in the brain. It receives input from numerous areas of the brain to process moment-to-moment information from our environment, and then plan and execute a response.2
Damage to this area of the brain can be life-altering. A number of disorders can manifest, including loss of initiative, personality changes, and disinhibition. Disinhibition refers to the inability to filter out and refrain from inappropriate behavior.
I spent 13 years working in the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, and much of that time was after the start of the Afghanistan war. Many of my patients in the outpatient setting were young veterans with brain injuries. The problem with disinhibition was at times overwhelming for these veterans and their families. It wasn’t uncommon that they were involved with the justice system, due to repeated arrests. Looking back, I feel that many of them probably had damage to the prefrontal cortex. Disinhibition in social settings, and in public, as well as domestic violence were manifest in this group of young veterans.
Sometimes, lesions to the prefrontal cortex can lead to one being easily distracted and emotionally labile. This fits with the words from Carwin’s declaration when he states “I have been unable to maintain adequate focus to hold down an engineering job.”
Unfortunately, I don’t think that the money Carwin may receive from the UFC antitrust settlement will be enough to replace a potential career in engineering. It will be a temporary fix to the life-long struggle that he probably faces.
Frith, C and Dolan, R. The role of the prefrontal cortex in higher cognitive functions. Cognitive Brain Research, 5(1996); 175-181
Hathaway WR, Newton BW. Neuroanatomy, Prefrontal Cortex. [Updated 2023 May 29]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499919/