Ian McCall Puts MMA Career On Hold For Fear Of Ending Up Like Doomed WWE Star

Ian McCall is officially putting his mixed martial arts (MMA) career on hold.

The former UFC flyweight title challenger hasn’t seen Octagon action since January of 2015 when he was defeated by John Lineker via unanimous decision at UFC 183. Since then, McCall has made multiple attempts to fight once again, however, they have all ended up falling through. “Uncle Creepy” has been plagued by multiple health issues as of late, most notably the gastrointestinal illness that kept him off UFC 208 where he was expected to face Jarred Brooks.

During an appearance on The MMA Hour yesterday (Mon. August 7, 2017) McCall revealed that he is now undergoing transcranial magnetic stimulation (brain treatment) in San Diego under the supervision of UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitsky.

McCall is looking to treat the affects of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) sooner rather than later, as they could lead to some severe issues down the road. He has already admitted to having undergone spells of uncontrollable bouts of rage, bi-polar symptoms, and out-of-nowhere crying. The former 125-pound title challenger is hoping to avoid the ill fate of former WWE Champion Chris Benoit, who murdered his wife and seven-year-old son before taking his own life back in 2007.

After an autopsy it was revealed by Julian Bailes, the head of neurosurgery at West Virginia University that “Benoit’s brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient.” The man formerly known as “The Crippler” has since been essentially blacklisted from WWE history (quotes via MMA Mania):

“My whole career is a regret … I don’t hold any ill will toward the sport, it’s a weird place that people at the end of their career kind of go over. And no one talks about it, people fight it. I’m not gonna fight it. People make Chris Benoit out to be – I always thought he was a fucking monster for what he did.

“And then being with (my wife) Alicia and being around wrestlers and the stories you hear about Chris and how good of a person he was and how amazing of a father he was, all of this stuff, and it’s the TBI or drugs – I’m not saying he was on drugs – or steroids or whatever. That stuff drives people crazy and for me to think that through hurting my brain I could hurt someone else, like the people I love?

“Sorry. Not gonna happen. I’m not going to ever, ever let that happen. So I’m at least going to hop on it now and try and fix it before it gets worse and if I can fight again then cool. If I don’t fight again then sure, my whole career is a regret, but whatever, I had a lot of fun.”