Joe Rogan had atheist writer/neuroscientist Sam Harris on his podcast last week, and, at one point, the topic of former UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Jon Jones came up. As the main commentator for the UFC, Rogan had a lot of thoughts on the subject, but one stuck out: Jones’ recent terrible choices may be related to head trauma.
“This should be really clear: I am, without a doubt, not trying to let [Jones] off the hook. What he did was horrible. If it was someone in my family that he hit with that car I would be unbelievably furious. I’m incredibly disappointed in him.”
“I think the UFC absolutely did the right thing in stripping him of his title. I think law enforcement is going to do the right thing by putting him in jail. They’re going to. You can’t do that. You can’t hit someone with a car and leave the scene of the crime.”
“It is a crime, but there are things that people do because they have brain damage. That’s where the real question comes up. Obviously they’re responsible ultimately for their own actions, but what is it that’s responsible for making them do that action?”
“If the brain is getting damaged and if we have proven that some of the issues with people that have brain damage is impulse control you’ve got to wonder when you see fighters do wild, crazy shit, how much of that is due to getting bonked in the f*cking head all the time?”
To put the conversation into a bit of context, you should understand that one of Harris’ recent books is on free will, or rather the lack of free will he feels humans have. In his highly educated opinion, people are more slaves to their subconscious than they’d like to admit, and the choices they make are largely controlled by brain chemistry and past experience rather than free will, as we understand it. Rogan has also been fixated on the negative effects of head trauma for awhile now.
So, when the two talk about brain damage and impulse control, remember that it’s part of a larger discussion on concussions and every human’s ability to make their own decisions for themselves. There’s no evidence that Jon Jones has brain damage, and his near perfect fighting record and skills point to a fighter who has sustained way less head trauma than most other fighters at his level.
Still, the guy trains at Jackson’s MMA in New Mexico with a who’s who of fighting greats. What kind of wars have gone on behind closed doors during his training? What kind of head trauma did he experience growing up as a wrestler alongside his NFL brothers? There’s certainly enough opportunity for Jones to have suffered some damage. Has it been enough to affect his impulse and control him to do some of the questionable things he’s been doing recently? Yeah, probably not.
[Source: MMA Mania]