Original Forbes Post by Amanda Siebert
When mixed martial artist Ian McCall retired from the UFC in May 2018, the fighter was broken in both a mental and physical sense: suffering from a twenty-year addiction to opiates after decades of injuries and thousands of hits to the head, the father and former flyweight contender found himself struggling with thoughts of suicide.
In an exclusive interview following news that theย UFC is interested in studying psychedelics as a potential therapy for fighters, McCall details the changes in his life before and after using plant-based medicines like cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms, including innovative products such as magic mushroom chocolates.
Overcoming The Cycle Of Trauma
โThere was a lot of brain damage, a lot of trauma that had happened to me. I was so broken, and it got to the point where I wanted to kill myself,โ McCall says by phone.
Victims of repeated head trauma tend to suffer fromย chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. While a definitive diagnosis can only be made in an autopsy, several athletes in the UFC, NFL, NHL, and other organizations have opened up about the struggles associated with life after repeated concussions.
McCall, who had been turned onto the healing potential of medical cannabis after it helped his daughterโs rheumatoid arthritis, and then onto psychedelics through friends likeย Joe Rogan, began using both to help him heal from some of the mental and physical effects that stem2 from a career of fighting. Among them were memory loss, depression, anxiety, and anger issues.
โI wasnโt able to understand my life and what was happening,โ he says. โI couldnโt put things together and I couldnโt be happy. You get so impulsive, you have all this plaque buildup in your brain and youโre not making the right decisions. Everything goes wrong, and youโre in this state of confusion and fear that leads to more self abuse. Itโs a vicious cycle.โ
Itโs this cycle of trauma that keeps people in a negative feedback loop and unable to improve their mental health, McCall says. He emphasizes that trauma can come in many, many forms, not just blows to the head and body.
McCall credits his use of high doses of psychedelics with relieving him of the symptoms associated with CTE. While some symptoms like memory loss may still linger, he says theyโve improved dramatically since taking his first dose. Other athletes including former NFL player Kerry Rhodes, former NHL player Daniel Carcillo, and former UFC fighter Dean Listerย have also used psychedelicsย to help overcome trauma to the brain, and were featured on an episode of HBOโsย Real Sports with Bryant Gumbelย with McCall in November 2020.
โEverything is tied back to inflammation, and that comes from stress, from trauma, from abuse of the body in one way or another,โ he says. โItโs incredible to be able to fix that, and knock some of that down with the purgative effects of psychedelics.โ In addition to helping his brain heal, heโs a firm believer that psychedelics have the power to โheal the human condition.โ
Today, McCall says he feels like a different person. He hasnโt had a painkiller in years, and says he doesnโt care to. โIโm not hung up on it, itโs over with,โ he says. โIโm responsible, Iโm efficient, Iโm extremely happy, and now Iโm able to teach this stuff.โ
Together, McCall and Irena Marin, his fiancรฉ and a psychedelic educator and wellness coach, have created an integration program for high-performance athletes and performers calledย The McCall Method. Together, theyโve developedย protocols for integratingย the lessons learned during a psychedelic experience for athletes, couples, and families.ย โItโs a good team effort, and Iโm very proud of what weโre doing,โ he says.
Introducing Psychedelics To The UFC
So how does a former fighter introduce the idea of psychedelic therapy to an organization like the UFC, which onlyย justย loosenedย its rules around cannabis?
In 2019, McCall found himself discussing the efficacy of psilocybin mushrooms with friend and UFC Senior Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky ahead of a major fight card in Las Vegas. Novitzky was interested but stressed the importance to McCall of a legal approach through a clinical study, as psilocybin is still a Schedule I substance.
โ[Ian] came to me saying, โLook, Iโm trying psychedelic therapy and itโs really working for me. I want to to spread this news and help other fighters because I know what they are going through,โโ Novitzky recalled over the phone.
โA little over a year later, I sent Dana a link to theย Real Sportsย episode,โ McCalls says. Novitzky confirmed that it was UFC President Dana Whiteโs exposure to the show that cemented the promotionโs interest in digging deeper.
While nothing is set in stone,ย ESPN reported earlier this weekย that the UFC has been in contact with Johns Hopkins University, โwith an eye toward seeing if the drugs can be helpful for fighters dealing with brain issues.โ
โDana White came to me and gave me a directive, saying โlook into this, this is something I want to be involved in if there is evidence that it could help some of our fighters,โโ says Novitzky. While talks with Johns Hopkins are in the preliminary stages, he says that interest in working together from both parties is high.
The VP emphasized that the UFC is โleaving no stone unturnedโ when it come to potential treatment and therapy options for its athletes, and is โmaking sure that we give our fighters the best when it comes to health and safety.โJust last week, the promotion contributed another $1 million to a professional athlete brain study at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, a study of which it is a key funder.
โAnything that we’re going to be involved in needs to be in a very conservative, safe, government-approved clinical trial-type environment, with the backing of reputable medical institutions like Johns Hopkins,โ he says. โThey get government approval to do these psychedelic studies in a very controlled clinical environment, so early on, it seems to check all of our boxes.โ
McCall says right now, his goal is โto be a catalyst for massive changeโ.ย โ[The goal is] for people to be able to heal themselves, or go to a clinical study and get it done,โ McCall says, noting that psychedelics can benefit all people, not just former fighters. โEveryone should have access to these opportunities.โ