MMA Analyst Raises CTE Concerns Over Viral Video Of UFC Veteran Marlon Moraes Working As A Cop

Jean Lefevre

Luke Thomas addressed a viral video of Marlon Moraes carrying out his duties as a police officer during his September 3 live chat, offering a mixed assessment of the former UFC bantamweight title challenger’s new career.

A viewer raised the topic directly, noting that fans in the video’s comment thread were largely supportive of Moraes joining law enforcement, but expressing concern that an athlete with 38 total matches and 10 knockout losses might not be an ideal candidate to carry a f*rearm and a badge.

Thomas said he had watched the footage and came away with “split feelings” on the matter.

“I mean, I have split feelings on this because, you know, on the one hand, if you watch the video, it looks like he’s a something of a good fit for the police department in terms of at least in handling the situation in the video itself,” Thomas said. “And obviously, he’s going to be able to handle himself physically such as he ever needs to. And he’s gainfully employed. He’s got health insurance.”

Thomas pointed to the practical benefits the job could provide for a retired athlete, including long-term financial security.

“If he does it long enough, he might be able to get a pension. There are ways in which you could look at this and say it provides stability,” Thomas said. “He’s not out there trying to go broadcasting with whoever, he’s trying to do something of an honest job.”

But Thomas pivoted to the deeper concern raised by the viewer, which centers on the cumulative brain trauma athletes absorb over long careers, particularly toward the end when durability declines.

“On the other hand, I also get your point, which is that we have way too cavalier an attitude about the accumulative weight of brain damage,” Thomas said. “I don’t know what kind of screening they have to this effect. I don’t know what kind of, not just screening to get the job, but then on the job, if there are other issues that they screen for. I suspect that they don’t. And that also makes me nervous.”

Thomas noted that Moraes absorbed significant punishment in the closing stretch of his fighting career, a pattern he said is common among fighters who avoid damage for years before a steep decline.

“Marlon Moraes, for folks who didn’t see, at the end of his run took a lot of damage on his way out the door. A ton. He didn’t necessarily take a bunch early to mid in his career, but at the end there it was really, really, and it went on for a while,” Thomas said.

He argued that the absence of visible symptoms does not mean the risk isn’t real, and that police departments, like most institutions, tend to treat brain trauma as someone else’s problem.

“Maybe it’ll never show up, but maybe it will. Maybe it’ll affect impulse control. Maybe it’ll affect executive functioning,” Thomas said. “I just don’t think society, and police departments specifically, have really, they just think, oh, CTE, that’s a boxing problem. Boxing can figure that out over there.”

Jean Lefevre