Retired UFC fighter Thiago Tavares becomes neurologist to research CTE in former fighters

Thiago Tavares, a Brazilian featherweight who competed in the UFC between 2010 and 2017, has transitioned from professional fighter to practicing physician — and is now turning his medical career toward one of combat sports’ most pressing health concerns.

Tavares (24-11-1) retired from mixed martial arts in 2021 and used a portion of his career earnings to fund medical school. He has since specialised in neurology and is currently completing a master’s thesis focused on identifying potential markers of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in former fighters while they are still alive.

The central challenge his research addresses is stark: CTE can currently only be confirmed through post-mortem examination of brain tissue. No reliable diagnostic marker exists for living patients. “Unfortunately, the only way to confirm CTE is through the study of brain tissue (a post-mortem biopsy) in the anatomopathological exam,” Tavares said. “There is still no reliable marker able to indicate that an athlete is affected by CTE, so based on certain symptoms we say that he has traumatic encephalopathy syndrome.”

Tavares’s study will involve 40 former UFC fighters from his competitive era. The methodology combines a wearable helmet capable of performing functional electroencephalography — measuring electrical activity in the brain — with a structured assessment of neurological symptoms, and applies artificial intelligence to analyse the resulting data.

“We will use a helmet that performs a functional electroencephalogram and measures the brain’s waves, including the use of AI in an attempt to find that marker, on top of, obviously, the in-depth study of the symptoms that would allow us to state that an individual has CTE even before [they] die,” he explained.

For Tavares, the project carries a personal dimension rooted in gratitude to the sport that financed his education. “Everything I have in my life, the UFC gave me,” he said. “I hope that, with my work in medicine, I can give some of that back by helping the future generations of this sport.”

If successful, the research could represent a meaningful step toward earlier, non-invasive detection of CTE — a condition that has cast a long shadow over contact sports worldwide.