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Morning Report: Citing 'Mayhem' Miller, Tito Ortiz believes UFC and Bellator should provide post-career mental healthcare

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz wants fight promotions to provide post-career mental healthcare.

"Us fighter put our lives on the line to entertain the fans that watch," Ortiz told Inside MMA. "Look at Jason 'Mayhem' Miller, War Machine. I'm not defending anything they did. Everything they did was wrong in their own right, but a lot of these fighters take a lot of head trauma, head damage, as you see in professional football."

Miller was arrested earlier this month at his California home following a three-hour standoff with Orange County police. In August 2012 he was arrested on burglary charges after being found naked in a local church.

Jon Koppenhaver's infamous acts of violence are another story.

"Maybe UFC and Bellator should take care of the fighters when their careers are done, as the NFL takes care of their players. Because they're making so much money off us. It's blood money. Going back to Mayhem, I think helping a guy like him is very needed."

Unfortunately for Ortiz, the comparisons between fighters and National Football League players nearly start and stop with head trauma. With no collective bargaining to speak of, fighters remain independent contractors without an athlete's union working towards those benefits.

While the National Football League Player's Association has worked alongside the NFL to create programs like the '88 Plan,' which 'provides retired players up to $88,000 per year for medical and custodial care resulting from dementia, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's,' current players are still asking NFL commissioner Roger Goddell why the league isn't offering more extensive long-term care for current and former players.

In 2011 the UFC's parent company, Zuffa, rolled out what it called 'customized accident insurance coverage,' to cover not only accidental injuries suffered in training, but also non-training incidents such as car accidents.

Although it was somewhat disputed by UFC president Dana White, Miller himself was vocal over his displeasure with the promotion's insurance, even alleging they delayed a knee reconstruction to allow his policy to expire after he was released in 2012.

"[The UFC] pretended they were going to give me the surgery, and they started acting like they were going to fix my leg," Miller told Ariel Helwani in 2013. "They went back and they dragged it out until my insurance coverage expired. So I couldn't get the surgery."

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