Excerpt from: Media dis&dat (click for full article)
Garrett stands five feet tall and weighs 136 pounds. But he can drop to 125 pounds in a few days to make weight for his beloved sport, mixed martial arts. His black wifebeater reveals the tattoo of a black Punisher skull engulfed in black flames near his left shoulder. His neck and arms are solid muscle, large enough to make clear that his fists could permanently alter the alignment of an opponent's nose.
For someone with Down syndrome, Garrett is extremely high
functioning. Still, his cognitive ability is roughly equivalent to that
of a 12-year-old's. His reading and math skills are at a third-grade
level. He can't tell if a cashier gives him correct change after he
buys a slice of pizza, his mom says, and it's unlikely he'll be able to
understand this entire article.
But Garrett has found salvation in MMA, a combative sport that John
McCain dubbed "human cockfighting." Though it was once banned in a dozen
states for its gruesome brutality, nowadays jujitsu black belts of the
umpteenth degree battle Olympics-grade wrestlers in refereed yet
still-violent face-offs. This more polished competition has been
masterminded by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, the largest
and most profitable promotion company in the world.
Comments