Issue 115

June 2014

With his heart condition now under control, Dutchman Stefan Struve is back and planning an assault on the UFC heavyweight division utilizing the blueprint laid down by European ally Alexander Gustafsson.

Imagine trying to power a stock car with a faulty fuel injector. Or playing in a Super Bowl without a recognized quarterback on the field. It would be a fruitless exercise with only one likely outcome: failure. And yet, somehow, that’s the kind of disadvantage Stefan Struve has been competing in MMA with for the past eight years.

The seven-foot Dutch heavyweight has been on the sidelines for more than 12 months after being diagnosed with a heart condition involving a faulty aortic valve. It basically resulted in 30% of his blood failing to be pumped around his body, and leaking back into his heart instead.

Once diagnosed it threatened his career, his ability to continue fighting, especially in the UFC. And it even threatened his long-term life expectancy. And yet, in a manner that only professional sport occasionally can, a miraculous recovery has paved the way for his dramatic return this summer. 

And Struve, reborn to the sport, and in some ways life, is desperate not only to grab his second chance with both hands, but also show the world what he’s capable of when his body is working at full capacity. 

“I believe I’ve already shown throughout my career what I am all about, but there have been times when I didn’t feel right,” Struve explains to FO, taking a break from helping his mother attend to her garden at home in Holland. “Once the condition was diagnosed everything made sense to me. Now I just want to pick up where I left off when I beat Stipe (Miocic, 2012) in Nottingham, England, and I really want to show everybody how good I really am. Especially when I’m fully fit.”

He adds: “In the back of my mind I always thought there was something wrong, I just didn’t know what it was. Something was always holding me back. I couldn’t perform, even in training, at my best every single day. Some days I was the best guy in the gym and the next I wasn’t doing so well, so the diagnosis really explained a lot. 

“There were times in training camps before my fights when I would wonder if there was something wrong, so to finally have that information really answered a lot of questions I had about myself.”

In a 31-fight career that’s rarely left the second round, however, Struve was perhaps a victim of his own success as all but one of his 25 victories have arrived early. Or perhaps it was his body’s own way of ensuring Struve’s heart didn’t have to work too hard for too long. Struve says: “I’ve always been a quick starter. And now, looking back, I was always told by my coaches to slow down and pace myself for the fight. But perhaps my body was telling me to get the job done quickly.

“It was incredible, though, to receive the information about the condition after fighting for so long with it. I believe I have a very long career still ahead of me, but I’ve also been in the sport for nine years now and so to get that kind of news was a huge shock.” 

One hand behind his back

Struve explains what the ailment meant to him in real terms, just as the doctors did for him 12 months ago. “Let’s say my heart was functioning at around 60–70%, so my body has been getting a poor service of oxygenated blood to the muscles. So when someone with a normally-functioning heart was against me, well, I would need four or five heartbeats to get the same amount of blood through my system as them. 

“So what would happen is I would be gasping for air after using up just a little energy, and it led me to panic a little bit. I would be breathing heavy and I would panic because I hadn’t really done much in the fight.” A perfect example of which was his last outing, against Mark Hunt in Japan in March 2013 (UFC on Fuel TV 5).

Struve recalls: “Looking back now, I actually think I was fighting myself more than Mark Hunt. If I’d been 100% it could have gone a lot different. I have never felt as bad in a fight as I did in that one. I was sick the week of the fight and I had this heart condition, but I also couldn’t get over my jet lag. I was living on two hours’ sleep per day over there and I even fell asleep when my trainer was wrapping my hands the night of the fight. The only thing I wanted to do that day was sleep; I just felt horrible.”

Inside the Octagon, Struve started brightly against the Aussie veteran, dominating both the first and second rounds. But he ran out of gas dramatically in the final round and paid the price, succumbing to a brutal TKO that also led to Struve needing titanium plates inserted into a badly broken jaw. But it was the hospital stint that followed that led to the tests that ultimately diagnosed his heart issue.

Struve’s condition, caused by a bicuspid aortic valve, means he only has two leaflets instead of three in the main artery which transports blood from the heart. This deficiency allows pumped blood to leak backward. Last year, when he was first diagnosed, at least 30% was leaking back. Now, that figure is less than 10% – and all, incredibly, without surgery. 

Struve explains: “The thing is, my blood pressure was always far too high also, much higher than it should have been. And that, combined with the condition, made things much worse. But I am taking medication to lower my pressure now and that alone has reduced the leakage so much that surgery hasn’t been necessary. I’ve also just reined in my diet and training program. 

“I’m now training once per day, outside of camp at least, and I feel so much more rested. I can perform to my fullest in every single training session, and if I train twice a day then I will be focusing much more on technical training. But I truly believe the key to even more success is more rest, and that’s what I will be doing moving forward.

“I’ve always eaten really clean. I’ve been eating everything organic and I’m staying away from alcohol completely. I didn’t drink a lot anyway, but after a fight I would have a drink. But not anymore. I’m trying to live the healthiest life possible.”

He adds: “There was the opportunity for surgery, where they go in and add another leaflet to the valve, but it’s not common. Most of the time they insert an artificial valve and put the patient on blood thinners. 

“But that’s impossible for a fighter, because if I got hit in a certain way I might stop breathing. Also, there’s an option to have a biological valve inserted, and that will function for about 15 to 25 years, which I think is pretty revolutionary for today. But that’s a massive surgery and they would have to go in through the chest. That would make a really big impact on the body and so that was never possible.”

The blueprint

With a depressing 2013 now firmly behind him – Struve also laid to rest his dear father last summer – ‘Skyscraper’ is only looking forward and the 26-year-old is desperate to take as many positives as he can from the worst year he’s ever experienced. For one, the time away has given him the opportunity to reflect on what he wants from his life and prizefighting career.

“It was good not only physically but mentally,” he says. “I thought about it before I got diagnosed, about taking a little break. Even before I got into the UFC I was fighting seven times a year, so I had hoped to take some time off. It’s been nice to not be in camp and to be able to enjoy family life. But now I am ready to come back.”

And the success of a familiar ally, Alexander Gustafsson, he admits, has also inspired his return to arms. Struve states: “Alexander is doing great. We came up through the ranks together. He was fighting across Europe at 205lb and I was at heavyweight and we were both beating everybody. And then we got picked up around the same time by the UFC, so it’s been really cool to see his career blossom. What he has managed to achieve, well, that’s exactly what we have in mind for myself. 

“I feel like my own career was following a similar path with the four wins I put together before the fight with Mark Hunt... I just want to pick up where I left off in Nottingham and put together a streak like Alex has done at light heavy, but in the heavyweight division. That’s the plan. That’s basically the blueprint for my comeback, to follow the path of the Swede!”

And that might also include a training stint with ‘The Mauler’. “I’ve never trained with Alex, but I would perhaps like to in the future,” insists Struve. “He was supposed to fight Gegard (Mousasi) last year, who is a good friend of mine, so it wouldn’t have happened then, but maybe in the future we will see. 

“I think with our styles we would probably work well sparring with one another. But then we are both traveling a lot and we both like to visit the US for training already so it’s perhaps difficult to bring our calendars together.”

And as for future competition, well, Struve admits there are a couple of familiar foes he’d like to meet again. Bearing in mind he’s effectively been fighting his entire career hampered, every one of his career defeats – especially inside the Octagon – are results he’d like the opportunity to amend.

Struve explains: “I want to rectify all my losses. But to be honest, I don’t feel anger towards those results, I just want to beat everyone in the division and come back and make a huge impact. 

“I want people to say, ‘Wow, it’s crazy that he’s come back from that and now he’s performing better than he’s ever done before.’ Of course, that’s my game plan for the future.

“I still believe I am one of the very best heavyweights in the world and now I get another shot at all of this. What a huge opportunity this is for me to come back and prove myself. I had a really rough year in 2013, awful stuff just kept coming and coming, but it’s over now and my time to become all I can be is ahead of me. And I can’t wait.”

Heart to heart: Struve and Hardy

Stefan Struve wasn’t the only UFC fighter whose career was disrupted due to heart issues last year. Five months prior to his heart problems being made public, in August 2013, welterweight Dan Hardy was pulled from a bout after doctors discovered he had a second heartbeat, called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Two heart problems, both potentially life-threatening, but Stefan should fight again soon and Dan cannot. Why? It comes down to treatment and doctor approval.

The Dutchman’s main issue was a bicuspid aortic valve, and, fortunately, medication has largely fixed the problem. But Hardy’s issue isn’t as straightforward. 

He’s also had his condition from birth and it’s dangerous as his second heartbeat can stop blood coming back into the heart. Surgery, where that second heart rate is stopped, is the go-to treatment and is apparently 90% successful. But it’s not that simple for the British striker.

Suffering no symptoms, he feels he’s fit enough to fight but doctors have told him they want to study his condition before fixing it. And even if he does have the procedure, should the electrical signal of his second beat be too close to his primary, they won’t take any action, leaving no chance he’ll ever be permitted to compete in the Octagon again. 

“I constantly feel like they’re trying to sell me this surgery I don’t need,” Hardy says. “Obviously, I don’t feel that’s the case but the UFC is just going off what the doctor says because as far as insurance and liability issues you listen to a doctor.”