Tim Credeur Talks Cancer Scare

Tim Credeur

Tim Credeur has been out of action since September 2009.

After coming out on the wrong side of an entertaining 15 minute battle with Nate Quarry at Fight Night 19, the former Ultimate Fighter contestant was forced to withdraw from a pair of bouts in 2010 for two very different reasons.

The first fight was a meeting with Mike Massenzio at Fight Night 20, a bout scuttled by Forrest Griffin according to the Louisiana native.

“I was training with Forrest and he almost tore my foot off. Not with a leg lock, just training with Forrest. It’s like training with a wildebeest; if you’re in the way, things on your body get destroyed. We were training one day and I almost ripped my toe off, and it was pretty close to my fight, so I had to cancel my fight.”

Four months later, the 33-year-old was slated to face fellow TUF alum Tom Lawlor at UFC 113 in Montreal, the first time Credeur would compete “on a UFC with numbers” as he called it. He had to pull out of that bout as well, but this time it wasn’t because of Griffin or a banged up toe.

This is Credeur’s story.

Three or four weeks prior to facing Lawlor, Credeur underwent a brain scan.

“I don’t know if my brain scan was up or they needed me to take one because I was fighting in Canada or something like that. Two or three days later, the doctor calls and says, `You’ve gotta come to my office.’ When I asked why, he said, `I’ll tell you when you get here;’ needless to say, that was a little nerve-wracking.

“So I rushed over and they told me that they found an anomaly in my brain, and they did not know what it was.”

In shock at the alarming news, Credeur asked for further clarification, and was told by his doctor that the mass was deep inside his brain and could be very dangerous.

His doctor could not distinguish what they were looking at, unsure whether the “anomaly” as they called it was a broken blood vessel, a tumor or worse. The one thing they could be sure of was that Credeur was 100-percent not cleared to fight.

“They said the next step was to try and figure it out, get some answers, but it doesn’t look good,” recalled Credeur, who was convinced his career was over. Chief among his concerns as he walked from the doctor’s office was how he would tell his wife, Mamie, especially considering the pair were trying to get pregnant for the first time.

“I was supposed to fight, now I can’t fight and I’m not making any money. I don’t know if you know this, but UFC fighters at my level, they don’t make that much money. We’re not making millions; there’s no doubt about it. The fight was something I needed for my life.

“As I’m walking to my car, all these things are going through me head. Am I going to die? I might have a brain tumor. How do I tell my wife? So as I’m getting in my car, my wife calls me.

“She asked me what I was doing, and I said nothing; I didn’t want to tell her. She says, `Well I have something to tell you. Are you sitting down?’ and I said, `Am I sitting down? Wait ’til you hear what I have to tell you; you better be laying down.”

Mamie told her husband they were pregnant. Tim didn’t tell his wife about the anomaly.

“That happened within about 20 minutes of finding out I might have brain cancer or a brain tumor or whatever. So I shelved my problems and I told her how excited I was because of course I was excited, but I remember sitting in my car thinking `Who has this kind of hour?’ This is serious; very shocking, very frustrating, very bewildering situation to be in.”