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USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Hell of a Journey: How Jimmy Drago escaped death, found ironclad endurance for UFC look
Ask Jimmy Drago and he'll tell you. "It's been a hell of a journey." Drago (7-2) earned his shot to fight for a UFC contract Tuesday on Dana White's Contender Series through his hard work in the gym, crafting his face-punching and grappling. His story is simply a compliment to his grind, but one he thinks could make a positive difference. It's not easy for Drago. It's somewhat uncomfortable. But he's made the choice to tell it, not for himself. But for others. Every professional athlete has a story about the journey that got them to the top. Exceptional humans often have most unique roads, but Drago's is next level. The route detoured through rock bottom and death – eight times to be exact. Drago remembers drinking and smoking weed as a teenager. It was fun, but it was innocent. That's until it wasn't. At 15, Drago suffered monumental loss, the death of his father. One of the foundations of his life was gone. His structure took a blow. "My mother did the absolute best she could to provide for the three kids she was raising on her own," Drago recently told MMA Junkie. "She worked two jobs to put food on the table. One of the jobs had benefits. She's the real all-star here. Smoking weed turned to pills and pills turned to powder and powder turned to other pills and those other pills turned into other powder. It was just a different generation. The opiates took over." Drago overdosed time and time again. He tried rehab without luck. His support system of family and friends was strong, but over time, it grew more weathered. Drago can't wrap his head around how inconsequential life felt. His body craved different priorities. "One term that sat well with me is called the gift of desperation," Drago recently told MMA Junkie. "Dying never really phased me. Dying was easy. That's the saddest part about it is that you don't even really know you're gone. You just kind of wake up. What happened? You overdosed. It wasn't dying. It wasn't the car crashes. It wasn't the fight or violence. It was the consistent look of disappointment in everybody's face when they looked at me. That soul-stabbing feeling that I want to kill myself, but I'm too much of a p*ssy to do it." Drug addiction does not discriminate. Rich or poor. Male or female. White, black, brown, or any complexion. Drago had this truth firmly instilled in him first-hand – but also second-hand, with the death of his father. "They always say whatever you put in front of your sobriety, you'll end up losing," Drago said. "I've seen it. I've seen it. People who are sober 20 or 30 years go back and not come back. My father was the strongest, greatest man I ever met. He had 21 years sober. He went out and he did not come back. Eleven months is all it took and he was deceased. You have to learn from your mistakes. If you're wise, you have to learn from other people's mistakes. Eventually in this disease, everybody's ticket gets punched. So for me, it was either watch life go by or get into the game of life. I was tired of just existing. It was time to get into the game of life.' Enough is finally enough Everyone around a drug-addicted person can want them to change. But until they want to do it themselves, the task is beyond difficult. Drago's epiphany came after his final overdose. It's a memory he's played repeatedly over in his mind as he's pursued professional ventures. "My last day, I looked at my brother, who I pretty much helped raise," Drago said. "You know how many times I said, 'I'm sorry,' to him? I was just a mess that day. He kind of just shook his head at me and moved on. My mother wouldn't even let me drive home from this place we were at. I was just causing an absolute disaster by myself. I'm just in the shower in the fetal position, with tears coming down my face. I was like, 'I can't do this no more. I can't do this no more.'" Drago kicked and writhed in his bed for four days. It was off to rehab – again. But this time? This time it worked. "They say when the student's ready, the teacher appears," Drago said. "My ass got burned. My ass got burned. I was in a lot of pain. My poor family was watching me deteriorate. It was either now or never for me. I chose now.' When it was time for Drago to reenter the real world, he wasn't out of hell yet. He had no education. No job. No money. He was unsure of where to turn to. It was Hell. "I can tell you exactly what Hell was like, just like it was yesterday," Drago said. "I remember sitting on that couch. I can't even lift my eyes up, getting ready to throw up, not knowing what to do with myself. Everyone is trying to figure out what college they want to go to. I'm trying to figure out if rehab is going to take insurance from me. Father deceased. Mother working two jobs. No friends. I remember it like it was yesterday. Just that darkness in the soul." That's when fighting and the Local 40 Ironworkers union in New York entered his life – and there was light. A foundation rebuilt Structure wasn't just what Drago was helping build through his day job. It was what was being added back into his being, injected into his mind, body and soul. "(Iron working) has just been an absolute blessing in my life," Drago said. "I didn't want to let go of fighting. But I also really loved ironworking. It's not a question of how are you able to ironwork and fight. The real question is, 'How bad do you want to do this?' It doesn't matter what the situation or circumstances may be. I'm a firm believer and I've always told people, 'If you put your mind to something, you can do it – anything.' In that sense, did it save my life? I don't know if it saved me life. Maybe I would've found something else. But I think that nothing in God's world happens by mistake. It gave me something to work toward. By working toward it, it gave me a life beyond my wildest dreams.' Don't get it twisted. His days weren't sunshine and rainbows. It would be the intensest of grinds for even the most straight-edge person, never mind someone in the early stages of recovery. Every day, Drago would wake up at 7 a.m. and sometimes work until 5 p.m., before a conditioning workout and a sparring session. "I remember talking to people like, 'Bro, you have no idea the isolation I go through.' It was a rough period of time," Drago said. "But there was no wife back then. There was no house. I was still an amateur. It was kind of wild, just going through all those motions. ... It was like seven years in the fight career and kept doing what that guy was doing day-in and day-out for years, still doing the fight camps. I stared death in the face every day, man. This is not some local construction job. Local 40 is the apex predator of construction." For the past year and a half, Drago has stepped away from being an active member of the union – but only temporarily. He'll be back. He's just pursuing this MMA thing in the meantime. The next episode Tuesday's episode will represent a lot of things for Drago. It'll show what hard work makes possible. "Before I walk into that cage and before those doors open, I ask myself a simple question: 'Did I do everything I could to prepare for this fight?' The answer is yes," Drago said. "What's meant to happen happens after that.' A win will further serve as validation for all of the important people in his life who helped support him during his darkest times and provided structure to the light. His mother. His wife. His family and friends. LAW MMA. Local 40 Ironworkers. The list goes on. But perhaps the most powerful and important presence Drago will feel in the UFC Apex will be a spirit. Someone unable to physically be in attendance, but who will have more of an impact on his performance than anyone else. 'If my father was here, which is one of the biggest… I wouldn't say letdowns… but something I missed out on," Drago said. "If he was here just to see this opportunity, he would be the most ecstatic human being that you can meet. He was the UFC before the UFC was a thought. He was just a tough street guy. He'd give the shirt off his back to anybody. We have very similar stories. I dream of just f*cking putting this kid out and looking into the camera, like, 'Dad, we did it.'" "That's what I see earning the UFC contract is to me, is that's 'Look how far you come.' You want to talk about beating the f*cking odds? I beat the f*cking odds," Drago said. "It's just another moment in the journey I get to look back on. I truly believe my father is with me – win, lose, fail, no matter what. I truly believe I'm in the care of him, no matter what. But to win that contract and look back at this journey, it would mean everything to me, honestly.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
GOP proposal seeks to require EpiPens in New Hampshire schools
Some lawmakers expressed concerns about creating a mandate without establishing a funding source in the budget and relying on outside programs to provide the epinephrine for free. (Photo of state Senate Chamber/New Hampshire Bulletin file) The New Hampshire Senate is set to vote Thursday on a bill to require that schools maintain a supply of epinephrine, which is used to treat allergic reactions. House Bill 677 requires New Hampshire schools to have epinephrine injectors, commonly known by the brand name EpiPen, or nasal epinephrine spray, and it requires that a nurse or at least one 'assistive personnel' be on site to administer the epinephrine at the school during school hours. The bill gives nurses and school staff five days to replace the epinephrine after it's used. Rep. Mike Drago, the Raymond Republican who sponsored the bill, said there are at least two programs that offer epinephrine to schools for free. Epinephrine manufacturers Viatris and ARS Pharmaceuticals both advertise such programs on their websites. Lawmakers plan to rely on these programs to make this proposal possible. 'In reality, we're putting EpiPens in every single school at no cost,' Drago, who has a child with a nut allergy, said in an April Senate hearing. 'And potentially saving lives.' Under state law, schools are allowed to maintain a supply of and use epinephrine. This bill, if enacted, would require them to do so. The House previously approved the legislation in an April voice vote, and it received the unanimous recommendation of the Senate Education Committee earlier this month. The bill is co-sponsored by a group of mostly Republicans but has bipartisan support. Some lawmakers expressed concerns about creating a mandate without establishing a funding source in the budget and relying on outside programs to provide the epinephrine for free. Sen. Debra Altschiller, a Stratham Democrat, commended Drago at the April hearing for raising the issue, but said she's concerned 'the state would rely on a program that's at the discretion of a pharmaceutical company.' 'It exists today,' Altschiller said. 'It might not exist tomorrow. And to require a specific product be carried in the school at the expense of the school is where I have significant problems.' She noted epinephrine is 'wildly expensive' and called this an 'unfunded mandate.' Drago said he doubts these programs will ever disappear. Still, to address these concerns, the Senate Education Committee proposed an amendment that establishes a state fund to help schools pay for epinephrine. Though it doesn't appropriate any money to that fund, the amendment creates a mechanism for the state to accept gifts from organizations besides the pharmaceutical companies.
CNN
08-04-2025
- General
- CNN
CNN Exclusive: Near-collision investigation reveals Reagan National Airport controllers failed to stop flights during military flyover
A federal investigation is focusing on an air traffic control communications breakdown that led to a formation of military jets coming within seconds of colliding with a Delta Air Lines flight near Reagan National Airport, multiple sources told CNN. The March 28 incident was in the same crowded Washington, DC, airspace that was the site of January's fatal midair collision between a commercial flight and an Army helicopter. The new details, first reported by CNN, renew concerns about the safety of military and commercial aircraft operating in close proximity and raise new questions about whether air traffic controllers in the nation's capital are too stressed in the wake of the worst US air disaster in decades. As previously reported by CNN, the night before the incident, a fight broke out in the Reagan National control tower, leading airport police to arrest an air traffic controller. According to previously unreleased air traffic control audio reviewed by CNN, collision alerts flashed in front of the air traffic controller responsible for handling the military jets as they maneuvered for a flyover of Arlington National Cemetery, with the controller frantically issuing instructions to the formation of four jets. 'Drago 61, I need you to make a left turn, left turn heading 250 immediately,' the controller from Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control shouted via radio to the leader of the United States Air Force T-38 jets. 'Traffic opposite direction departing Washington National.' The military jets – flying at more than 350 miles per hour – came less than 3,900 feet laterally and 100 feet vertically from the Delta Airbus A319, which just took off from the airport and was still climbing, according to a source briefed on the incident. A CNN analysis of the previously unreported distance between the flights put against speeds gathered by FlightRadar24 suggests the jets came within roughly five seconds of colliding. The new details add to growing scrutiny of the crammed airspace around Reagan National Airport in the wake of the January 29 collision of a US Army Blackhawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet, killing all 67 people on board. The Federal Aviation Administration has since imposed heavy restrictions on helicopters operating near the airport. The communications breakdown, according to sources familiar with the incident, appeared to occur when air traffic controllers in the Reagan National Airport control tower failed to hold departing flights for five minutes as planned leading up to the 3:17 p.m. flyover. A short pause in departures from the airport is standard protocol for Arlington cemetery flyovers, but for some reason that did not happen, that source said. The source added that two other commercial flights departed after the Delta flight, which received an in-cockpit collision alert known as a resolution advisory. The apparent failure stunned those briefed on the case who say aviation officials 'now fear what else could happen.' The FAA, which is investigating the incident, responded by deploying a 'critical incident stress management team' to the control tower to provide 'confidential support for staff.' The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the case. CNN has reached out to both agencies for comment. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who chairs the Senate committee that oversees the FAA, said during a committee hearing last week that the incident was 'far too close, seconds away from becoming yet another disaster.' 'The air traffic center that controls airspace around D.C. notified DCA about the flyover,' Cruz said. 'That should have led to halted traffic,' calling the incident a 'serious communication breakdown is just the latest in a string of missteps that signal that the air traffic organization is under extreme stress.'
BBC News
14-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ireland end U20 Six Nations with first Italy loss
Men's Under-20 Six NationsItaly (15) 15Tries: Drago, Caiolo-Serra Cons: Celi Pens: CeliIreland (0) 12Tries: Walker, Wood Cons: Wisniewski Italy secured a first ever Six Nations win over Ireland at under-20s level with a 15-12 victory in hosts led 15-0 in the opening quarter after tries from the impressive Alessandro Drago and Alessio Caiolo-Serra despite playing with 14 men at the time of both were better in the second half and crossed through Henry Walker and Tom Wood but could not overturn their host's one win from their five games, Ireland finished fifth in the table, ahead of Wooden Spoon winners Scotland only on points damp conditions at the Stadio Monigo, Italy opened the scoring through Pietro Celi's penalty in the early minutes.A yellow card for Italian hooker Nicolo Corvasce appeared to give Ireland an opportunity to gain a foothold in the game but instead the 14 men scored two quick first came when Ireland were turned over at the line-out and a brilliant Italy counter ended with Drago going over in the second also came off an Irish turnover. This time it came when Tom Wood was forced to carry the ball over his own line and replacement hooker Caiolo-Serra crashed over shortly after the subsequent scrum. Second-half comeback attempt comes up short Ireland were much improved in the second half but could not turn the game minutes after the restart, they scored their first points of the evening when, after an Italian offside, Ireland went to the corner and hooker Henry Walker burrowed his way over from close Miranda was the second Italy player shown a yellow card with the flanker sent to the bin for cynically spoiling Irish ball at the losing full-back Daniel Green to injury, this time Ireland made the extra man count. Showing greater patience in the opposition 22, Neil Doak's side worked the ball across the field before Ciaran Mangan's dummy put Tom Wood through a gap to conversion brought Ireland within three but, as they continued to struggle with their handling, they could not force the winning score in the closing stages. Italy: Pietramala; Drago, Zanandrea, Todaro, Faissal; Celi, Beni; Brasini, Corvasce, Vallesi, Midena, Redondi, Miranda, Casartelli, Caiolo-Serra, Pelliccioli, Bolognini, Opoku-Gyamfi, Bianchi, Bellotto, Fasti, bin: Corvasce, MirandaIreland: Green; Molony, Mangan, Smyth, O'Leary Kareem; Wood, Logan; Bohan, Walker, Mullan, Ronan, Corrigan, Walsh, Foy, Yarr, Moore, McAllister, Kennelly, Power, O'Connor, Wisniewski, Katsuki Furuse (JRU)
