Filipino Mixed Martial Arts fighter Rolando Gabriel Dy opened up about his anger management issues and, in part, put the blame on his father, boxing legend Rolando Navarrete.
“They think mental health problem is just for the weak. Nah,” said Dy in a long social media post.
“I am starting to hate my old man for passing this rage to me. I tried to avoid the path that he took, I never tried illegal drugs, I don’t have any vices, I don’t party, I never cheated to (on) my wife, I am just a ‘gym and family kind of guy,’ but because of these anger issues, I am a sh_t of a human being.”
Dy is best known for being one of only a few Filipinos, who made it to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, after winning three straight bouts in the Pacific Extreme Fighting. He was a former Abu Dhabi Warriors’ featherweight champion.
He acknowledged that it may be wrong to post his personal problems on social media “but it is what it is.”
“I am posting this to make people know that I am also suffering from mental health issues and I know I am not the only one,” he added.
He made his long post after he claimed that his wife left with their daughter following a misunderstanding.
“My wife was the best girl I could ever find. She is beautiful inside and out. I am just sick mentally. I have this rage that will come out from zero to 100, out of the blue and I can’t see it coming. It became worst because of the crisis. My wife can’t understand it, she thinks I am just abusive and narcissist,” he said.
He said he can’t control himself and snaps easily. “I never loved someone like I love my baby, but I still can’t control my rage when I snapped,” Rolando said.
His father Navarrete, a former World Boxing Council super featherweight champion, got his mother pregnant but never were never married. So he grew up on his mother’s side and used her family name.
Navarrete lived a colorful, but troubled life. He had a series of failed relationships with different women, who gave him a total of seven children. He was jailed in Hawaii for rape and got involved in various misfits, including wife battery and drugs. Now aged 64, Navarrete lives in General Santos City.
Dy again came up with a post, this time rebuking his father’s defenders.
“To the Navarretes, who got offended by my post about the anger issues of my father and the mistakes he did before. From the bottom of my heart, I would like to apologize to absolutely nobody,” said Dy.
“Like I care. You guys never put a single grain of rice in my table, while I was growing up so never ever talk like I have something to be grateful for.”
Life goes on, though, for Dy, who vowed to fight his anger issues and build a better future.
“I will just stay like this forever, alone, but I will do my best to build my gym, give my best performance in my next fights, save for my future and build fighters.”
