I wouldnt describe it as a sparring session, it was more like a gym war / competition bout where everyone was trying to leather each other. At one point I had to quickly jump back a few feet when one guy launched a big forward jumping knee that would have removed most of my teeth!

Most of the hits I got where front on towards the temple area, we sparred with a different person each round and the class instructor seemed happy to pair up people regardles off weight or experience.

I hadnt sparred for over 18 months and ended up in front of an 18-19 stone big huge fat lunk who use to fight super heavyweight K1 in the UK, I'm fairly sure he was pulling his punches, even so there's a still a lot of power and skill behind that kind of firepower, even when pulled.

I was on the phone to the instructor about a week after telling him I didnt feel quite right, he ended up trying to tell me I had some kind of bug, as there was one going round the gym. Needless to say, I would never go back there!

Regardless, I've been doing MA for a long time and have had head impacts in other non MA situations over the course of my life and probably reached my threshold in terms of head impact/trauma, so no more sparring ever.

Whats your opinion on my walking into my bedroom wall in the pitch black recently ? It was basically another hit to the front of my head = doh!

I dont feel it was enough to rock my brain around inside my skull - aka traditonal coup-coutrecoup injury... definitely felt my cognition has been a bit off, but nothing like the dysfunction I experienced from the sparring, but I'm much more susceptible now.