I suppose if you arrived at this article is because you notice something weird on the ears of some fighter during an MMA match.
This question blows in my mind also to me, when I was starting martial arts.
Why do MMA fighters have weird ears? They have these weird ears or in different terminology called also cauliflower because of the repeating of trauma and impacts to the outside part of the ear.
If you are interested to learn more about cauliflower ears and how to prevent them during your current or future training I suggest you continue reading.
In which martial arts is most common the cauliflower ears?
In general, cauliflower ears are more common in wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu because the fighters are permanent in contact and subject to more frequent takedown and other forms of hard contact.
Different story for the mma and other striking martial arts, where the main goal is to hit and not be hitten by the opponent.
The possibility for a fighter to have cauliflower ears appear only if repeatedly hitting in the ears area that will occur with low possibility.
Why don t boxers have cauliflower ears?
The boxers don’t have cauliflower ears because during a boxing match the opponent is more focused on hitting on the face or in the body, giving less opportunity to the ears to be hit by a punch and develop cauliflower.
How do you prevent cauliflower ear MMA?
If you are a novice on the MMA and you were thinking of buying some headgear I can give you a list of:
Top headgear protection to prevent cauliflower ears
Anyway, the best solution to prevent injury and the appearance of these weird ears is to build strategic habitat during your sparring session that guarantees you less exposure to the opponents making attention to the ears.
Who are the UFC Fighters With Cauliflower Ear?
Unfortunately, many mma fighters have experience the cauliflower ear, some of them worst than other some of this are :
- Alexander Gustafsson
- Frankie Edgar
- Bj Penn
- Conor Mcgregor
These are some of the most famous MMA fighters that have experienced cauliflower ears.
Of course, the list can continue.
Do cauliflower ears hurt?
One question that can be sound normal to do after a while of reading this article is if having cauliflower ears hurt?
I can say that by my experience luckily I never had this, but I knew some of the friend of mine that had experienced that and these are the words:
He told me that: After a while of punch and a series of hard contact especially that day he notices a little bit of tingling and no so pain on the ears.
The pain of the ear starts after a while because we have to remember that it is blunt trauma, and that anyway can be dramatically reduced by relieving the pressure with a drainage procedure.
Is a cauliflower ear permanent?
Yes Depending on the gravity of the injury the cauliflower ear can remain permanent, this is the example of the MMA fighter Alexander Gustafsson.
Anyway, you don’t have to scary at all, because nowadays as you can imagine there are many solutions to be adapted to reduce the aspect of the cauliflower ear.
How Fighters remove cauliflower ear?
The only solution to remove or at least making less visible the weird ears is to be undergoing surgery.
How long does it take to get cauliflower ears?
After been undergoing surgery it may take up to 7 days to be recovered at least up to 90%.
TOP 3 Tips To Prevent cauliflower ears for MMA FIGHTER
#1 Wear headgear
I know that some of you can think that can be annoying or not suitable during the sparring section.
Anyway, one of the best tips to avoid getting cauliflower ears is to wear it.
By wearing headgear you will note expose the ears to your sparring pattern and also if some punch or kick hits you on the ears part, the headgear will protect you, avoid the growth of cauliflower ears.
#2 Be aware of the risk
To reduce something determinate as risk, a person should be conscious of that; this is the case for the cauliflower ears.
As a fighter or future fighter you are now aware of the risk and how easy is to get hit by a punch or kick on the ears, so my tip is to always think of the sensible part of your body and protect it with more accuracy.
I know sometimes can be and hard job and the fighting is unpredictable, but with the conscious and the awareness of this risk you can for sure reduce the risk.
#3 Take action immediately
If for some reason you were not able to cover your ears or you didn’t use the headgear, the only way to not make the danger bigger is to treat it immediately.
As a suggestion for the first action is to put on your ear that was hit some ice, and show it to an expert person, that for sure will your coach or some of your friends that had experienced this before.
Conclusion
I hope that as a novice now you have a more clear idea of why some MMA fighter have these weird ears, and I hope that you will note and act accordly to make the possible to protect yourself from the grown of the cauliflower ears.