Some people are paranoid about getting it, some think it’s sexy, guys try to figure out of it will get them laid, some people hate it, some people think it’s a badge of honor, others warn people away from it, some include it in their FAQ for BJJ newbies. The New York Times even had an informative and interesting article about it!
What is it? Cauliflower ear, and everyone who knows what it is has some opinion or twelve on subject.
Maybe you’re so new to BJJ that it’s somehow escaped your notice. Maybe you would have made it your whole life, happy about having any concept of what it is. It’s time to grow up.
If you didn't have an opinion about cauli ear before seeing this picture, I'm CERTAIN you have one now.
That’s Randy Couture, a UFC fighter. That chewed up wad of chewing gum hanging off his head is his ear. He repeatedly gets punched in the ear and has the deformity to show it. He explains what cauliflower ear is in this funny scene from The Expendables.
Trauma to the ear causes a permanent deformity if it is not treated. It’s a common injury in BJJ because we press our faces and ears and heads up against our partners and pivot on said areas and traumatize our poor, helpless ears. Or we get kneed or elbowed or head butted in the ear. Whatever the cause, it’s common to see in BJJ academies. The Fightworks Podcast featured a small article on Cauliflower Ear in BJJ and included a few reasons WHY you should avoid it; my favorite reason was because your mangled ears will no longer be earbud friendly! 
They also had a podcast episode about it, in which they interview a doctor about what cauliflower ear is, how it’s caused, treatment options, etc.
I must confess that the real reason I wanted to post about this is because I found out that the Korean for “Cauliflower ears” is 만두귀 “mandugi” because it looks like “mandu,” Korean dumplings and “gui” is the Korean word for ears – so “Mandu ears.”
Mandu! Korean dumplings. Sometimes boiled, sometimes fried, sometimes on a boxer's head.
Oh wait–what was that you say? You can’t really picture it? Sigh. Fine. Let me photochop it for you. The pains I go through to keep you entertained! Here it is.
Now can you see it? 
Looks delicious, right ladies?
You can prevent it by wearing headgear, which Slideyfoot talks about here.
No no no, not THIS kind of headgear! Only nerds wear these!
THIS kind of headgear:
See, MUCH cooler, though does cause "strap hair," the headgear equivalent of "hat hair". Dang it. Now I want to photoshop a bridle and reins on this guy. Must. Resist.
Okay, so you’ve decided you’re far too fashion conscious/cool/embarrassed/lazy/unconcerned to wear headgear. Then one day OH NOEZ! You get an ear trauma and realize part of your ear is filled up with fluid like a hot-water bottle. Never fear! There is still TIME to get it fixed before it is a permanent deformity. You can find a sparkly boy named Edward and have him suck on your ear. Or you could attach a leech onto the affected area. Or if you’re really ballsy, you could pull a Van Gogh.
If none of those options are appealing to you, you can buy a syringe and suck the fluid out at home, or go to the doctor and have him slice open your ear. Georgette wrote a DIY home ear-draining article that Martha would be proud of. It involves puncturing your ear many times with insulin needles and making a few withdrawals. My ENT doctor friend informed me that this needle is far too tiny for the job, and would rather slice the ear and gut it like a fish, then sewing cotton pads onto it until it heals, thereby keeping you off the mat for 2 weeks but FULLY healing your ear. As we all know, Georgette is far too addicted to stay off the mats for 2 weeks. Grapplearts also featured a good article about fixing cauliflower ear, including a few personal anecdotes from BJJ people.
In my gym we have a few cases of mandugi, including my instructor, who does MMA. I don’t think it’s bad IF it is mild and your ear still resembles an ear rather than a fetus attached to your head.
Okay you KNEW that was coming, right?
I never want it. I want my sexy ears. Okay, mine aren’t really sexy–I’ve had too many ear piercings for them to look sexy. Now they look like someone came at my ears with a stapler, so I can’t afford to have them look any weirder than they already do. The first sign of any kind of cauliflower and I will go to my ENT doctor friend, have him cut me open like a corpse in an autopsy, and get rid of anything remotely food-like. Afterward I will wear headgear like a lonely girl on prom night until I get bored or forget about it, then the disgusting cycle will begin again. Like tapeworm!
Attention retailers: I would DEFINITELY wear headgear if it came in Princess Leia style.
I swear to God I would wear that every single day if it existed! Also, I have a photoshop sickness. Please send help.
So toss in your 2 cents about cauliflower. What do you think about it?
Fetus ear! Epic. Just epic. Totally worth the coffee out my nose. Thanks, Jiu-jiu!
Personally, I think its disgusting. I’ve had it… or at least minor fluid build up, I promptly cured with Georgette’s lovely how to guide, so I can attest to it’s validity.
I will say though, that no one, and I mean, zero people at my gym wear head gear, so I was hesitant to wear it. In fact, I never even bought ear protection after my cauliflower ear incident. Though, I will suck it up and do it if I get it again. It’s not like everyone doesn’t already know I’m a huge nerd. =)
I am so glad my humor is both effective and appreciated
Your comment made me laugh, though I must admit that it’s 1:30 am, so I’m prone to silliness at this hour.
We have one or two guys who wear it, but I don’t even know that they wear it on a regular basis. If I did end up with headgear I would have to nerd it up more. Or maybe geek it up–yeah, geek it up and de-nerdify it. Like put rebel alliance stickers on it or something.
I’m glad you don’t have any fetuses growing out of your head.
i don’t have it! it’s damn ugly! i think it’s ok if your job, is being a fighter, it becomes a characteristic of yours, but if i see it coming i will start wearing some protection!
Few guys wear it, they are models and care lots about how their ear is going to look like. Those guys who have it, are not so damaged as randy’s ear, just look someone bitten it on the top like this, kinda “soft”.
http://longislandwrestling.com/liwa/photos/sportsmed/CauliflowerEar.jpg
Hahahaha–like someone gave him a love bite ON THE EAR!
Yeah–that’s not terrible. I’d date a dude that had that, but I’d want to force him to either wear head protection or go to the doctor if it got worse or both. More than that and it looks like his ear is a chew toy the dog got hold of!
Would you drain your cauli ear or let it remain?
i’d drain it! i’m too young to stop having a wife/girlfriend ahahaha
i like my non-bjj ear!
I think some people are more prone to cauliflower ear than others. In 5+ years of training, I haven’t had any incidents with cauliflower ear, or even near scares. Thank goodness, because I don’t want fetus ear OR headgear.
I’m knocking on wood for you!
I know. I’ll take none of the above for $500, please, Alex!
Love the photoshop work Julia. Too funny!
I don’t like it and definitely don’t want it. Fortunately, my school trains in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu so we don’t have any issues with cauliflower ear.
How does training in Gracie jiu-jitsu have anything to do with cauliflower ear?
Look at Renzo’s ears (if you can get past the endearingly awesome grin):
http://thefightworkspodcast.com/images/renzo-gracie.jpg
It’s sometimes a function of your own game. If you do low passes a lot or end up in situations where your ears get rubbed, they may get irritated and start to form cauliflower ear. Sometimes genetics and timely attention to the issue lets you get away with stuff though.
I’m letting my own ears go as they will (but if it gets to the inner ear, that’s a problem, because I need my hearing aids to fit well). For me: Outer ear cauli – fine. Inner ear cauli – no go.
Duh! It’s because they have magical powers!
Someone wrote in the “stupid BJJ accidents” that they think they gave themselves cauli ear from their gi rubbing against their ear when they did sit ups
Interesting point about the hearing aids–I hadn’t considered that! Wow–that would affect the fit of earplugs as well. And if you were a spy you’d have to fit those little speakers in your ear!
We don’t train in tournament techniques that utilize a lot of strength and increase the risk of cauliflower ear. That’s the difference. I’m not saying one is better than the other. I’m not arguing that.
But if our training is scenario based, say a guy comes up behind you with a gun or a guy tries to sucker punch you in a bar the techniques are much different than you would see in a tournament. They have to be.
Not only that our instructor does not allow us to train hard or go fast. He makes us do everything slowly or methodically. Anyone who doesn’t follow that rule usually gets punished by one of our Brown Belts or he kicks them out of the school.
Therefore, the risk of cauliflower ear is further reduced. That’s all.
I don’t buy it. I refuse to believe you guys do anything but practice the Star Trek escapes
Because you guys mostly focus on the Star Trek guard passes, right?
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
Princess Leia headgear made me splorf. Your photochops are too funny, I don’t want to send help.
I am Jiu-Jiu and I approve of this message
. If you aren’t going to sent help, send more inspiration 
Fetus Ear! I love it! I don’t want it! I only had occasional fits of paranoia before… Now I’m gonna be checking those babies every roll. I hated head gear in striking. I only wore it when I had to. I still don’t wear any head / ear protection. If I ever do get fetus ear, I will probably seek treatment from a doctor. Thanks for the visuals Julia. You’re one in a hundred million.
Hahahaha glad you enjoyed! There is no PROBABLY seek treatment! You must DEFINITELY seek treatment! Geez! Fetuses belong IN your body, not hanging out on the side of your head!
I want Leia ear protection so hardcore!
Hilarious article, Julia.
Cauliflower ears are one of those things that have creeped me out since I was a little kid, like those tufts of hair that old men grow out of their ears, or moobs, or suspenders, or white socks with sandals.
Yes, if some shirtless dude with his moobs flopping came running after me, and he was holding up baggy shorts with suspenders, wearing white socks with sandals , sporting gross tendrils of hair snaking out of his cauliflowers ears, I would shit myself.
But I started wearing suspenders a few days ago, and they do hold my pants up better than a belt… hmm.
So I would definitely wear headgear rather than develop cauil ears.
Julia, if you KNEW that developing cauli ears was an unavoidable consequence of doing BJJ, would you stick with it?
I would rather treat it as it happens. So, yes, I would. If I had baby cauli, the kind that just looks a tiny bit swollen, okay. If my ears looked like chew toys, NO WAY. But see, I’ll just treat it when it happens, so I’m not scared.
That image cracked me up.
Suspenders are awesome! Why the suspender hate?
@ Chas – I’m wandering around the halls at work tonight looking for your shirtless moob with hairy cauliflower ears… What should I do if I find him? JK, the image you painted has already brightened my night, and will make work much more fun tonight..
You’ll have to admit that a shirtless moob with hairy cauliflower ears does sound pretty scary!
Why the suspenders hate? I don’t know. I’m wearing them now, and they are quite comfortable.
I think that every dude I’d ever known who wore them was a good ol’ boy or a redneck, and I’m not fond of either personality type.
Interesting. I tend to think of them as a nerd thing.
Well written and helpful. I just had my left ear get a bit juicy a few weeks back and I used the insulin needle method. It took three drains on 3 seperate occasons before the ear finally stayed “normal” again. I quickly rushed out and bought an Asics Gel headgear.
Do I look like a cosmonaut in a Gi? Well… yeah.
Will my ears look like fleshy dumplings? No.
I’m glad for the trade-off.
P
I love it! Cosmonaut! Now I want to have a gi that features a rocket ship. Oooh–have a retro Soviet Cosmonaut gi that goes along with your helmet!
I saw on your blog that you JUST posted about cauli-ear! What timing!
Welcome to my blog. Thanks for adding to the conversation! You added some very cool color. Though thinking of juicy ears is sort of disgusting. Though it made me want to call Randy Couture–Randy “Juicy” Couture. hahaha
Actually it is not 만두기,,it is 만두귀 minor difference but…Where abouts do you train in Korea?
Thanks. Fixing it now.
I’m in Seoul and I train at Jiu Jitsu World off Yeoksam.
Did you notice that the guy in the first photo looks like Lord Voldemort?
I don’t think he looks anything like Voldy!
Is the a Slytherin-BJJ connection?
Hahaha at cosmonaut… after my second bout of cauli (successfully drained with insulin needles) I started wearing headgear for a while. Only I also worse the little hairnet cap thing. I got called Space Monkey and Amelia Earhart for a while. Now, despite the fact that I train Gracie Jiu Jitsu as a sport specifically for tournaments (no plans on streetfighting) I haven’t gotten caulied in a while. Maybe with increased skill we get into fewer bad spots?
To the Gracie Jiu Jitsu dude: hey, attacks won’t come at you slowly or methodically. May I suggest you read Matt Thornton’s article on aliveness in training/sparring? *JiuJiu- another blog topic here!*
Glad to know there will be no wads of chewed up gum attached to your face in the near future. Let’s keep Austin ears PRETTY!
Good point on the aliveness, Georgette.
The definite cauli-causing incidents I can remember have little or nothing to do with “tournament techniques that utilize lots of strength.” I have no idea what that even means – maybe the Tozi pass or some kind of mystical Jacare judo technique?
Almost all of the ones I can remember occurred through the random and unfortunate placement of my head near elbows, knees or feet.
At least two or three of them occurred when I got elbowed/boxed in the ear while in bottom turtle or bottom side control. Other times, it was headlocks (a primo emphasis for self-defense techniques) and yet other times I was using my head as a third arm.
Of the main Gracie lineage, there’s maybe two or three of the guys who don’t have cauli. Royce has minimal, if any and some of the younger ones don’t have it.
Rickson, Renzo and Royler (perhaps the finest exponents of the Gracie family until Roger) all have cauli. If that’s not a debunking of the “Gracie jits/no cauli” myth, I don’t know what is.
Ugh. Sorry to vent, Jiu-jiu.
Venting is fine, so long as it doesn’t resort to name calling and telling people to kiss your hairy anythings.
I was also told that it isn’t and shouldn’t be about strength–so I haven’t been taught any “power” moves. I’ve been told it often happens when trying to remove your head from a head lock or from pivoting on said ear (click on PIVOT in the article).
Julia,
There is actually a genetic predisposition to getting cauliflower ear. Unfortunately, I am on the side who gets in, and as a bonus, on the inside of my ear, making wearing earbuds problematic, to say the least.
Oh wow! Sorry about the earbuds!
Has it worked as a woman magnet for you? I keep hearing these guys talk about how the women get excited by it. THOUGH it would be a good talking point–”So do you do MMA or BJJ?” 
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