What was different this time around?

• Started to invest in some Jiu-jitsu podcasts and books
• Signed up for BOTH no Gi and Gi.
• Inspiring moments

Podcast/Books

No Gi Bracket (3 Fighters)

No Gi bout caught me off guard as the time for it switched to closer than on time. I didn’t have much time to stretch or warm up so I was high-strung but it might have been to my advantage.

No Gi Bout 1

My opponent looked very intimidating but skills always triumph as well as having Coach in my corner (he didn’t have a Coach – I know how that feels based on my 1^st competition .

No Gi Bout 2 – Round 1 + Overtime

“Won by decision” in the second bout meaning we tied 2-2 but the ref said I won (Cool, new experience).

Gi Bracket (3 Fighters)

Should have made use of the downtime. Was stalling too much and I think also was in a cooldown phase after the unexpected adrenaline showdown from being caught off guard before a match in the first No Gi bout. Or maybe I was tired from those two bouts. Now I understand that there’s some strategy in pacing myself throughout the competition.

Gi Bout 1

Gi Bout 2

Inspiration Aftermath

My Coach shared a voice message from my first opponent in No Gi taking the time to show respect to me, Coach, and the Academy. Much thanks to coach and thankful for the opportunity to represent my Academy!

One of my close friends of 10+ years took out time in his busy schedule with a newborn and all to come watch me. He kept his word and came. He couldn’t stay for my Gi matches but still came for support! He told me how inspired he was while watching me and how it made him want to practice Jiu-jitsu.

It was awesome to watch and cheer on my teammates who I’ve been training for the past 6 months. Seeing them compete too was a great end and test. One of my teammate said it was fun watching me fight. A lot of sweat and hours was poured on the mats and seeing them compete for the first time as White Belts and comrades was a special moment…

Till’ next time,

Ossu!

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Month 6 – Recalling my first competition where I traveled 3 hours to get to by myself to a city where I had a friend who came to watch but he couldn’t make it on time because he had work.

I got to see a couple kids fight on the mat as well as some killer gal from Singapore dominating her opponents in Gi and No Gi without breaks in between.

Had some good BBQ but I think I overate as I ordered too much food.

Then before competition I put my Gi on and did the warm-up drills and stretching that I learnt from class.

Waited around sizing up my opponents who were all 19-year-olds. It did feel odd to be honest.

Asked a random bystander to help me film my match and then stayed back to watched who won my bracket.

What Happened: My Offense

1. My Guard pull was slow and I didn’t square in.
2. My takedown was ineffective since his hips were already far away.
3. X-choke on top position was not effective.
4. Arm-bar attempt was called out by his coach.

What Happened: My Defense

1. Weak base and lost my dominant positions easily.
2. My hands were too free and didn’t use any grip breaks.
3. Did not use back escape.
4. Upaing from bottom without success.
5. Did not use any framing with my hands when on bottom.

What to Work on

1. Guard pull
2. Takedown game
3. Back escapes
4. Side control escapes
5. Quick submissions

What I Learnt

1. Got frustrated because he kept taking my back and I couldn’t get him off.
2. Underestimated my opponent and his size. I think it’s a lot easier for the smaller guy to back take because I do the same in the academy with majority being taller than myself.
3. Need to be quicker like my opponent.
4. That there was coaching involved during a fight and how advantageous that could be.
5. Could make friends and ask someone to coach me (if Coach isn’t around).
6. Could restart in standing and not have to keep on rolling.
7. Points vs Submission
8. Asking for feedback and learning from an invaluable overall competition experience.

Now that I know my strengths and weaknesses I’ll train with the above notes in mind. Then I will be back better then ever from now knowing what to work on for the next competition!

Next Competitions: Dec 4, 2021 / Jan 22, 2021 (Canceled due to 2 injuries)

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Embrace Your BJJ Ears

In Brazil where BJJ is widely practiced, it is common to have these “BJJ ears.” It’s seen as a sign of pride actually to have these ears. The more damaged the ears the more passively is demonstrated how experienced the fighter is so BJJ fighters with cauliflower ears wear it like a badge of badassery. If you were on the street and happened to cross paths with someone with BBJ ears – beware of his stellar ground game! Some girls, especially ones in the sport even find them attractive. I’ve heard people have gotten hired because of these ears. Say the hiring manager or boss also practices BJJ and you go into an interview with BJJ ears – you’d already have a mutual connection! Or you could be going to the beach and you bump into a couple of BJJ grapplers and become instant friends.

Protect Your BJJ Ears

On the flip-side, professionals who work in settings where image is important (sales, business, hospitality) or where you work often around people than you would prefer your ears to look normal rather than with beaten up cauliflower ears. To people who are not familiar with BJJ ears you appear as if you are on the same categories of criminals or mugger. Sad to say but it is true that people judge others by the book of the cover. You only have one chance to make the first impression. If you are single or in a relationship how would your potential mate or significant other find you in terms of attractiveness? Would it get you a swipe right or left on Bumble?

Consider Your Category

If you got to reading this far into the article and still decide to train and roll without any ear protection – to train as you go type of mentality than at least invest yourself some Caulibuds magnets (%15 Off Discount Code: BJJEARS) for precaution so you can keep your ears intact from swelling one day after BJJ class if your ears turn red and aches. I belong to the second group and have worn ear guards during class every time since my ordeal with cauliflower ears a month into learning BJJ.

So it comes down to your line of work and how you want others to perceive you. These are things to consider and could make or break your ear (no pun intended 😊). Do you want to wear your cauliflower ears as a badge of honor or do you want a low key look like everyone? You look normal but can choke and submit people like a BJJ ninja?

There can be an underlying ego self-preservation or peer pressure to not wear ear protection because you think you’d be the one or you’d think people in your dojo think that you’re a wussy. You only have two fragile ears protruding outward from your face. Yes, you can get it surgically fix, a blue belt in my class did this and he looks normal but that comes with costs and risks in its own. There are also a select few of individuals who just don’t get cauliflower ears – I had to roll to find out the hard way from experience. My inner ears’ cartilage are harder than the outer so my first experience with cauliflower damage occurred in the inner ear rather than the outer ear.

Comment and share your thoughts below and thanks for reading.

Ossu!

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What is Cauliflower Ear?

Discretion* Note that what I am sharing is merely my experience with cauliflower ear in the following paragraphs and not medical advice. Please seek medical attention if you choose to do so.

I’m glad you asked! No it’s not some nasty infection of the ear or something edible.

It was what I referred to as “BJJ ear” because I couldn’t remember the proper term. In medical term it’s called a hematoma of the ear or swelling of the ear where blood is rushed into the area that received cartilage damage. The blood is what fills up the damage area making it look swollen looking like a cauliflower. You can see this deformity of the ear commonly on MMA fighters or BJJ practitioners. Some boxers or wrestlers also have cauliflower ears.

How Does it Occur and What are the Symptoms?

You can get it through repetitive irritation to it often in contact sports such as boxing, MMA, wrestling, or BJJ through direct force. Common ways of getting it in BJJ is through rolling with your classmates. When you roll you could be landing face plant diving ear first onto the mat HARD like I did – my hands and legs locked by my partner to brace myself. Someone could also accidently knock your ear with their dangling knee. Another common occurrence is when you try to pull your head out of a guillotine or headlock. Also during takedowns I would rub my ears against my partner which added to the damage.

After a couple of classes, both my ears turned red but in particular, my right ear became swollen.  I didn’t know any better at the time and even took a nap on it and when I woke up it hurt! It was ringing and even something as common as putting on a shirt or taking off a shirt was a painful ordeal. Any type of pressure to it like just pinching it caused it to ache tremendously.

I Searched the Internet for Cauliflower Ear Pain Relief Treatment

So the next thing I did was direly look up information about treating it because I didn’t even want to bring it up in class fearing that people will judge me and think that I am weak and crying like a baby. So I scoured all the YouTube videos I could find on it.

What I found was that there were many videos showing how to drain the cauliflower ear but few talked about compressing it properly. There was one and only one video in particular that demonstrated the use of magnets so then I created my own how to video. Others had mentioned using a hair pin or small chips clip.

There were also recommendations for products sold on Amazon but quite few far in between as this is apparently a new market; products to treat cauliflower ear. Another product recommended was to wear ear guards.

Another video recommends seeing a specialist such as an ENT Doctor but at the same time I hear many horrors story of going to one because of the costs and time but also that people’s ears were worst off because the Doctor would make incisions to it than if they were to drain it. And even if the Dr. does drain it couldn’t you just do this yourself and save the time and money?

The consensus was to drain the swollen ear 2-3 times a day which was ridiculous to me but colleagues have also suggested this and done this themselves but again, most videos don’t talk about compression which is key to keeping the ears from swelling up again and again.

The Method of Cauliflower Ear Treatment I Tried

I didn’t know it at the time but I took action after a couple of days of research. I even broke the news to a couple of blue belts to get their opinion and they said the same thing to drain it and that they can offer to drain it for me or you can DIY.

So after gathering the essential tools from Walgreens and Walmart I drained it for the very first time and there was a huge sense of pain relief because I saw the cauliflower ear had deflated drastically while the pain went away. Since I was still going to class and doing heavy cardio it would swell up again. This one video also suggests taking about a week or two off from BJJ class but I didn’t listen because I didn’t want to miss class.

I noticed how the fluid would keep coming back – it’s just how it is when you get a hematoma. Your body wants to fill in the gap but since no video really emphasized the need to compress it, many BJJ practitioners who get it drain it repeatedly more than they need to if only they compressed their ear.

Even in the comments section of YouTube videos when people figure they need to compress it no one knew how long to compress it. Also which tool is the proper way to compress the ear? Should you use magnets, a hair pin, or chip bag? Compression keeps the front and back skin of the ear together.

Out of desperation, I tried the magnet method of putting two magnets between my ears and then taping it around leaving it on for two days straight (48 hours) while waiting for my order of Caulibuds and ear guard from Amazon. Not only did the magnets not work but it gave me a cut!

My Recommendation for Cauliflower Ear Treatment & Prevention

After draining this one hematoma of the right ear for about 17 times 3 weeks in with no success, my right cauliflower ear started to hardened; I could no longer could I drain any excess blood from it. It still looked puffy but not as bad.

There’s a time limit of 3 weeks before the cauliflower hardens so as soon as you get cauliflower ear order what you need ASAP online and hit the drug store for the right tools for treatment.

It was already too late when my Caulibuds and ear guard came in the mail, although I still tried the Caulibuds on to savage what I could of my cauliflower ear hoping it would lessen the damage. The difference between regular magnets compared to CauliBuds is that CauliBuds are covered in silicone so it doesn’t cut your ear when left on for a long duration. Also they come in two sizes to fit your needs.

Check out my review of Caulibuds here.

Save on 15% when you use discount code: “BJJEARS”

The solution was clear after my trial:

1. Drain the ear
2. Compress it (with Caulibuds) for at least two days or when it heals
3. STOP going to class (avoid any strenuous heavy cardio)!
4. Wear ear guards

If you decide to go to BJJ class anyway, put on the compression magnets underneath your ear guards.

Personally, I would add to recommendation to wear ear guards all the time when rolling despite being what others think. Just own up to it. There are more benefits to protecting your ears than to get it looking jacked up.

So there you have it – my process and a clear guide to cauliflower ear treatment without any missing information from my honest first-hand experience. This is a comprehensive guide I wish I had found when I was in frantic about the whole grappler’s dilemma.

Ossu!

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