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Month: June 2022

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Cauliflower Ears: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment & Prevention

Cauliflower ears are a common condition within contact sports that affects the ears. It is caused by repeated trauma to the ear, which causes them to swell up and get lumpy. This can result in deformity of your ear and it can affect your hearing, so it’s important to know how to prevent it.

What is a cauliflower ear?

A cauliflower ear is a condition that results in the formation of a bump on the outside of the ear. It occurs when blood pools under torn cartilage after an injury to your outer ear, including abrasions caused by hard grappling or striking. The ear is an area of the body that’s not designed to take punches and so this can result in some seriously painful injury. Cauliflower ear is irreversible, however it can be prevented and treated in various ways.

The Structure Of Ear

The cartilage in your inner ears (also known as ossicles) are responsible for transmitting sound waves from your eardrum to your brain, while also helping with balance. They’re made up of three small bones called malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and stapes (stirrup). While these bones aren’t directly responsible for hearing loss if they become damaged, they do prevent normal movement of vibrations through sound waves into our inner ears—so it’s important to keep them healthy!

What causes cauliflower ear?

Ear cartilage is very fragile and can easily be damaged. The most common causes of cauliflower ear include:

  • Being hit in the ear.
  • Wrestling.
  • Grappling (i.e., Brazilian jiu-jitsu).
  • Mixed martial arts (MMA) or striking.
  • Repeated trauma and abrasions, such as from playing rugby or American football without wearing protective gear on your ears. In other words, it’s not just martial artists who are at risk for this condition!

This type of injury can also occur after surgery—for example, when a surgeon places stitches around your ears during plastic surgery procedures like rhinoplasty (nose job).

Wrestling

What are the symptoms of cauliflower ear?

  • Swelling: Swelling is a common symptom of cauliflower ear. Depending on how your injury heals, you may experience swelling in different areas of your ear.
  • Pain: Cauliflower ear can be painful if it’s caused by an injury to the cartilage or surrounding tissue. It’s common for people with this condition to experience pain when they touch their bruised earlobe or turn their head (especially if they’re doing something that stretches the cartilage).
  • Redness: The area around your cauliflower ears will likely become red after an injury or during healing, especially if there’s a lot of swelling present in this area. This discoloration may cause your ears to appear darker than normal; however, even though they’ll be similar shades of pinkish-red at first glance (and maybe even purple), most cases won’t actually have any colour changes after time passes by—so don’t worry about anything being permanently stained onto your skin!
  • Bruising: Bruises can occur as an injury develops into its final stage (for example: bruising might appear on top of bruises because layers are formed underneath each other). In addition to looking unattractive due to their dark colours and uneven shapes/areas (which makes telling what parts are bruised difficult!), bruises also feel sensitive due to increased blood flow near damaged tissues so they might hurt whenever touched too hard without proper protection such as gloves being worn beforehand!
Cauliflower Ear

How to prevent cauliflower ear

  • Use ear guards. If you’re sparring and not wearing headgear, it’s important to wear some kind of protective gear around your ears. Even if you’re just doing light training and not getting hit in the head, cauliflower ear can still develop because of the repeated strain on your ears. Ear guards are inexpensive, available at most local sporting goods stores or online, and can be worn under your regular boxing gloves.
  • Use headgear—and don’t take it off! If you’re taking part in a contact sport like boxing or MMA (mixed martial arts), wearing headgear is essential even if there isn’t any striking happening at that moment of play—because once an injury occurs, there’s no going back! No matter what game or activity you’re playing: Headgear should always be worn when playing contact sports like football and hockey; helmets should always be worn when riding bicycles; etcetera…
  • Know how to block punches to prevent injuries from occurring in other parts of the body such as arms/hands while also preventing cauliflower ear occurring during heavy sparring sessions which would require surgery later down line…
  • There are specialised products such as ear splints to keep the cartilage in place, as well as ‘CauliBuds‘ which use silicone-encased magnets that create compression to prevent cauliflower ear and swelling.

Cauliflower ear treatment

If you have a cauliflower ear, you should consult with your doctor to discuss the best treatment option for you. The most common treatments include:

  • Ice: Apply an ice pack or cold compress to the affected area as soon as possible after getting injured. This will help reduce swelling and bruising while speeding up the healing process.
  • Compress: After applying ice, wrap a clean cloth around your head to apply pressure on the injured area. Use a bandage if needed to secure it in place. You should reapply compresses throughout the day when possible until you experience improvement in symptoms (usually less than three days).
  • Massage: For minor cases of cauliflower ear, gentle massage may be enough to correct mild damage without resorting to surgery or other invasive procedures. However, it’s important not to overdo this step because excessive massage can cause further injury which may result in permanent deformity of your ear cartilage (and increase scarring).
  • Drainage: Doctors can treat the swelling by draining the excess blood from your ear through a syringe, or creating an incision to drain the blood from.

Cauliflower ears can be treated and prevented, but it’s important to take action quickly.

Cauliflower ear can be treated and prevented, but it’s important to take action quickly. Severe cases of cauliflower ear are irreversible. Avoiding cauliflower ears is easy, but if you do get one, it’s important to get it treated. You could end up with permanent damage if you don’t get it treated. This condition can easily reoccur in combat sports, so it’s important to monitor your ear for swelling even after it’s been drained. It will not go away on its own so educate yourself on how to prevent and treat it.

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Conclusion

Cauliflower ears are an unfortunate part of combat sports, and if you’re not careful, they can be a permanent problem. The good news is that there are many ways to prevent cauliflower ear, and also ways to treat it when it does occur. If you notice any of these symptoms, take action quickly by seeing your doctor and getting treatment as soon as possible so that you don’t end up with permanent damage!

Contact us for more information on how to protect yourself in combat sports.

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What are the most successful fighting styles in MMA?

The sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) is a rapidly growing phenomenon that has gained huge popularity in recent years. It’s no surprise, then, that people are curious about the most successful fighting styles in MMA.

The question “what is the most successful fighting style in MMA?” may be answered by looking at the records of professional fighters who use each style—but since there are so many ways to win a fight, this approach would result in an incomplete answer at best and misleading conclusions at worst. As the saying goes; “MMA math doesn’t work”.

To get a better idea of which styles have historically been most effective against one another, we’ll compare each one’s strengths and weaknesses before looking at how they might fare against one another in a hypothetical matchup between two fighters from different backgrounds.

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is a martial art that originated in Thailand, and it’s one of the most popular styles in MMA. Muay Thai fighters have a strong focus on kicks, knees, and elbows. These strikes are usually used when standing up close to an opponent, so fighters need to train extensively with each other to learn how to defend against them.

Womens Muay Thai

This style is very effective in the cage because fighters are constantly working on their cardio while they spar with each other, which allows them to be at full strength during fights without having tiring out too early. Also, since this style uses both hands when throwing punches, it’s easier for them to get off more powerful shots as well as making themselves less vulnerable if they miss their target completely.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)

When you think of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, one of the first things that come to mind is its focus on submissions.

BJJ was hugely popularised during the start of the UFC. Royce Gracie, a pioneer of BJJ, was defeating much larger opponents with ease due to their lack of defence to his techniques. This resulted in BJJ being seen as the most dominant martial art for a time, which prompted fighters to learn basic defence as a bare minimum.

Bjj

It’s also a great style for ground fighting, takedowns and takedown defence, and submission holds from the top position. It can be used in self-defence situations because it teaches you how to escape from an opponent’s grip or hold onto them until help arrives. BJJ also teaches you how to defend yourself when you are knocked down by a strike (ground control). Finally, another great benefit of this martial art is that it includes recovery and defence after being knocked down by a strike (defence while down).

Boxing

Boxing is one of the oldest and most well-known fighting styles in the world. It’s a sport that requires speed, agility, power, strength, and endurance. Boxers are known for their punching power as well as their accuracy and speed. Boxers are also known for their footwork, which can help transition into other disciplines.

Boxing Tournament
Two Royal Navy men boxing for charity (1945). The modern sport was codified in England in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Boxing is also one of the most important skills to have if you want to be successful in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). This sport has been around since before MMA was even invented so it’s no wonder that many boxers have made an impact on this sport when they’ve moved into it over time!

To be a good boxer you need to have good defence against takedowns which means having good wrestling defence against opponents who may try taking them down but don’t worry because there are plenty of ways fighters can improve this part too!

Wrestling

Wrestling is a sport that has been around for centuries, and it’s one of the most popular martial arts in the world. If you’re interested in MMA training, you should definitely consider learning some wrestling techniques. Wrestling teaches you valuable skills like how to control an opponent on the ground and use your weight to wear out an opponent.

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Wrestling isn’t just good for grappling with someone else—it can also help teach you how to defend yourself against grapplers. Wrestlers have a lot of experience knowing when they’re being taken down by their opponents, so they can use this knowledge to avoid being taken down themselves.

Every fighting discipline has its strengths and weaknesses

Every fighting discipline has its strengths and weaknesses because they were originally created for different purposes. With that being said, even though some are better than others in certain aspects of fighting, there is no doubt that each one is a valuable addition to anyone’s arsenal.

The best fighters know how to use all styles together, which is why they are often considered well-rounded fighters. Modern MMA requires fighters to be proficient in more than one discipline if they want success in their careers.

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Mixing all these styles together effectively is the aim for a successful mixed martial artist

The most successful MMA fighters are those who have a well-rounded skill set and can adapt to different situations. You’re not going to be good at everything, but you should at least be able to do the basics of each style effectively.

A good coach and sparring partner are key in developing those skills. A coach will help guide you through your training, while a sparring partner will push you further in practice than what would be possible in class alone.

This is just a brief overview of some of the most successful styles in MMA. It’s important to remember that these aren’t the only styles that can be considered effective, but they are among the most popular.

Feel free to get in touch if you’re looking for any combat sports insurance.

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Get Better Coverage for Your Boxing or MMA Event: A blog about getting the right coverage for your events.

If you’re in the promotions business and have been in charge of an event, you know that it’s not always easy to get the right coverage. Sure, there are some promotional companies out there that offer comprehensive packages for all types of events, but if you don’t work with them or don’t have the budget to cover everything from start to finish without any issues then this post is for you! Boxing and MMA events can be tricky because they tend to be big productions with a lot going on behind-the-scenes that might not appear obvious at first glance. There are many moving parts involved so it’s important for promoters to stay on top of things at all times.

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The Basics

You’re going to need some basic coverage in order to promote your boxing or MMA event. You should have a Facebook page, Google My Business page, and a website. You should also have a logo, slogan and color scheme for your promotion business as well as design options for promotional materials like shirts and posters. It’s important that these things are consistent across all platforms so that fans know who you are at first glance from different places (like social media profiles).

To make sure you get the most out of your marketing efforts it’s also important that any SEO elements on each platform are optimized properly so people can find them easily in search engines when they’re looking for an upcoming boxing match or fight night in their area.

Google My Business

Your promotions presence on the web can be greatly improved by doing a few things:

  • Adding a Google My Business page. This is where you will list your promotion’s address, phone number and hours of operation. The easiest way to accomplish this is by using Google’s free tools for creating your business listing. Be sure to add photos of your promotion so people can see what it looks like in advance of attending it!
  • Make sure that when someone searches for boxing or MMA events in their area they find yours first! You want them to go into the event knowing what its like so they can decide if its worth going too. Being listed at the top of search results gives people confidence that you’re legit because many times promoters post fake events just trying make money off others without providing any value themselves.
Business

Social Media profiles

Social media is a great way to promote your events and fighters. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.

Social media is also a great tool for ticket sales. Use it!

It’s also a great place to build community around your brand and get people excited about what you do as well as building relationships with sponsors by giving them opportunities to see how cool boxing or MMA is first hand! Social media can be used to find out what your target audience is interested in and what they want to see from you…

Social Media Marketing

SEO and Search Presence

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a long-term strategy that helps you make your business more visible on search engines. SEO is a way to make sure people find you when they search for your business, products or services online. It’s also a way to get your promotion in front of people who may not know about it but are interested in going to an event like yours.

For example, if someone were searching “boxing tournaments near me” or “MMA fight night tickets near me” and found your promotion with good SEO, they would be much more likely to take action than if their search results didn’t include any promotions at all or included promotions with poor SEO.

Design a basic, unified look and feel for your brand using a logo, slogan, color scheme and design options.

A strong brand identity is important for promotions. This can be done through a logo, slogan, color scheme and design options. If you want to get better coverage for your boxing or MMA event, we recommend that you design a basic unified look and feel for your brand using these elements.

Using a logo as an example (which is a great place to start), think about how you want it to look: Do you want it to include some sort of icon or figure? Are there specific colors associated with your promotion that need to be included? Will there be text included in the image? What font would best represent your company’s values? The answers depend on what type of image is being created—whether it’s just one word or multiple words—but they should always tie back into the industry standards identified above.

Common Additions and Upgrades to Start With

In addition to the basic coverage, you can add a number of extras and upgrades. Social media management is one of them. It will help you manage your social media accounts and create a consistent voice across platforms.

Social media graphics are also an easy way to get more coverage for your event. They include things like image icons, profile banners, fanpage headers and more. Graphics are great giveaways on their own—and they’re even better when they’re associated with a contest or sweepstakes that encourages people to share them on their own pages in order to win prizes like tickets or merchandise!

Social media marketing is another useful tool in your promotional arsenal: it can help promote events at no cost by simply posting content through different social networks (like Facebook). This type of marketing doesn’t require much budgeting; it’s all about sharing information with potential fans while they’re browsing online!

Another great way to generate buzz around an upcoming boxing match or MMA bout without spending too much money is by partnering with local businesses who have similar audiences as yours—that’s where social media sponsorship comes in handy!

Promote fighters and past events

You need to promote your past events. You should also be promoting the fighters who have fought in them, as well as the sponsors who supported those fights. Promoting ticket sales is also important, especially if you’re selling online or through Ticketmaster. Social media and merchandise are two other big things to consider when it comes to promotion.

If you want press coverage for your event, make sure that every piece of information about it is out there for people to find: social media posts, news releases on local websites, even ads in magazines or newspapers—whatever works best for your market! And don’t forget about any partnered promotions with other companies or organizations; they could help spread word of mouth even further too!

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Video Production Services – Highlight Videos, Promotional Videos, Interviews & More

If you are promoting an MMA or boxing event, then you need to have video production services available for your fighters. There are many different types of video production companies that can help with this. Below is a list of some of the most common types of videos for these events:

  • Highlights – These are short clips that show highlights from an event. They typically feature the best moments from fights and highlight certain things (such as knockouts).
  • Promotional Videos – These videos tend to be used in advertisements or commercials which promote a company’s brand by showing off its products or services in action. They may also be used on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram so as to reach as many people as possible across multiple platforms at once.
  • Interviews – Journalists will often interview fighters right after they win their matches because they want to share their thoughts about how they did against their opponents during competition while those memories are still fresh.
  • Videos promoting the venue while being set up. This can help create hype for the event.

Sponsorship / Partnership Packages (Especially for Fighters) – Personalized Sponsorship Materials, Branding Placement on Social Media Profiles, Event Banners / Posters, Videos / Highlight Reels, Web Banners / Ads, etc.

  • Sponsorships are more than just money. They are a way to get your brand in front of your target audience, build a relationship with them, and help you gain fans from external sponsors.
  • A sponsorship is a mutually beneficial relationship between two parties where one party provides funds or other resources (such as promotional services), and the other party provides reciprocal support (such as exposure).
  • We recommend developing a plan for how you will use your sponsorship dollars: what amount do you need to spend on each component of the event?
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There are many services available to help you cover your MMA or boxing event.

There are many services available to help you cover your MMA or boxing event. The most important service is one that can provide professional cameras and crews to capture live events, as well as post-production editing and graphics. If a promotion is looking for a production company simply to shoot and edit footage, there are many organizations that offer these services at an affordable price.

Conclusion

Boxing and MMA events are a great way to bring people together, but they can also be challenging if you don’t have the right resources. Luckily, there are plenty of companies out there that specialize in helping promotions like yours cover their events. If you want to learn more about how our team can help with everything from web design and social media marketing all the way up through video production services then please reach out today!

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Tips for improving your cardio for MMA

Cardio is the primary key to success in MMA. In order to keep yourself from getting tired during a match, you have to practice working out your endurance in various ways. I personally think that doing only one type of cardio training over and over again is kind of boring and will end up making you less likely to stick with it. So here are some types of cardio workouts that are known to help build stamina:

Workout

Interval training

Interval training is the best way to build your cardio and get you ready for MMA. It’s an intense workout that builds endurance and pushes your body to its limit by alternating between periods of high-intensity exercise and short recovery periods.

Interval training was invented by sprinters because it allows them to train at a higher intensity level than if they just ran for an hour straight. It also helps them build explosive speed so they can explode out of starting blocks at the beginning of races.

To do interval training, warm up with some light cardio exercises like jumping rope or cycling on a stationary bike for five minutes before moving on to more intense exercises such as sprinting or running uphill at full speed, then slowing down when you need a break (the recovery period). You’ll repeat this cycle several times until your total workout time reaches at least 30 minutes, but ideally 45 minutes or longer—that way you’ll get both aerobic benefits (working harder than normal) and anaerobic benefits (building muscle strength).

Cardio Exercise

Treadmill hill training

Treadmill hill training is one of the best ways to improve your cardio and leg strength. It’s also a nice change from running in place on a treadmill for hours at a time, which can get old pretty quickly.

Start by setting the treadmill at an incline of around 10% and going for 15 minutes. Once you’re comfortable with that, increase the incline by 1% every five minutes until you reach 20%. From there, decrease the incline by 1% every five minutes until it reaches 5%, then go back up again in 5% increments until you reach 15%. That will take about 30-40 minutes total if done properly—and that’s just one set!

You can also do this outside if you have access to hills nearby; just remember not to walk down them so hard that they hurt your knees (this hurts even more when done indoors).

Boot camp

Boot camp is a great way to improve your cardio, and it can also be an excellent opportunity to meet new people. If you’re looking for a fitness activity that has cardiovascular benefits as well as social perks, boot camp may be right up your alley.

Boot camps are typically run by a personal trainer or group of trainers and usually involve several people participating in intense cardio workouts at once. Boot camps may last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and are designed with the goal of improving physical fitness through exercise routines.

Hiking and running drills

Hiking and running drills are a great way to improve your cardio, and they’re also a great way to get in shape.

Here’s how it works: you run around the neighbourhood, but instead of walking home or sitting down at the bus stop when you reach your destination, you keep going! You run as far as possible before turning around and coming back. This exercise is a lot like hiking because while hiking there will be times when your legs get tired and slow down on their own accord; but if you’re doing this drill correctly then those moments should be very few and far between. To accomplish this feat properly it’s important that each time before turning around for the return trip (after reaching maximum distance) make sure that you’re running at full speed so that once again when reaching maximum distance after returning from completing another lap (one mile),

you’re still able to make another turn around without stopping mid-way through for exhaustion purposes such as needing water/time for rest etcetera).

Jogging

Circuit training

Circuit training is a great way to burn fat and build muscle. It’s also a great way to get a full-body workout in under an hour. You’ll be able to improve your fitness while learning new exercises, and the variety will keep things interesting.

In addition to the obvious benefits of circuit training, it’s also great for improving endurance without introducing too much risk of injury by overworking muscles at any given time (or at least not more than once). In fact, because you’re doing less reps per set with each exercise, you might even be able to lift heavier than usual—and since strength training has been shown to improve cardio performance as well as endurance itself

It’s best to vary your cardio exercises instead of doing the same things all the time.

Some MMA fighters have been known to go through periods where they train hard and do the same thing over and over again. While this can be beneficial in the short term, it’s important to vary your cardio workouts so you won’t get bored or tired of doing the exact same thing every day.

You’ll also find that variety will enable you to train for longer periods of time at higher intensities. This way, if your schedule gets busy and there are days when you don’t have time for an intense session, but still want to get in some cardio training, then changing up your routine is a good way around that problem. In addition:

Variety will allow you to do more long-term cardio training because it takes advantage of different muscle groups than other types of exercises might (for example: running versus cycling). This means that while both forms are great ways of improving cardiovascular fitness levels overall (by increasing heart rate), they’re not necessarily interchangeable when it comes down specifically on what muscles need strengthening most urgently at any given moment during recovery period between sessions (e.g., after an injury has healed).

Conclusion

The most important tip I can give you is to have fun with it. If you are enjoying your cardio workout, then it will not seem like a chore and the benefits will be worth the time spent doing it.

I hope these tips help to get you started on a great cardio routine that fits into your busy schedule!

Contact us if you have any questions.