i rarely see anyone wear headgear in bjj. are you much less likely to get cauliflower ears from bjj than wrestling? is cauliflower ears something that happens from prolonged damage to the ears or can it happen from 1 bad incident?
One bad incident can do it.
I wrestled for 13 years and did not get it do mostly to the fact that my coach MADE us practice with our head gear on.
However, just last year I was trying to pass the spider guard of one of my training partners and his ankle bone hit me in the ear and it swole up. Since then, the ear has kept expanding and I have had to have it drained several times.
So one incident can cause it or start it, just depends.
If your ear swells up, get it drained and apply a pressure bandage of some sort. It you don't apply pressure and keep it on the ear for a few days, your ear is just going to keep swelling. Usually the medical personnell are not aware of this so you might have to educate them...
A pressure bandage helped me prevent my ear from getting "cauliflowerized", it looks about 95% normal nowadays. You can't even tell it has taken some damage unless you meticulously compare to the other ear. When it got damaged I took a week of so off from BJJ, and after that used headgear for a couple of weeks. Nowadays I go without, and haven't had any problems.
you can get cauliflower ear from BJJ?!?!?
what is this bjj you speak of?
lol at Popofski...
Answer to your question... NO!