Chicks Dig Cauliflower Ears

Is your son into mixed martial arts? Check his ears.

Once an outlaw sport derided for its brutality, the prizefighting style known as mixed martial arts or ultimate fighting has toned down its act to gain government approval, a loyal television audience and hundreds of gyms training youngsters across the country. Now, to herald its full arrival, mixed martial arts has claimed a signature injury — cauliflower ear.

A deformity initiated by repetitive trauma, cauliflower ear can crumple an outer ear to a misshapen shell.

Unfazed by the prospect of living life as a walking what’s-grosser-than-gross joke, a nationwide corps of professional fighters, amateur enthusiasts and teenagers have taken to leaving their ears untreated or self-treated, wearing their shriveled, hardened waxen auricles as badges of honor.

“It’s definitely part of the culture,” said Dr. John H. Park, a physical therapist in Rockville, Md., who specializes in treating M.M.A. participants. “They say, ‘Chicks dig that stuff because they know you’re a fighter.’ “

Fire-starters, the sort of women who provoke animal reactions, like a bitch in heat with dogs fighting over her. As humans, we're supposed to be better than that.