15 Worst Mangled Ears Caught on Camera in Sports History

Sports can leave enduring wounds upon its heroes and its washouts.  For some, these marks are worn on the ears for the world to see.   

The squeamish should not continue reading. 

What becomes of the ears of MMA fighters, rugby players and boxers, is graphic and grotesque.

Often, they develop cauliflower ear, a repulsive condition where the fibrous tissue collects and deforms the ear.  Worse yet are those whose ears are sliced open, bent or bitten.  

Note: The following images are extremely graphic.  

15. Johnny Farr

Cleveland native Johnny Farr fought as a featherweight throughout the '20s and '30s.  Over the course of his career, he boxed in 109 fights and 872 rounds. 

Even if he were the best defensive fighter of all time, that would still equal a grueling amount of punishment. 

His swollen ear is proof of that. 

It hangs lifelessly on the side of his head like some crude rubber replica.  With only a sliver of an opening left in his ear, it must have been extremely difficult for Farr to hear out of it.  

14. Graham Rowntree

Graham Rowntree's battle scars remain visible long after his retirement from rugby in 2007.

Now the English forwards coach, Rowntree has a pair of sizeable ears that appear to have been partially melted.

Rugby fans and players often claim that it's the toughest sport in the world.  For the warriors in the front who charge without a helmet or without padding into a mass of elbows and knees, it may very well be true.

Cauliflower ears are common.  For some, they are trophies.  

Rowntree will likely see many of his players develop the unsightly defect over time.  

13. Baret Yoshida

The well-decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master wears the testimony to the viciousness of his career on the sides of his head. 

For years he's been ground down by opponents' arms and the mats he fought on. 

Not as puffy and protruding as some of the ears further up on this list, Yoshida's ear is still disturbing.

There is no visible hole left, only a blossom of bumpy flesh. 

As uncool as headgear looks to wear, is it worse than ending up with this macabre fashion statement?

12. Phil Vickery

Accumulative neck injuries ended Phil Vickery's rugby career early.  Even if he had played longer, it's hard to imagine his cauliflower ear getting worse.

The former captain and World Cup winner was a part of collision after collision, often driving the scrum forward.

His body suffered. 

His misshapen ear is harder to hide than the scars from his surgeries.  It looks like some fungus growing out of the side of his head.  

11. Randy Couture

As one of the most recognizable fighters in MMA history, Couture owns one of the more famous cauliflower ears.

You don't fight for as long as Randy Couture did without receiving some thunderous blows to the head. After enough trauma, the flesh of one's ear has to give.   

Couture appears to be growing something in the petri dish that he calls an ear.

He will not have to worry about it getting any worse, though, as he officially retired after a loss to Lyoto Machida in 2011. 

10. Mick Foley

Now mostly retired, Mick Foley wrestled for more than two decades under a number of names, including Cactus Jack, Mankind and Dude Love. 

Wrestling fans know of his legendary toughness, finishing matches with dislocated shoulders, herniated discs or a tooth in his nose.

During a match in 1994, the ring ropes crossed and snapped a chunk of his ear.  The referee saw the slab of flesh on the mat and calmly picked it up. 

Foley finished the match as planned, just another day at the office.  

9. Evander Holyfield

When Mike Tyson bit a hunk of Holyfield's ear off in '97, Tyson became an easy punchline and even more notorious than he was previously.

There may not be a more shocking moment in boxing than that bite.

On a surreal scene, Tyson bit Holyfield first on the left ear.  Referee, Mills Lane decided not to disqualify Tyson right away. 

That led to the two fighters locking in the center of the ring and Tyson chomping down once again. 

The bell rang.  Holyfield walked back to his corner, angry, confused and missing a bit of his cartilage. 

Thanks to his doctors, Holyfield's ear looks practically normal now, unlike many of the men on this list.

8. Pedro Dias

The Portuguese judo champ has what looks like a baby's fist poking out of his headband.

Judo, such a slow-paced and measured sport, doesn't seem like it would produce this kind of ear damage. 

But arms twist around heads, faces are smashed into the mat and those pesky ears can really get in the way of things. 

Unfortunately for Diaz, his ears stick out quite prominently, making it even easier to see what poor shape they're in.

7. James Thompson

Mr. Thompson, I think you may have something living in your ear.

The bull-rushing British MMA fighter has dished out his share of ear-crushing blows.  But clearly he's taken a few of his own.

In this photo, even though the match is clearly over, Thompson has yet to wipe the blood from his jaw or having his alien-looking cauliflower ear drained. 

In a fight with Kimbo Slice, Thompson's ear burst open from one of Slice's punches.  Though Thompson was clearly upset with the ref's decision to stop the fight at that point, his ear was extremely thankful the bell rang.  

6. Kazushi Sakuraba

Sakuraba's ear looks inflated, like a puss-filled pocket ready to explode.  

The accomplished MMA fighter is known as the Gracie Hunter for having beaten four members of the Gracie family.

During those wins, his other 41 matches as well as his time as a professional wrestler, Sakuraba suffered scores of punches and kicks to the head.

The results are obvious. 

Considering that he's not suffering from brain damage or dementia, having a hideously deformed ear isn't all that bad.  

5. Chris Jack

Chris Jack of New Zealand is normally a decent-looking fellow.  But years of rugby and apparently an aversion to getting excess fluids drained have changed things for him.

At 6'7'', he’s an intimidating presence on and off the pitch. 

Imagine seeing a guy with an ear that engorged, that discolored standing next to you in a bar. 

To be a key member of the All Blacks rugby team, you regularly need to tough it out.  It seems that sometimes includes playing through agonizing injuries like this one.  

4. Sebastian Lujan

Up until his fight with Antonio Margarito in 2005, a good number of American boxing fans didn't know much about Sebastian Lujan. 

An Argentine fighter, Lujan suddenly tore into the American boxing fan's conscience when Margarito destroyed his ear.

The top half of his ear split and hung down lifelessly.  Blood soils his face and neck.   

Out of context, it looks like a maniac attacked Lujan with a knife. 

The injury forced the ref to stop the fight in the ninth round. 

Margarito was suspended for allegedly loading his gloves with a plaster of Paris-like substance. 

After having his ear dangle bloody on the side of his head, Lujan would certainly believe he'd been punched with a little something extra. 

3. Francisco Marco

In Spanish-style bullfighting, an exceptional performance is sometimes rewarded by the president giving the fighter the bull's ear.

This time the bull reversed roles.

During the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain in 2010, a bull tossed Francisco Marco and nearly hacked his ear completely off. 

Marco was lucky to walk away from this collision, his ear barely attached. 

He is no stranger to life-threatening encounters with an angry bull.  In 2006, Marco was nearly killed from a goring.  

2. Matt Hendricks

One minute you're at practice with your Washington Capitals teammates, skating along, and the next you’re having your ear sewn together.

Thanks to an errant, ricocheting puck off of Alex Ovechkin's hockey stick, teammate Matt Hendricks ended up in the hospital with a split ear.

Amazingly, Hendricks was out on the ice the very next day against the Penguins. 

That's ho-hum toughness in the hockey world and iron man status to the rest of us.  

1. Shigeki Uchiyama

Salvador Dali would be proud of this so-called ear. 

In 2010, against Masaya "J-Taro" Takita, Shigeki Uchiyama found himself without much of his right ear.

Both fighters got caught in the ring ropes and the end result was not favorable for Uchiyama.

He lost the fight by TKO as the blood rained on him.  

Unfortunately, this incident is the only thing many American fans know him for.  As a fighter for the Japanese MMA promotion Pancrase, it takes a startling news story like this one to get our attention.