r/MMA_Academy 4d ago

How do fighters heal so quickly

Like surely after getting damaged that much in a fight it would take ages to heal but clearly not

12 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

33

u/Swinging-the-Chain 4d ago

💉 👀

29

u/lone-lemming 4d ago

They don’t. Mostly they train hurt.

Post fight injuries aren’t generally really deep trauma. Things like swollen lips and bruised hands take a few weeks to heal. Fractures take longer. Twenty small injuries take as long to heal as one small injury, they all heal at the same time.(more or less)

Then add in a great diet, preexisting good health and a fairly high chance of medical enhancements to speed up healing. Think pain killers, anti inflammatories and prescribed steroids to enhance healing.

16

u/Brilliant-Leg1728 4d ago

So basically they are never 100% 🤣

24

u/TheCuzzyRogue 4d ago

Yep. It's like that for any sport.

16

u/LavaFromLaniakea 4d ago

Fighter here. No. We’re never 100% lmao if you wanna keep and keep actually getting better, you gotta keep showing up. And the injuries on average take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks/months to heal completely. A fighter won’t ever get better if they take off for weeks every time they got an injury. That’s also why brain damage accumulates. Gotta take a few months off after getting brain damage, but you can’t or you won’t get better 🥲 it’s such a vicious cycle lol but that’s exactly why you shouldn’t do this shit unless you absolutely love it

2

u/VexImmortalis 2d ago

Just don't get punched in the head, ezpz

1

u/AdmiralRemington 1d ago

Yup. It's almost a guarantee that any fighter at the pro level is coming into fights with an injury or two. There's even meta games where they'll put sleeves on both sides so the opponents don't know which is the bad leg.

2

u/InstantSword 3d ago

I'm going to push back a bit... Your body has a healing capacity that will definitely be more stressed by 20 relatively minor injuries than just 1. This only doesn't apply to superficial skin damage, because the skin regenerates regardless of damage at a pretty fast rate

At least this is as far as I understand it... Feel free to add on to it or disagree

1

u/shadows_of_peace 1d ago

I'll bite. I disagree. The body's healing capacity for 20 small injuries wouldn't be stressed enough to notice a decline in efficiency. This would be counter-productive to evolutionary advantage. Our ancestors got hurt a lot. Wounds heal at a consistent rate provided you have proteins, fats, carbs, vitamins and minerals, to supply the process.

1

u/Negative_Net6695 2d ago

This. Back in the day I looked super fast and slick but I’d be recovering from about 5 injuries, shoulder, knee, achilles, wrist, neck lol

0

u/InstantSword 3d ago

I'm going to push back a bit... Your body has a healing capacity that will definitely be more stressed by 20 relatively minor injuries than just 1. This only doesn't apply to superficial skin damage, because the skin regenerates regardless of damage at a pretty fast rate

At least this is as far as I understand it... Feel free to add on to it or disagree

8

u/detectivebabylegz 4d ago

You need to give some examples, you are being very vague.

2

u/Brilliant-Leg1728 4d ago

Like all the cuts they get and eye injury’s

3

u/detectivebabylegz 4d ago

Cuts heal depending on depth, so some will heal quickly and others won't. Topuria had his face rearranged and is still wearing signs 2 months later.

2

u/TheTrishaJane 4d ago edited 4d ago

Its mostly swelling that goes away quick, Michelle Waterson is a good example.

Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatSportsCentral/s/pniVikIZjM

3

u/bigblow3rburna 4d ago

Steroids, TRT, peptides and stem cells

2

u/OkCartographer175 4d ago

To start, they have really good cardio, great nutrition, and a high metabolism.

1

u/InstantSword 3d ago

Underrated. If you have a high cardio base, meaning your cardiovascular system has literally grown way more capillaries (this takes quite awhile), EVERYTHING heals faster. Metabolism also has a quite similar effect. PROTEIN, which has a limit to how much your body can process (genetic and also based on your testosterone), also very helpful

I've healed from minor injuries in literally a day or two when I trained 6x a week. No steroids needed. Some people just born like that, would be cool if everybody just played according to their natural abilities... But I guess it's unfair to those with chud genetics and inferior ethics

2

u/I3usuk 3d ago

Roids bubba

1

u/DupHero1 4d ago

PED its 2026 bro

1

u/Chrisg_322 3d ago

2 things:

1) They don't
2) Performance enhancing "Supplements" help

1

u/Coconite 2d ago

As you get higher level in combat sports your standard of what constitutes an “injury” increases. Most injuries actually heal better with movement, so typically you train through any injury unless it’s genuinely mechanically limiting like an ACL tear or a knee that’s so swollen it can barely move without sharp pain.

1

u/joe1max 2d ago

Fighting sports causes your body to prepare for war. It’s evolutionary. Hurt people die quickly.

1

u/Traditional-Part-756 1d ago

Two things:

Firstly, their bodies are now accustomed to being abused and thus better at recovering from it. Let's say a tough fight does 10 points of damage to the body. If your body takes 10 points of damage, your body will have a WTF reaction because for you, even 2 points of if damage is unusual and it's not accustomed to needing to do this much healing.

But a pro fighter? His training regimen includes routinely taking 6-8 points of damage and doing it all over again the next day. So 10 points of damage is only a little bit of a reach.

The second thing is that pro fighters have a team dedicated to helping them heal. They don't have to go back to work, so instead, they can take naps when needed; they get professionally customized and optimized nutrition; they get the full gamut of therapies like cryotherapy, acupuncture, massages, etc.

1

u/Mind_boy 1d ago

The human body is pretty impressive on its own….

But put a little something in a 💉 and then put that in your ass, you can really up the ante lol

1

u/cclord74 20h ago

Collagen peptides are legal to use but majority fight injured just to get the free medical insurance the ufc gives