How do professional fighters take so many hits to the head? Do they see stars and does the room spin for them? If so, how do they process that and continue fighting?
How do professional fighters take so many hits to the head? Do they see stars and does the room spin for them? If so, how do they process that and continue fighting?
r/AskMen
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Ninjutsu
You should consider asking about this on the boxing and mma subreddits!
It catches up to them when they get older every single time
So so far from a pro, but i used to hobby box, uh you feel it, youre just determined to win and keep going, i was definitely seeing double after one particular hit that sticks to memory
Probably the same for the female boxers and MMA fighters, etc.
Eventually they get “punchy” and seem addled, that is how. Slow brain destruction.
By becoming slightly concussed.
Thinks of this: every time you see the hero knocked out, they’ve suffered a severe concussion. You don’t just shrug that off and get back to business as usual.
They die sooner or later from injury-related conditions and possibly all the drugs they were using when they were active and training. When the body has had enough then it will just give up. They have done their job making money for somone else. Their life after that does not matter any more.
Look up Chris Benoit…CTE is devastating.
It really depends on alot of things. This is how I see it from when I used to box a lot. First there are people who can take a punch and then there are people who just literally can’t. If you look up video of people fighting for the first time or just getting into it, they sorta just quit sometimes, I always found that odd but it’s just true to me, some people just can’t fight. It’s nothing against them the human head is just not designed to take impact like that, headgear really doesn’t even do that much besides protect from cuts.
Second is grit/ determination, If im dead set on fighting and giving it my all im gonna ignore the pain and continue sorta like how if you’re lifting heavy or running and you feel that lactic acid pain build up but you still push through. When I was a kid I used to wrestle my dad and brother a lot I’d always lose but I always resisted as much as I could and to be honest it built my determination because eventually they’d maybe let me win a little, and just that little win was motivating enough to make me want to keep going. Kinda like wrestling a small dog or tug of war, you don’t just obliterate them you let them struggle and give some ground so they feel like they can keep going.
Third is genetics/ athletics, there are many ways to sort of train your self to take a punch. For example working out your neck can reduce the impact from punches sorta. I’m not an 100% expert but having a strong neck can really reduce how the whiplash of a punch really affects you in the present moment. Another is biting really hard on a mouth piece. There is a video of a boxer Oscar explaining how he doesn’t get knocked out because of how hard he bits down on his mouth piece when he gets hit. This goes back to the neck strength sorta since in a way you’re prepared to be punched it also protect your jaw since it’s almost an instant knock if you hit someone on the jaw since it’s a sorta “lose” part of your skull. It’s why a lot of coach tell people to keep there chin down eyes up when fighting, since it will protect your jaw
To answer your question more directly there are many ways to reduce the impact and affect of a punch, yes they sometimes see stars or vision is severely affected, there is a term that some people use “rocked”. I remember taking a big punch from an uppercut that made me look straight up at the ceiling, when I looked back at my opponent, the top of my vision looked like static for a moment, which I always assumed was “seeing stars”. But like most things it goes away after a moment of rest, but it’s the punches after that can really do a lot of damage or knock you out.
Also a lot of the damages most fighters will face will be after their career. Lookup Ali vs Frazier and their fights,interviews in their primes and after their careers ended. There is a huge difference how they speak and move.
Sorry not the best writer psa and not a professional
Being hit in the head is jarring, but being trained for it makes it less so. You build up a tolerance and strengthen your neck muscles to take the blows. The damage and danger comes when you relax just a bit and your head snaps around. That’s where knockouts and concussions happen.
>Do they see stars . . . .
Either that or chirping birds.
Getting hit in the body hurts, you muscle might cramp up involuntarily, and becomes slower.
When you get hit in the head, especially knocking your ears around, it hurts, but also stuns you a bit. You need to train to keep moving, your arms and legs can give out and you need to train to put your hands back up to defend your head, or you’ll get hit a 2nd time. You can loose focus of your eyes, so you still see, but not clearly and sometime feels like you are in slow motion but everything else is moving fast and you can’t follow it.
Some people just have a naturally better reaction to getting hit and some people get knocked out super easy every time. Amateur fight training weeds the easy knock outs from the competition, so the professionals you see in the ring have taken hits before and know they can take some hits. But that doesn’t mean they don’t get damaged, and traumatic brain injuries certainly happen and it’s a cumulative effect, the more you get hit.
You don’t really “see stars” but if you’re in a ring or gym with bright halogens above you, and you get hit, and your eyes go out of focus, it might feel that way when you’re looking up from your back on the mat.
Some people are more resistant to head trauma than others. IE having a “strong jaw.” They can still have brain damage later in life tho. Not uncommon in boxers.
Errr I think boxing slang is a strong chin, it means hard to knock out.
I have never seen it end well.
I hope it was worth it for them when they don’t remember their name.
I know their loved them.