Why do Brock Lesnar and a few other WWE legends have cauliflower ears?

Brock Lesnar is a physical specimen like no other, but the awkward shape of his ear has often confused the WWE Universe. He isn't the only wrestler with "cauliflower ears," and popular YouTuber "Doctor Mike" recently explained the reason behind the phenomenon.

Dr. Mikhail "Mike" Varshavski, D.O., is an actively practicing doctor who previously went viral for reacting to gruesome injuries that WWE stars suffer.

As part of the second edition of the series, Doctor Mike briefly spoke about cauliflower ears and how it happened. In addition to Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Bruno Sammartino similarly had ears shaped like a cauliflower, leaving many to wonder how they'd gotten it in the first place.

The irreversible condition is caused when the ear's outer portion suffers damage. As explained by Doctor Mike, the ear cartilage is separated from the active blood supply, causing it to look "malformed." Combat sports athletes often face the problem, and how it happens is explained in detail below:

"The ear itself is primarily made of cartilage, and that cartilage is avascular, meaning it has no blood supply. But there is a blood supply over it, like, right attached to it, and through trauma from pulling of the ear, etc, you pull off that blood supply. You start getting blood clot formation, edema, swelling, blood pooling, and, as a result, that cartilage becomes fibrous and dead and starts looking malformed like this." [4:46 - 5:14]

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Doctor Mike on WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle losing hearing in one ear

Kurt Angle put his body through a lot throughout his career, going back to his days as an Olympic-level amateur wrestler. The WWE Hall of Famer has noted in the past that he is deaf in one ear and has blamed it on the cauliflower ear condition.

Doctor Mike, however, said hearing loss usually happens due to damage in the inner section of the ear.

The cauliflower ear is often the outcome when the external area is affected, and maybe, in the former WWE Champion's case, the cause of his impaired hearing could be something else.

"I don't know if that's necessarily because of the cauliflower ear. It could be simultaneous things happening within an injury, but cauliflower ear itself is damage to the outer portion of the ear. Losing hearing, not temporary, but permanent, has something to do internally with the ear, the middle ear." [5:17 - 5:34]

What are your thoughts on the story? Sound off in the comments section below.

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If you use quotes from this article, please credit Doctor Mike's YouTube channel and add an H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.