In the first round of a highly anticipated co-main event at UFC 188, Gilbert Melendez used a standing elbow to stagger (who I believed to be) the favorite Eddie Alvarez. After a round of eating long jabs and straights, Eddie made a big mistake.
He blew his nose and in the process, illustrated EXACTLY why you don’t do that.
So the question is why does this happen? Well I’m glad you asked!
*whips out college diploma*
SEE! I TOLD YOU THAT YOU’D COME IN HANDY SOME DAY!
*Sobs*
Ahem. There’s two different reasons that the eye takes on the appearance of a pornographic close up after blowing the nose.
One is that the eye and its surrounding tissues are highly vascular i.e. have a large number of blood vessels running through them. But while these blood vessels are incredibly numerous they are not very large or thick and therefore very weak. Well directed shots to the eye and the surrounding tissue predictably damages these vessels.
The second is that the human skull has sinuses that are full of air.
Take note of two things:
– they are closed off to the outer environment by bone
– some of them are really close to the eye
These sinuses have their own unique pressure systems. Ever gotten a bad sinus headache? If you haven’t, it is the worst headache you will ever get aside from head trauma and migraines because the air in these bones has nowhere to go; they just push against the skull.
A powerful shot can crack the the bone sealing off one of the sinuses and allow air into the surrounding tissues.
So what does blowing the nose do?
What people don’t realize is that blowing your nose, from a biological perspective at least, is an oddly strenuous activity. You are narrowing your nostrils by pinching them and exhaling which drastically increases the pressure generated. This in turn puts pressure on the middle ear and actually increases blood pressure as well.
During a particularly bad cold or flu, have you ever blown your nose so hard you got dizzy or saw stars?
That’s why.
In first instance (damage to blood vessels around the eye area) blowing the nose increases pressure to the point where damaged vessels will sometimes rupture altogether. Remember that after enough damage some of these small, delicate vessels are already leaking and pushing blood through with more pressure only exacerbates that. When this leaking happens around the eye and eye lid the result is an eye swelled shut.
Considering how few shots Alvarez took in the first round apart from a single devastating elbow, it’s more likely he suffered from a minute fracture that allowed passage of the air into tissues surrounding the eye and eyelid. Blowing his nose (even slightly) increased sinus pressure to the point where the air was pushed through the fracture into what appeared to be his eyelid.
While Melendez lost the fight courtesy of the 10 point scoring system, he’s proved the viability of elbows for rangy fighters just as Carlos Condit did against Thiago Alves. At range they can use their long reach for thudding jabs and crosses but in close they can do even more damage inside a stockier opponent’s winging punches.
And Eddie, put a pair of panties over that thing. That’s just obscene.
