I’ve been so excited about this post and I want to say first and foremost thank you to my friend Amber Schoech for sharing these with me. It has been an honor to watch her grow as a fighter over the last few years. She’s tough, she works hard and she has huge heart!
Amber can take a punch. Dear heavens, she has a jaw of steel. And, if you can manage to land one on her, you better. Because if she gets you to the ground, you’ve lost.
Her last fight was a tough one. She took some damage as all fighters do. If a fighter has never looked beat up after a fight, I’m not sure they are a fighter.
Immediately after a fight, within the time it takes for the announcer to raise a hand and the TV camera to capture a quick interview, is not when a fighter looks their worst. Yes, you will see the swelling start, but it’s not until the face is no longer flushed from exertion that the scrapes really show up. The more the adrenaline ebbs, the more the swelling. If you are already swelling in the ring, you are going to really be swollen after.
Ok, so here is pretty Amber, and she is pretty. And, I have to say that with her hair braided up on her way into the ring, petroleum jelly on her face and not a stitch of make-up on, she’s still pretty darn adorable.
Now, here is maybe ten minutes after the fight, she hadn’t even gotten stitches yet. She still had some dried blood on her face. You can see it mixed with the sweat on her neck.I love this picture with all my heart.
The cut above her eye is from a punch. She first saw the blood on her opponent’s face and got excited thinking she had hurt her. But, after feeling something drip, she wiped her forehead and realized the blood she had seen on her opponent was her own. She did feel her face swelling during the fight but it wasn’t painful.
Ok, next day. She has a bit of make-up on but you can see how much her eye has swelled overnight.
Day two. The swelling has gone down a bit and the bruising has darkened.
Day three. Bruise is turning brownish yellow which shows healing. Amber is young and very healthy. Her bruising is healing fast.
Day five or six.
And here we are at about a week.
Alrighty, FightWriters, there you go. Hope this gives you some tools to keep in your “details” toolbox. Until the next time at FightWrite.net, get blood on your pages.
Carla, thank you for showing us (so graphically) what the results of a real fight look like outside of Hollywood. This is the real deal and it made me squeal!!!
Wow. Appreciate y'all getting real with us.
You are welcome. 🙂
You're very welcome!
This actually isn't so bad. I've seen much worse. Her nose didn't get broken. That cut is nice and straight, not jagged, and it's in a good spot. You hardly see it now. It was the only cut and she only had one black eye. To look at her, you'd never know she was a cage fighter. Her face doesn't show it and let me tell ya, I've seen faces that show it! She's a lovely gal.
Hi Carla, I had a critique partner comment about my character’s broken nose that was reset by an army doctor. How long would it take to look better? It’s been over a week when he ends up chatting with a princess. Would it still look terrible?
Thanks.