I was backstage one night at a recent UFC event, and all of my guys had already fought, so I was watching the rest of the fights from the locker room. At one point, my good friend Jacob “Stich” Duran sat down with me to watch a little of the action, as well, and we started discussing the fight that was happening. After a little bit of this, “Stitch,” who has to be one of the absolute nicest guys you will ever meet, turned around to me and said, “You see Alex, I don’t see fights like you. I see the cuts. As I watch the fight, I see where a fighter might get cut. After being a part of so many fight, I know how and where a lot of them do get cut. I see a fight from a whole different perspective. I see the whole thing from the standpoint of cuts!”

Hearing “Stitch” really got me thinking on how little I actually knew about the subject. I mean, we are always backstage with the cutmen. They’re in and out of the locker rooms, running around and wrapping the guys hands. “Stitch,” Rudy Hernandez, Teddy Lucio, they’re all great guys! And every fighter has his favorite and wants that guy to wrap his hands. We also see those guys go into the octagon when someone is cut, using their little instruments and swabs, working on the wounds. But I think few people truly realize how important their work is to a fighter and how much knowledge goes into what the cutmen do. I can specifically remember one time when Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – one of the toughest, most-experienced fighters in the history of the sport – was flipping out before a fight because he wanted “Stitch” to wrap his hands, and “Stitch” was still busy with a fight that was happening at the same time. I have seen time and time again that this process is a big issue for a fighter; it’s almost religious! When a fighter wants to be wrapped by a certain cutman, he will not accept anyone else but that person.

Another interesting moment took place at June’s UFC on FUEL TV 10 event in Fortleza, Brazil. I was sitting in the corridor backstage, and Antonio Braga Neto was sitting across from me. His nose was bent completely sideways! He was cooling down after his fight with Anthony Smith, and he was just starting to realize it was broken. So along comes “Stitch,” who sees Braga in obvious discomfort. “Stitch” says, “Let me see that nose, muchacho.” And before anyone realized it, Braga’s nose was back in place. “Stitch” took care of it in one quick move.

So what is it these guys know that we don’t? How do they work their miracles? How do they make a cut stop bleeding in that short 60 seconds between rounds? There is so much more to this then what we see on the surface. A towel and a little pressure don’t get the job done, and there is a reason the guys at the top level are the best at their job.

Recently, I was traveling back from an event, and I ran into “Stitch” at the airport. All of these thoughts were fresh in my head, and we started talking about his work and the science that goes into being a cutman. “Stitch” obviously loves what he does and takes a lot of pride in what he does, and shared a few of his secrets.

“As with every other professional in the game, we take pride in what we do and how well we do it,” he said. “When I told you that I see fights differently, what I really meant was that I am not necessarily looking for who is going to win but rather who will get cut – and who will cut who. Some fighters, because of their style of fighting, will tend to cut their opponents more then others. When I am in there, I am not really worried about who is winning; I don’t really care about that. What I do care about, is the kid that I am handling’s well-being. I want to make sure he can get back in there and keep on fighting, which is obviously what he wants, too.”

“Stitch” – like all good cutmen, I imagine – really does take pride in the “one more round” philosophy. For those 60 seconds, they become a part of your team – and maybe even the most important part of it. All the coaching, the adjustments, the strategies, they’re all irrelevant if you can’t go back out and fight because of a cut.

“It’s an intense moment when someone gets cut, and I have to get up in there and take care of it,” “Stitch” told me. “I am always ready for the worst. My job is to take care of that cut and those bumps and swellings. At that moment there is a lot of excitement going on, especially when there is a lot of blood, and it’s really important to keep calm and composed so I can get the job done.

“When there is a cut, I clean it up, and I need to be careful to not actually make it worse as I clean it. You don’t want to tear open the wound any further. Then I check to see how bad the cut is and if it’s popped a vein or something. Then it’s time to treat it. I apply steady pressure; this gives the body, itself, a chance to stem some of the bleeding. Then I a use a swab with a substance called Adrenalin Chloride, which is a vessel constrictor. When I apply it to a cut, it contracts the burst vessels where the bleeding is coming from. I also have it mixed up in the Vaseline I take into the ring and apply to the cut after I am finished cleaning and pressing it.”

It’s not just cuts, either. Swelling can cause a real problem with vision, not to mention just the way a judge might be interpreting a fight based on visual damage. Good cutmen can also bring that swelling down a bit between rounds, which can also go a long way toward helping a fighter continue.

“Big swellings are also something I need to help take care of between rounds,” “Stitch” said. “If you watch me, you’ll see I use a product I developed called a KO Swell. It is a little steel instrument, which is chilled before the fight. When you put pressure on a swelling area with it, is helps the swelling go down. But one thing people do wrong in these cases is rub the area with the KO Swell. That is not a good idea because the swelling is caused by burst blood and lymph vessels under the skin, which bleeds into the tissue. Rubbing the area can actually make it worse!”

Science and technique, for sure. It turns out there’s some teamwork that needs to happen, as well. As anyone who’s ever been in a corner for an MMA fight can tell you, it can be a very hectic experience. That’s the reason coaches like Greg Jackson are so highly praised for their work – they know how to manage those 60 seconds between rounds and keep things calm in the corner as instructions are delivered. “Stitch” said a calm, organized environment is also key to him accomplishing his tasks, as well.

“If I can get that cut to stop bleeding enough so the fight may continue to the next round, my job has been well done,” he said. “But I have less than one minute to accomplish that. One of the problems I sometimes run into is with the corners, who are also in there wanting to pass on instructions to their guy, and they sometimes get in my way. We need to work together – me on the cut, and them on what they need to tell the fighter so that he can do better in the next round. There are some cornermen out there who are really good at this exchange. They really help me, even cleaning things up a bit while I work. Those are real pros.

“I take pride in doing my job well. I know that when I am in there with a fighter, I can have a composing effect on him. The fighter knows that I’m taking care of him, and he can focus on what he has to do next. I remember once, in the fight between Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar. Brock had a cut on his cheek that was almost to the bone. As I went to apply the swab, I almost lost it inside the cut! Brock looked up and said, ‘Stitch, take care of me!’ That moment touched me. I knew that I had this man’s trust in a very tough moment!”

I learned a lot in that conversation with “Stitch,” and I’ve been around this sport for a long, long time. It just goes to show there are things we can all do to improve our standing in the sport. Fans, fighters and camps can all learn more about the sport every day, and a little knowledge in how to properly treat cuts and swelling can go a long way, especially when you’re not fortunate enough to be competing in the UFC, where they have the best of the best on hand every time.

“Cuts are part of contact sports; they happen a lot,” “Stitch” said. “The products I use in the octagon are prescription medications, and sometimes people have a hard time getting them. But there is a new product now called Qwick-AID that anyone can use. It’s a gauze permeated with natural vessel-constricting substances. It works really well, and some of the guys have been using it at the UFC, not to mention some boxing fights. Every gym should have some of them.”

Alex Davis is a lifelong practitioner of martial arts and a former Brazilian judo champion. A founding member of American Top Team, Davis currently oversees the careers of a number of prominent Brazilian fighters, including Edson Barboza, Luiz Cane, Rousimar Palhares, Antonio Silva and Thiago Tavares, among others. Davis is a frequent contributor to MMAjunkie.com, sharing his current views on the sport built through his perspectives that date back to the Brazilian roots of modern MMA.