PHOTOS | Phil Baroni, Ross Pearson, other fighters show off their worst fight-related wounds

Former WBO Boxing champion Chris Algieri recently took to Instagram to show off some nasty facial damage sustained in a fight. This post from Algieri prompted several other fighters, including UFC veterans Phil Baroni and Ross Pearson, to share some photos of their worst fight-related damage.

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“So you want to be a fighter…are you sure? People ‘want’ to be a lot things but they have no idea what it takes to get there,” Algieri wrote in his post.

“Winning is fun. Success isn’t winning. Success is making a habit of winning and winning when the odds are stacked against you. Success hurts. The road to success hurts even more. On the way you will fail, over and over…and over. The successful, the Champions, have endurance- not physical endurance- spiritual endurance. The spirit and the will that doesn’t fade. The act of showing up and the ability to keep showing up goes a long way. You never truly fail till you give up. Bruises fade, cuts heal, scars become distant reminders…make sure the results match the effort and the effort is worth the pain. If you want to truly be successful- it’s gonna fuckin’ hurt.”

From there, fighters like Baroni, Pearson, and former ONE Championship Muay Thai talent Stergos Mikkios all chimed in with similar photos and messages.

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“I used my pic and Chris’s word’s,” Baroni wrote in the caption for his post. “It just seemed to fit perfect. Some guys fight to live and others live too fight. Anybody can have a couple of fights. Anybody can get in the ring. That’s a lot different than making a career out of it. And fighting for the long haul.”

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“So you want to be a fighter… inspired by my man @chris_algieri.”

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“You want to be a Muay Thai Fighter?” Mikkios wrote. “That’s nice, well expect the elbows.”

Suffice it to say, as these photos from Chris Algieri, Phil Baroni, Ross Pearson and Stergos Mikkios show fighting — be it boxing, MMA or Muay Thai — is a tough way to make a living.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/6/2020.