I never had mine drained, and t actually didn't heal too bad. I have to point it out for people to notice it. I am pretty lucky. Wrestled since I was 6 years old, and never even wore a headgear outside of High School matches. To be honest, I felt like the headgear actually caused the cauliflower ear that I did get.
Sugar Ray Leonard says it was the most painful thing he has ever done. He needed his ears drained after Duran I.
Thats from the extras section of The Smashing Machine which you probably have already seen, but if you haven't you need to. Here is Leo Vieria draining his own, hes the guy who beat Eddie Bravo after Bravo tapped Royler Gracie in ADCC [yt]t6WhYFSdiIs[/yt]
