<p>Understanding and revealing the energy absorption characteristics and damage behaviors of cemented backfill under impact load is important for the prediction and estimation of the performances of cemented backfill mining method. In this paper, the energy absorption characteristics and damage behaviors of cemented backfill with different cement-tailings ratios are systematically investigated by combining the split Hopkinson pressure bar test system with fractal theory. The research results show that the energy evolution of cemented backfill can be categorized into three distinct stages: elastic stage, crushing stage, and post-failure stage. As the strain rate increases, the incident, reflected, and absorbed energies all exhibit approximately linear growth, while the transmitted energy remains very small. The energy absorption ratio increases in a quadratic manner with the rise of strain rate, demonstrating a pronounced strain rate enhancement effect. For the backfill specimens with cement-tailings ratios of 1:5, 1:7, and 1:9, the maximum energy absorption ratios are 24.04%, 21.44%, and 19.37%, respectively. Furthermore, A logarithmic growth trend is observed between the energy absorption ratio and fractal dimension, highlighting a clear relationship between the overall damage and the energy absorption capacity. The damage sensitivity of energy absorption is introduced to further quantify the link between energy absorption and overall damage. This study can provide a new insight for the understanding the quantitative relationship between damage and energy absorption of cemented backfill under impact load.</p>