Chapter 71

I was in a state of deep groggy. My world was shaking, and all the voices mingled together, so I couldn't make anything out.

I felt pain, and my arms were reflexively defending my body and head. I don't know how much time has passed in this state. Suddenly I heard the voice of a woman.

"Defend yourself consciously!"

Right, I was fighting.

The world around me was still shaking, but my eyes focused on the man before me. He was trying to reach my face with his hands, but I was blocking everything.

The clarity of mind was slowly returning to me as I tried to discern my situation.

"Thwap!"

"Ugh!" I felt a hard punch to my body that shook my core.

As another punch was flying to my head, I leaned diagonally. After evading his strike and closing the distance enough to reach him, my elbow smashed the cheek of my opponent. Yet his cheek was covered by his arm.

He took a step back while I stepped forward.

I threw a quick one-two combination of punches at him, aiming for his head. He blocked both strikes without any problems. I made a pushing front kick in the end, making him back down.

As we increased the distance between each other, I managed to take a breather. I still couldn't think much and needed some time to pull myself together.

Managing to take a few seconds to breathe, I was once again pressured by my opponent. He went forward with a flicker jab that I deflected and sent a wide overhand that I managed to dodge.

The distance between us was still long, so I made a jab in return, and with a forward step, I jumped upward, putting my knee forward. I felt it connecting with my opponent, but I was now in a precarious position.

I was getting ready to eat a punch with my chin when the referee suddenly went in between us.

"Break!"

It was the end of round one.

I saw my opponent taking his mouthguard as he trotted into his corner.

"Erlig!"

Turning my head, I saw Jessie inside the cage, and I went closer to her.

"Are you okay? He caught you hard, but you already recovered, right?"

It took me a second before I understood what she asked. "I think yes."  Someone started checking my face and wiping the sweat from my body. This person was using a flashlight as he pointed it to my eyes. "Can you keep going?"

"Yes." I nodded and was able to finally sit down on the small stool.

"Listen to me and try to recover." I saw Jessie walking behind me and felt her soft touch on my shoulders. "Protect your chin, tuck it down or onto your shoulder, don't openly throw punches."

"Uh-huh." I was given a bottle of water by Jessie, and I drank a mouthful.

"Tire him out. You should move more actively, try to throw more punches and kicks, no need to put all of your force into this."

"Okay." Jessie put my mouthguard back in place and took my face into her hands.

"I will tell you when to go after takedown. Try to clinch him at that time and make a leg hook takedown."

I nodded.

"Fighters, get ready!" I heard the referee's voice.

"Fight!"

Everything was happening at a fast tempo. A few seconds ago, Jessie was still here, and now I was moving closer to the center of the cage.  Looking at my opponent, he wasn't much better than I. Though he landed more punches on me, I was looking fresher.

Remembering Jessie's advice, I started throwing fast punches, making him move and use his energy to protect. He moved a lot with his upper body.

After a long, light combination of punches, I kicked his calf, making him step away.

"Thwap!"

Evading his swing and blocking his sidekick, I reached his nose with a fist of mine.

I started breathing lighter and began shuffling. Moving continuously, jumping from left to right, I was showering him with lots of weak punches.  Every time I threw three or four punches that mostly went into his block, he only returned a single punch that I evaded easily.

Step by step, he was moving back, trying to regain some distance from me. Yet I stuck to him like chewing gum to the sole of a boot.

I couldn't understand what I was doing anymore. There was no technique as I simply used my arms as a jackhammer.

Suddenly he made a wide swing which I barely avoided with my upper body. Yet he didn't stop and tried to add a cutting low kick. My leg was a hair's breadth away from being hit.

He spun to the side from the sheer force of this kick. While I readjusted my position. Looking at him, he was breathing heavily.

I couldn't let him take a breather. Going forward again, I launched a front kick which he managed to dodge. I kept moving forward when I heard a sudden shout.

"Takedown!"

Hearing this, I reflexively went down and after his body. Yet, in the middle of my rush, I rose upward and dodged a punch. As I was in such close proximity, I clinched him, and both of us started leaning back.

He tried to shake me off, and at the same time, balance, but it was soon changed by me. Hooking his calf with my own, I moved it to the side.

He wasn't able to steady himself anymore, and we started falling down. Still standing on my leg, I clenched him tighter and added a spin to our fall.

It all happened in a second, and I managed to throw him on his back with additional force. I ended up on top of him, and now it was a game of speed and technique.

I spun on top of him in a fraction of a second, and his feet were before me. Entwining his leg with my own, I grabbed his foot.

"AAARGH!" I heard a voice full of pain.

"STOP! THE FIGHT IS OVER!" The voice of the referee and her touch made me release my hold.

It all happened in a second. Standing up, I was still baffled about what happened. Perhaps I didn't fully recover.

My opponent stood up as well. He looked gloomy, but by the looks of it, his leg wasn't damaged.

A few physicians came into the cage and looked through me, and my opponent. As we spent some time like this, I finally recovered and understood what happened.

Everyone beside me, my opponent, and the referee finally left the cage. I was nervously waiting for the announcement of the results. With my opponent, standing one person to the left of me, my left arm was held by the judge.

"The judges of the worldwide association of MMA decided. The winner due to submission is Erlig Grimes." My hand was raised up by a judge.

"YEAH!" I heard Jessie's scream and a long whistle.

I, in turn, raised my hands upwards. I won, fuck, I WON IT!

"AAAH!" I shook my head left and right, spilling the sweat all around.

"Hey." I heard the man's voice. Turning around, I saw my opponent. "It was a good fight, thank you." he stretched a hand to me, and I shook it.

"Thank you! I've learned a lot from this fight." I shook his hand passionately. "Thanks." My heart beat fast as my chest undulates.

"Me too." As I released his hand, he started slowly taking his gloves away. "Good luck next time."

"Good luck to you too." I felt elated, and when Jessie jumped into my embrace with a clean towel, I hugged her and spun around.

"You did a great job today, Erlig!" Still, in my embrace, Jessie ruffled my hair, and we laughed.

"DAMN! Ahahaha, I thought I would lose it!" As she jumped down from my hug, we quickly went from the cage, and I started taking my gloves away.

"Let me help you." Grabbing my hands, Jessie deftly took the tape off and peeled off the gloves. "You did great, but there are still a lot of things we need to work on. Especially your defense, you did great when transitioning to the heel hook, but you almost failed because of your first takedown."

"Yeah, I get it. We will work on this." As I nodded once, I got a bottle of water from Jessie's hands and gulped mouthfuls of water, spilling a little bit on top of my head. I still couldn't believe I won after getting into knockdown.

"Erlig, are you all right?" I finally saw Annie as my excitement was slowly fading away.

"I'm perfectly fine, mother," I puffed my chest, "I'm feeling on top of the world." I showed her my smile that stretched from ear to ear.

"Are you sure you are fine? I think you should have a check-up in our college." I heard another woman's voice. Behind my stepmother's back, I saw Rose. Her short hair was still combed on one side, and there was a choker around her neck. This time, her clothes were bold and open. Tight leather pants, a small top, and a puffer jacket.

"Your teacher Rose told me a few things about you." Annie made what she probably thought of as a strict expression. "And you should stop ignoring your studies."

"Teacher Rose." Jessie stood between me and two older women. "You don't understand, Erlig aims for the top, and If he does so, he will have less time for other things…" I felt warm hearing Jessie defending me, but I had my own vision of this whole situation.

"I will, mother, Rose. I will visit lectures more often from now on. You don't have to worry."

"You what?" Jessie turned to me with her eyes wide.

"That's great." Rose was obviously happy.

"It's for the better." Annie looked relieved.

"Jessie, you and me, we will talk about this after I get changed. Is this okay?"

"Hrmmm…"

"Don't worry about this." Patting her shoulder, I went towards where I left the bag with my clothes. Finding an empty room, I changed. There was no shower here, and I felt somewhat squeamish, changing into my clothes while being sweaty, but I could only wipe my body with the towel and bear with it.

Finally getting away, I saw that the number of women reduced to two. Only Annie and Jessie stayed. Seeing my expression that issued a silent question, I was answered that Rose left as she still had things to do.

Taking Jessie aside, I proceeded to talk her out of this small conflict.

"Jessie, I will visit the school more often, but it doesn't mean that I won't go to the training, or that I will go there less often. I simply will stop being lazy."

"Lazy?" She gave me a doubtful look.

"Yes, lazy." This time I can be honest. "I can simply rack up my attendance list because I'm now on a different course, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, perhaps I took this TOO lightly, and now I will simply start showing up there every now and again."

She wanted to say something at first, but then she shook her head. "Whatever. Let's talk about all of this later. You still need to recover from the fight. Have a check-up on Monday. I'm leaving you with your mother, so take it easy today."

"Thanks, Jessie. Your coaching was very valuable today."

"Argh, stop with this already. I know that I need to learn a lot as well." She scratched her temple, but there was a tiny smile dancing at the corners of her lips. "I will go home and think up how to tweak your training. See you later."

"See you later."

Walking back towards the place where Annie was, I saw her talking with someone over her phone.

"I will tell you more this evening, yes, uh-hum. Love you." She cut the call off as soon as I came closer, and I heard only the end of a dialogue, but judging by the way she talked, it was probably.

"I talked with Greg and told him about your performance."

"And what did he say?" I felt slightly nervous. I didn't know why exactly, I just did.

"He is happy." A smile blossomed on her face. "I've told him how close you are to this girl, Jessie Arndt. And I even told him a bit about your teacher Rose."

"What about her?"

"Heehee." she chuckled lightly. "She came here hurrying while you were already there, waiting for your fight to start. At first, I didn't know who she was, but when she asked about you, one thing led to another.."

"And so you became acquainted?" I led her from this place as we were slowly getting back.

"Yes, when he punched you, both of us were so worried, I thought my heart would stop." she placed one of her hands on top of her heart. "But later on, seeing how you were alright, we calmed down. By the end, she told me a bit about your school days, and I told her how highly you thought of her." She smiled somewhat mischievously.

"You did? But what exactly did you two talk about?" My eyes squinted as I put a forced smile on my lips.

"A secret." She made a shushing gesture. Her eyes twinkled playfully.

"Why do all women like secrets so much?" I muttered to no one in particular as Annie walked ahead.