Preparation

[3rd POV]

In one of the famous gyms in Korea, there were fighters and trainers who were sitting in front of a TV screen. They were watching the matches of Yuito on repeat.

They were all sweating and seemed to be just done with their training. Among them, there was Munseoung who was the most attentive to the screen.

He also sat at the very front and their coach was also watching while standing near the screen.

They were observing their next opponent. The first day of the tournament had just ended and Munseoung was going to fight Yuito tomorrow. Therefore, they were carefully watching his matches again, trying to find a weakness and coming up with strategies.

The others present there were also fighters and trainers who were under the same coach. So although they did not have to fight Yuito tomorrow, they needed the experience and help their friend Munseoung.

That is why they stayed and watched with him.

After countless replays of Yuito's fights, the screen was paused and the coach stood in front of them and near the screen.

"Okay, we have seen enough. So, what do you guys think?" The coach asked.

The trainers and fighters began giving their opinions about Yuito.

"He has soft hands. No knockout power."

"Inexperienced and naive."

"Mean leg kicks. It looked hard to check because he is so fast and quick with it."

"A Japanese have no right being that strong, to be honest."

One of them said loudly, "He is devilishly handsome."

The person beside him slapped him, "What's that got to do with his fighting skill?"

"He could use it as a distraction during the fight!!" The guy defended himself.

"That's sus bro. No straight guy is getting distracted by his handsomeness."

"...."

They continued giving their opinions and when things were about to get into a joking mood - bringing up his perfect hair and body - the coach stopped.

"Alright!! Shut it all of you." The coach said and they immediately quieted down. He then looked at the main guy, Munseoung who had not given his opinion.

"What do you think kid?" The coach asked and Munseoung came out of his thoughtful daze.

"He is very odd sir." Munseoung commented after a thoughtful silence.

"Explain."

"It is a fact that he is inexperienced as this is his MMA debut and he is also naive enough to fall for simple tricks, but throughout the whole time he never got nervous."

There was a silence in the room and everyone thought about his words. Indeed it was odd, for a kid so young, in another country, all alone without a crew, and in his first fight, you would believe he was a veteran from how calm he was during his fights.

Munseoung continued, "For example, when his first opponent, Malcom came charging at them, he did not panic like everyone expected. Instead, he countered the incoming attack perfectly with a flying knee. This requires perfect timing which could only achieved with a peaceful mind. If he was even a little bit panicked, he would attack too soon and the flying knee would not land even if he threw it. The fact that he was not only able to come up with a counter but time it perfectly as well in spite of a bigger opponent charging at him is remarkable."

Munseoung stopped and let the silence stretch. Even the coach was deep in thought with what he was saying.

Knowing your opponent's fighting skills and capabilities was important, but it was also equally important to know the nature and character of your opponent.

You could come up with genius strategies that exploit your opponent's nature. Information was power after all.

"And in his second fight, his opponent came up with a great strategy that utilized his experience.  And although Fujita fell for it, he was not taken out as one would expect and even learned the trick and used it against his opponent in the same fight. This shows the very calm state his mind was in. It is to the point that it feels odd."

Munseoung grabbed his chin and adopted a thoughtful look, "It goes beyond mere confidence under pressure - which I could understand since he was a national champion and would have plenty of fight. What is odd is his fearlessness towards his opponent during the fight. It's like he thinks his opponent was not there to hurt him but to simply play with him or entertain him."

"He does not care about being hit. I might go as far as saying that he does not care about winning or losing." 

"Then what do you think he cares about?" The coach asked Museoung.

Museoung looked straight into his coach's eyes, "He only cares about fighting. It does not matter to him whether he wins or loses this tournament. He just wants to fight strong opponents."

"So you think he is a battle junkie." The coach asked and Museoung shrugged, "Pretty much."

The others began murmuring as they talked more about what Munseoung had said. The coach was also deep in thought. If what Munseoug said was true then it would be easier to win.

The coach was very careful about how they should deal with Yuito. Although Munseoung was a beast who had almost no rival at his age - and that speaks a lot when you live in a country like Korea - they could not underestimate Yuito.

Their opponent had all won the first two matches in knockouts, hinting at his skills. And this was obviously not his full power. They have no idea about the capacity of Yuito's strength.

That put them in a rough situation where they have to be extremely cautious. The coach would prefer it if he were to know the opponent's strength even if they were stronger

The unknown was the scariest.

"Munseough, how did you come to this conclusion? Is it trustworthy?" The coach asked.

Munseoug stayed silent as everyone waited for him to speak. After a long silence, he said, "I realized it during the weigh-ins."

"You see, before this tournament, he and I already had an encounter with each other. We exchanged a few punches there and he seemed to want more." he rubbed his temple as if he found it hard to believe it himself.

"You might have noticed it before but he is much smaller than his previous opponents. That is because Fujita is a natural middleweight. He hides cast iron balls in his weight to qualify for the light-heavyweight."

There was silence.

"I think it is because he wanted to fight me." He finished while scratching his cheek.

The others erupted, asking if it was really true and that he was not joking. When he said he saw it clearly, they were in disbelief.

It was common for fighters to cut water weight and appear as light as possible during the weigh-ins to fight smaller opponents but they had never even dreamt that there would be someone crazy enough to make himself heavier so he could fight stronger opponents.

This clearly defies the concept of competition and doing everything to win.

It reminded them of the s story of the boxing legend Pacquiao and how he would put weight in his pocket to qualify for mini-flyweight at the beginning of his career.

But it was different because Pacquiao did it due to his circumstances and the lowest division was mini-flyweight. It could be said he ultimately did it to win and compete.

But you have to be a different kind of nut-case to do it just so you could fight stronger opponents. And the most unbelievable part is the fact that he was dominating as well.

"I see."  The coach said while his mind worked at full power.

After some time, the coach came up with a strategy that they could use. It would not be the final plan but instead the first plan for many others to come.

"Well then. Let's look at it this way." The coach spoke addressing Munseoug but the others tuned in to listen as well.

"We know Fujita is a great striker that could outstrike talents like Victor Pertrino. So you have no chance against him in that regard."

"I could hit hard." Munseoug commented. He obviously had harder punches than Yuito.

"And Victor could hit harder. Does it matter to Fujita? No. It does not matter how hard you hit if you can't hit him." The coach replied.

"In fact, you have no chance against him when it comes down to martial arts skills. He has trained since he was a child and you have trained for only a year or two. Even if you were directly taught by a champion like Logan Gracie, it is not enough to make up the difference." The coach said.

It was the truth. In terms of pure skills, Yuito was the better fighter. But skills were never something Munseough relied on when he fought. 

"How about wrestling? Fujita is a striker right?" One of the fighters asked and the coach started laughing hysterically.

Museough also looked at his coach in confusion. It was a good point, right? Wrestling seemed to be a good strategy when it came to Yuito.

Still laughing, the coach touched the screen and played a different video. This time it was the first viral video of Yuito where he did powerlifting.

"Fujita is the number one wrestler in Japan as well. Just like he is number one in boxing and Karate." The coach cut the video to the part where Yuito was deadlifting 400 kg.

Everyone who watched it had solemn eyes when they saw Yuito not only deadlifting 400 kg but doing reps with them.

"A wrestling champion and someone who can lift 400 kg like it is 100? Good luck wrestling with him. He will not only throw you out of the ring but to another world."

"Then how are we going to fight him? You said you have a strategy?" Munseoug asked with a serious tone.

Although he was sure he would win the fight if he went berserk, he rather win it normally with a composed mind like a real fighter.

"Well, everyone has a weakness.." The coach said with a sly smile on his face.

"The fast strikes that Fujita has and even his strength at lifting heavy weights comes at a price." The coach said and looked around to make sure everyone was listening. What he was about to say is important.

"There are two types of muscle fiber. The fast twitch muscles and the slow twitch muscles." The coach said, putting two fingers forward.

"Everyone has these two muscles but depending on how you train, you will have either muscle type more. A human can't have much of two types, your body has to choose either one."

"So if you have fast twitch muscles, you will lack slow twitch muscles and vice versa."

They listened slowly to their coach's words and took in the new information.

"Fast twitch muscle is used for explosive powers but at the cost of your stamina, that means you tire out easily. Athletes who have these types of muscles are powerlifters, jumpers, arm wrestlers, and so on. On another hand, slow twitch muscles have no such explosive powers but have lots of stamina, examples of athletes who have slow twitch muscles are marathon runners, cyclists, boxers etc."

The coach smiles, "So, Fujita has heavy lifts and explosive speed in his striking, which means that he has..."

"Abundance of fast twitch muscles and lacks slow twitch muscles." Munseoug completed the sentence.

"Exactly. From that we can conclude that although Fujta is explosive, fast, and strong. His weakness will be...."

"His endurance." The coach and Munseoug said together as his eyes widened in realization.

"That's right. Our strategy will be to tire him out and finish him in the later rounds. Slow and steady wins the race."

"That is considering you can survive the first two rounds." The coach finished.

And so, the strategy they were going to use against Yuito started taking shape. They went on length on how exactly they were going tire him out and how Munseoug was going to survive.

They practiced the whole day and by the next day, they were prepared to take down Yuito and win the tournament.

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