1 Cage Fight

Adrenaline pumped through the veins of a young man as he entered the walkway before him. The roars of the small but zealous crowd echoing in his mind and fueling the flames of determination, drowning out the mid 2000s era heavy metal blaring in the background as he made his entrance. He ignored his surroundings and with tunnel vision focused on the cage before him as he trudged towards his goal. Anxiety and excitement battled for control of his mind.

 As he entered the cage the background music was cut, and the thunderous roars of the crowd ceased as they solemnly awaited the beginning of the bout. The announcer began to declare the match "In the red corner, fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada… Alex "the Ripper" Smith!" he went on to declare the name of the opponent, but Alex had completely tuned it out, working himself up into a frenzy he didn't have time to care about his opponent's name. After the announcement the two fighters stood in the center of the hexagonal cage and awaited the referee to finish his instructions, they then touched gloves and went back to their respective corners.

 A few moments passed while the commentators spoke about their current records. Finally, after what seemed like eternity the Referee waved the fight to begin "Let's go to war!". Alex cautiously approached his opponent, though they were both middleweights it was obvious who had the advantage in size as his opponent had clearly cut more weight than Alex had, and as such rebounded to a larger weight before the fight after rehydrating. The two met in the center of the cage feeling one another out. It was a three round fight so unlike Boxing he had limited time to understand his opponent's reactions.

Alex threw a low lick to his opponent's leg which was checked and followed up by a jab. Though painful Alex had long conditioned his shins to the point where he was well accustomed to the stinging of a checked kick. Alex ducked under the jab and followed up with a takedown attempt. He had grabbed onto the man's legs to secure a double leg takedown and lifted the man in the air, carrying him over to the corner of the cage before slamming him onto the matt.

 Though Alex's striking was decent for a C-League fighter like himself, where he really excelled was in grappling. With a Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and a background as an NCWA division one wrestler he wasn't the best fighter in the world, but was definitely better than most on the regional circuit. 

 After slamming his opponent onto the mat he underhooked the mans legs and lifted them into the air and to the side, using his pressure to pass the man's guard. Immediately upon entering side control he began landing hammer fists to his grounded opponent while searching for a more dominant position.

The two fighters struggled on the ground for most of the round with Alex having the upper hand in the exchange. The clock ticked as the round was coming to an end, even with merciless ground and pound the opponent on the ground kept his composure and did his best to put Alex back into guard. Ultimately reaching a stalemate before the bell rung signaling the end of the round.

 Alex walked back to his corner as there was a minute break between rounds. His corner offering him advice "You're doing good kid, he has the advantage as the striker, continue to use your wrestling to keep the fight on the ground and work for a submission while raining blows down upon him." Alex nodded and took his corner's advice to heart. Soon after the second round had begun, Alex charged out like a mad man, once again meeting his opponent in the center.

His opponent threw a one, two combo followed by a leg kick, which was easily checked by Alex. Alex began to throw his own combo a straight, then a right hook to the body followed by a left hook to the face, his body shot landed heavily, though the other two were countered by his opponent. The two exchanged a flurry of blows on the feet for some time before Alex successfully feigned a jab and went in for the single leg takedown. 

 The crowd roared in delight as once more his opponent was taken to the ground, and Alex ended up in side control. This time rather than raining blows immediately he worked for the mount position. First placing his knee on his opponent's stomach and then sliding it down into the mount. It was a quick process that took no more than a second.

Now that he was in a dominant position he began to rain down hammer fists and elbows upon his opponent's face. However, his opponent managed to catch an arm, and block his leg, with those two things he quickly transitioned to a bridge escape, reversing their positions and putting Alex back to guard and against the cage.

Now it was Alex's turn to take some heavy blows from top position. Alex struggled to stand up against the cage. Yet, he finally managed to get to his feet right as the bell rung. The second round of the fight was over. Now he only had five minutes to finish the fight, or leave it in the judges hands.

 Alex sat in his corner sweating profusely as he listened to his corner's advice. His heart pumping with adrenaline and endorphins built up from 10 minutes of pure combat. Though he was tired, there was still a fire blazing in his heart, his cardio was well conditioned, and he had yet to feel true fatigue. His opponent on the other hand looked exhausted as Alex glared at him from across the cage. 

 The bell rang and the third round had begun, once more it started on the feet with the two exchanging heavy blows. A strong uppercut landed on Alex's granite jaw, but he took it like a champ before landing a heavy left hook on his opponent's temple. His opponent's legs collapsed from under him and Alex quickly followed in for the kill. The crowd cheered as vicious ground and pound landed upon the dazed fighters face, it seemed like the fight was over.

However, even under heavy assault, the dazed fighter managed to snag a triangle choke onto the overeager Alex. Realizing that he had made a rookie mistake and exposed himself in pursuit of a quick finish Alex began to panic, and stacked his opponent in an attempt to break out of the triangle. While he succeeded in breaking the triangle choke, he once more fell for his opponent's trap as the broken triangle was quickly transitioned into an armbar.

Within a matter of seconds the fight had gone from a near TKO victory for Alex, to a devastating Submission loss. He was forced to tap or risk a broken arm, there was no way out of the armbar once it was locked in so spectacularly. 

 The ref pulled the two fighters apart as the crowd cheered with fervor. Alex kneeled in the corner in shock. He was so close to victory, yet his over-aggression to finish the fight resulted in a loss. He was now three and two in his professional career. Even though he started his fighting career for some booze money while attending college, he had always assumed he would struggle for the top. Yet with a record like that things weren't looking good for the fledgling fighter.

 After the fight was over Alex eventually made his way to the locker room of the arena where his sat in silence for several minutes, a towel hung around his neck as he slowly drank from a plastic water bottle. Even though he had lost this fight, he still managed to make $300. He began to think how he'd spend what little money he managed to scrape out of this disaster as his corner approached him and attempted to cheer him up.

"You did good today kid, got a little overaggressive towards the end, and ended up trapped. It happens to the best of us. You'll get him next time around."

However, Alex wasn't hearing any of it, he slowly sipped from his bottle to rehydrate himself before speaking up "I just want to be left alone". Though it came off a bit rude, his coach understood very well what he was going through and decided to bounce. "Alright kid, take care of yourself." Alex nodded silently before being left alone in the locker room with nothing but his thoughts. So, he sat there in silence for over an hour. If he only he knew how bad things were going to become…