Furuya Uno (4)

"It's the third round. Hold on in the third round. Keep doing what you've been doing. You have a powerful shot, so be careful. Especially be careful on the ground."

"Yes. But can I change my stance from this round?"

"You mean your lead hand?"

"Yes."

"Weren't we going to do that in the fourth round?"

"I took a big hit in the last round, so I think changing it now might throw him off."

"Alright. Go ahead."

Yoon Chang-seon accepted Yu Jung-ak's opinion as much as possible. Among seconds, some stubbornly stick to their own plans, but Yoon Chang-seon and Cho Yong-il were not like that. Especially Cho Yong-il, who had experience as a fighter himself, tended to respect the fighter's opinion more.

[The third round has begun. Yu Jung-ak is performing much better than expected.]

[Furuya Uno is struggling in enemy territory. This shows how well-prepared Yu Jung-ak is. The strikes he showed in the second round were as sharp as those seen in a stand-up fight.]

[The knee kick followed by a high kick was like a picture-perfect technique.]

[It seems Yu Jung-ak's striking skills have improved significantly since his fight with Jang Sung-hyun.]

The third round began. Although Furuya Uno was being pushed back one-sidedly, he was still a fighter with potential. He was still looking for a chance to turn the tables.

As the third round started, Yu Jung-ak changed his striking stance as planned. Until now, Yu Jung-ak hadn't taken the stance typically used by tall fighters with long reach. This was because he wanted to utilize the jab he had properly learned from Cho Yong-il.

A stance with the lead hand slightly extended to block the opponent's strikes. Since it's difficult to throw jabs from this stance, Yu Jung-ak had been keeping his lead hand at a moderate distance, but in this round, he completely changed his stance.

He widened his stance and took the unique posture used by tall strikers, confusing Furuya Uno.

'Was his reach this long?'

When a fighter with long reach fully extends their arm forward, it's natural for the opponent to feel flustered. Moreover, Furuya Uno had become accustomed to Yu Jung-ak's jabs throughout the second round. In this state, when Yu Jung-ak cleverly changed his stance, Furuya Uno couldn't help but feel irritated.

'Using such a low trick!'

Furuya Uno frowned and swatted away Yu Jung-ak's lead hand. Then he boldly moved in and threw a right hook.

'Extend as much as you want. I can handle your punch power just fine.'

Furuya Uno immediately realized that Yu Jung-ak wasn't a hard puncher. So he thought he could withstand the attacks as long as he was careful of the strikes coming from blind angles like before. Furuya Uno's corner had also judged that there was no chance of winning in a distance or point fight, so they decided to turn it into a brawl.

To turn it into a brawl, he had to be the first to enter the fray. Furuya Uno came out prepared to take a few hits from Yu Jung-ak's strikes.

Tuk!

Yu Jung-ak calmly stepped back and pushed away Furuya Uno's forehead. It was just a slight push, but it slowed down Furuya Uno's advance. In this situation, eye pokes often occur, but Yu Jung-ak tried his best to avoid touching the opponent's eyes.

The eyes are a crucial part directly linked to a fighter's career. No matter who the opponent is, it's important not to poke their eyes, even by mistake. This was one of the reasons why Yu Jung-ak hadn't taken this stance before.

Not knowing Yu Jung-ak's intentions, Furuya Uno couldn't help but feel burdened by the hand flickering in front of his eyes.

MMA fighters inevitably experience eye pokes, whether in sparring or in matches. Furuya Uno had been poked in the eye a few times before.

The pain of an opponent's finger digging into your eye.

Those who haven't experienced it can't understand the pain. Perhaps that's why Furuya Uno was overly conscious of Yu Jung-ak's lead hand. His body remembered the pain of eye pokes.

Yu Jung-ak and his corner smiled inwardly at Furuya Uno's reaction. They had analyzed Furuya Uno's previous fights multiple times. Of course, they knew about the matches where he had been eye-poked. Although Furuya Uno had won all those fights despite being poked, it didn't mean the memory of being poked had disappeared.

That's why Yoon Chang-seon and Cho Yong-il had prepared the strategy of extending the lead hand as their trump card. They wanted to see how Furuya Uno would react.

Their card was effective.

Furuya Uno flinched earlier than expected. Of course, even this flinching would gradually adapt over time, and he would counterattack, but for now, it was an opportunity for Yu Jung-ak. It might be considered a cowardly strategy, but as long as it wasn't against the rules, exploiting the opponent's weakness was a perfectly natural strategy.

Puk!

[Ah! A left middle kick lands. Furuya Uno's body tilted slightly, but he quickly recovers.]

[That left middle kick seems to have caught him during inhalation. Furuya Uno's leg stiffened a bit. He's taken damage. Is Yu Jung-ak going in?]

However, Yu Jung-ak didn't move in. After extending his lead hand, he looked straight at Furuya Uno, slightly waved his right hand, and then suddenly threw a left middle kick. It wasn't a powerful kick, but it was enough to throw Furuya Uno off balance.

To outside observers, it might have looked like Yu Jung-ak simply landed a left middle kick, but between the two fighters, an intense battle of wits was unfolding. In fact, details like looking directly into the eyes or slightly waving the right hand as a feint were information that would be hard to notice unless you were directly facing the opponent.

While combat sports were about determining who was stronger, the hidden game of tactics within was more intense than in any other sport.

Gathering information about the opponent, spreading misinformation to confuse them, recognizing the misinformation and counterattacking, and then countering the counterattack.

It was a very simple exchange, but Yu Jung-ak was the one who benefited from it. Furuya Uno had fallen for Yu Jung-ak's feint.

Normally, he would have seen through such a simple feint, but Furuya Uno was so preoccupied with the lead hand that he failed to prepare for the middle kick.

Furuya Uno flinched slightly. He was waiting for Yu Jung-ak to move in.

As expected, when Yu Jung-ak took a step forward, Furuya Uno threw a high kick as if he had been waiting for it. The timing was perfect.

However, Yu Jung-ak had only pretended to step forward and quickly retreated. It was a feint.

'This bastard!'

Furuya Uno's face turned red with anger. He was being completely played with. Yu Jung-ak had outmaneuvered Furuya Uno in the psychological warfare to an irritating degree, and Furuya Uno finished the third round without gaining any significant advantage.

They exchanged a few more strikes, but neither gained much from it. However, Yu Jung-ak managed to avoid taking much damage while repeatedly striking Furuya Uno's legs and body. In the end, Yu Jung-ak took the third round as well.

Now Furuya Uno's heart started to race. Yu Jung-ak had taken three rounds out of the five. Now he had no chance of winning unless he knocked out his opponent. It meant he couldn't let it go to a decision.

"You need to finish this. There's no other way."

"I understand."

"Wake up!"

The corner pressured Furuya Uno. Furuya Uno kept saying he understood, but inside he was frustrated to the point of going crazy.

He knew he was behind on points. He wanted to drag Yu Jung-ak into a brawl right now and exchange blows. But it wasn't as easy as it sounded. Yu Jung-ak knew Furuya Uno's intentions, so he absolutely refused to engage in that kind of fight.

When Furuya Uno moved in, Yu Jung-ak thoroughly avoided him while looking for openings to land light strikes. Even when Furuya Uno took a defensive stance, Yu Jung-ak didn't fall for it and didn't attempt any reckless attacks. Before they knew it, three rounds had passed.

At this point, Furuya Uno had to admit it. Although his MMA record was better, Yu Jung-ak was definitely superior in terms of psychological warfare.

As the fourth round began, Furuya Uno pushed even harder against Yu Jung-ak. Yu Jung-ak looked the same as in the first round. He showed no signs of fatigue. Furuya Uno wasn't gasping for breath yet, but he was definitely feeling the effects of fatigue.

He had lost stamina from fighting three rounds and attempting many forceful attacks. Furuya Uno lowered his stance as much as possible and started to move in. There was nowhere else to retreat. After lowering his stance, he started aiming for big punches.

Bung bung!

Tremendous power like a Russian hook flew in front of Yu Jung-ak's eyes. When Yu Jung-ak couldn't throw a counter and flinched, Furuya Uno started to pressure him even more. Before they knew it, Yu Jung-ak was pushed towards the fence.

Furuya Uno caught his breath and looked for an opportunity. His eyes showed a determination to finish Yu Jung-ak no matter what. Furuya Uno thought Yu Jung-ak was looking for a chance to escape from the fence.

But that was his misunderstanding. Yu Jung-ak wasn't startled by Furuya Uno's barrage of overhand hooks; he was timing them. Throwing a punch counter against an overhand hook wasn't a good choice in the current situation.

As Bang Yong-pal had said, a cross counter was a low-percentage move. The risk was that high. It was also difficult to slip back because Furuya Uno was alternating left and right hooks. It wasn't just wild swinging; it was accurate striking with his eyes on the target.

While it might be possible to land a counter by properly utilizing Yu Jung-ak's abilities, if he couldn't end it in one shot, there was a possibility of getting hit by Furuya Uno's follow-up strikes. Moreover, Furuya Uno wasn't a novice. He was already anticipating that Yu Jung-ak might throw a counter. Furuya Uno was throwing these punches with the intention of taking Yu Jung-ak's counter on his face and finishing him off.

So Yu Jung-ak thought of a different approach. He had controlled the fight well so far, so there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

Instead of a punch, Yu Jung-ak prepared something else. He pretended to escape with a side step while waiting for Furuya Uno to attack.

Whish!

For once, Furuya Uno threw a one-two straight instead of a hook. However, Yu Jung-ak avoided the attack with a slight head movement and took a side step to the left. Then Furuya Uno threw a hook towards that direction, as if he had been waiting for it.

Step counter.

Pueok!

A tremendous sound echoed through the arena. Furuya Uno and Yu Jung-ak's movements stopped for a moment. Furuya Uno had thrown a powerful hook towards Yu Jung-ak's chin, and Yu Jung-ak hadn't fully completed his side step.

He had spread his legs to the side not to take a side step, but to raise his knee.

Yu Jung-ak raised his right knee while keeping his guard up high. The most effective attack against Furuya Uno, who was lowering his stance to throw a hook.

It was a knee kick from below, aiming upwards.

Because Furuya Uno had lowered his stance more than usual, the standing knee kick connected with Furuya Uno's chin.

Seeing Furuya Uno fall backwards, Yu Jung-ak didn't even throw any ground strikes and turned away. Furuya Uno's mouthpiece flew out, and his eyes were already rolled back when he fell.

There was no reason to throw more strikes. The referee was also rushing in, having noticed the situation.

The crowd's cheers filled the arena.

It was Yu Jung-ak's victory by knee kick KO at 1 minute and 17 seconds of the fourth round.

The Korea vs Japan match between undefeated fighters ended with Yu Jung-ak's victory. Yu Jung-ak, who had dominated his opponent throughout the fight, once again proved his class, and now no one doubted Yu Jung-ak's skills.