Chapter 154: Knocking Out a World Class Wrestler
The day after Emily snuck into Alex’s bed, the man was training at the American Fight Club as per usual, and during his training, Vanessa approached him with some good news. There was a wide smile on her pretty face as she spoke to Alex, far more like a friend, then just another fighter she was managing.
“Guess who got you another fight?”
An arrogant smirk appeared on Alex’s face as he spoke to the woman with an equally conceited tone in his voice.
“Really? After my last performance, someone actually stepped forward and said they want to fight me? Alright, who is my next victim?”
Despite Alex’s overwhelming confidence, Vanessa was quick to lecture the man not to underestimate his next opponent as she told the man who he would be fighting.
“Confidence is good, but don’t get too cocky, kid. You have one victory in the octagon, and though it was a brilliant performance, your next opponent is an elite level grappler, the type you have never faced before. They call him the bear, and his name is Zakir Magomedov.
Zakir is currently 3-0 in the UFC, and like you, he is currently undefeated in his career. The man was supposed to be fighting another opponent, but the guy tested positive for PEDs, and thus he’s been suspended. I don’t know why, but it seems like you are the go-to guy when a last moment replacement is needed. After all, this isn’t the first time you have taken a fight with only a few weeks’ notice. Hell, it is not even the second!
If you take this fight, it will be on two weeks’ notice. Zakir has quite a bit of a following surrounding him, and was a champion in one of Russia’s major promotions. You have already built up a reputation as a guy who will fight anyone, anytime, anywhere thanks to that post fight interview you gave. So I would not reject this offer if I were you. Even if you are at a disadvantage. The more you can keep up that persona, the better off you will be with the diehard fans.”
“Relax Nessa, even if the fight took place tomorrow, and I had to make weight tonight, I would still show up to kick the shit out of this asshole. Alright, tell whoever is in charge at the UFC that I accept, and when I knock this fucking Dagi out, I expect to be on the mid card in my next fight!”
This caused Vanessa to laugh and shake her head, before telling off Alex because of his nonsense.
“You wish! But Alright, I’ll repeat your words verbatim back to the promoter. Let’s see how they respond.”
And sure enough, just like that, Alex spent the next two weeks in a dedicated fight camp focusing entirely on his takedown defense, and his ability to get back to his feet after being taken down to the ground. Luckily for him, there were several world class grapplers at the American Fight Club who could aid him in this regard.
—
The day of the fight arrived, and like usual, Alex walked out to the cage with some heavy metal playing in the background. However, today Alex’s walkout was a little unusual, rather than his normal blend of metal. He chose a popular folk metal band from Switzerland, and one of their songs that was sung entirely in the now extinct Gaulish language.
Alex walked to the cage while pounding his chest with his fist, and punching himself in the chin. All while wearing his signature fanged mouth guard. Putting on his usual display of manic violence, and outright savage behavior.
And as per usual, the women in his life had all gathered to watch him fight and cheer him on. Hee-Young had once more flown the girls out from Korea to witness Alex’s bloody spectacle, and they all had banners that said things like “We love you Alex!”
Naturally, though, the speculation about these beautiful women had gone from being a fan club to being Alex’s many lovers after the videos of their date and his proposal to them had gone viral on the internet. And because of this, the commentators for the event made comments about them.
“There they are… In case you have been living under a rock these past few months, those women there are Alex’s many lovers. Although is it just me, or are there more of them than the last time the man fought?”
When Emily heard the commentator’s remark, she blushed a little, because she too was standing with a banner in support of Alex among his many women, despite not actually being a member of his harem.
As for Diana and Shannon, they encouraged the girl to keep on cheering for Alex by hugging Emily and raising her hand high. This was their first time watching one of Alex’s fights in person, and they were extremely excited to say the lease.
At the same time, Kristina and Madison both held up an exceptionally embarassing banner that said the words “We love you little brother!” while Jade stood behind the rest of them, not wanting to be on camera.
She just sort of blended in, almost as if she were wallpaper, which was a skill he had mastered long ago. Meanwhile, Vanessa, she was a part of Alex’s corner, and was walking behind him when she made a comment about how many women he had.
“Hey you little shit… Jack is right… There are quite a few more women this time around. Just how many girls are you sleeping with?”
Alex simply smirked and continued to walk out to the cage without making a single comment towards Vanessa and her interrogation. The crowd fell in love with the folk metal display, and that of an ancient berserker walking to the cage.
And though Alex had retired, the nickname “Berserker” and had instead adopted the persona that the internet had given him. He still acted like the legendary ancient warriors of Germania from which his original nickname was derived.
Alex eventually stepped foot into the cage and stared menacingly at his opponent while rolling his wrists in a ferocious display. Meanwhile, his opponent had a stoic expression as he stared at Alex from across the cage, entirely unphased by the American’s antics.
Eventually, after the announcers said their piece, the two touched gloves before beginning the fight. As usual, Alex rushed to the center of the cage with an aggressive display. In the immediate exchange, Alex threw a jab, a cross, a right hook, followed by a rear flying knee. Out of which, the hook and knee managed to land on his opponent.
Yet his opponent seemed unphased by these attacks and immediately grabbed hold of Alex in an attempt to take him to the ground. Of course, Alex came prepared for this, thus he sprawled out and stuffed Zakir’s head when the man tried to single leg him.
Alex proceeded to land a few punches to his opponent’s chin while he got back to his feet. Had this fight been under the banner of the UFC’s largest competitor, which was based in Asia, Alex would have been able to knee this man in the head from his dominant position on the ground. But unfortunately, the United States was full of oversensitive pussies, and thus such a move was outlawed in the Ultimate Fighting Challenge and all other American-based promotions.
Once the two men were back on their feet, Alex immediately began to throw another series of punches, followed by a leg kick, which landed firmly on Zakir’s lead leg. This caused a visible display of paint to appear on Zakir’s face.
Who in retaliation threw a few awkward punches at Alex, followed by another takedown attempt. Yet, once more, Alex stuffed the takedown with ease, and walked away from the man who sat on his knees on the floor, almost begging Alex to get on the ground with him.
As a result, Alex motioned for the man to stand up, much to the boos of the crowd. They were not booing Alex, but rather the wrestler, who stayed on the ground in an attempt to get Alex to fight him there. Finally, the referee warned Zakir that if he didn’t stand up and engage Alex, he would dock a point from the man for stalling.
Once this had been said, Zakir got back to his feet and stumbled towards Alex with another few poorly thrown punches. Which Alex countered with a 6-12 elbow, followed by an 11-5 elbow. Both of which landed cleanly, the first on Zakir’s chin, almost as if it were an uppercut, and the second on Zakir’s forehead, which cut him open pretty badly and caused blood to spill onto the mat. Much to the cheers of the crowd.
Zakir immediately tried to clinch up with Alex in another attempt to get the man to the ground. And while Zakir tried to secure the under hook, Alex had a different game plan entirely. Alex quickly fought for control, as he grabbed the back of his opponent’s head with one and hand pinched it down, while securing his elbow with the other and doing the same.
Once Alex had secured this grip, he stepped to the outside and landed a solid knee to the Zakir’s body. Zakir attempted to throw a knee of his own, but Alex proved his mastery of the Thai clinch. As he stepped forward, knocking Zakir off balance with his knee attempt, where Alex immediately swept the man onto his back.
Zakir hit the ground hard. Almost as if he had been picked up into the air and slammed on the mat. So much so that the air had escaped from his lungs, and his head felt a bit wobbly. Yet Alex did not wait for the man to recover, and instead began to soccer kick him in the legs and ribs.
Alex refused to actually get on the ground and engage with the man. As long as he continued to kick Zakir’s legs and body, he would not get docked for stalling. If anything, it was Zakir who had already received a warning for stalling that would lose a point.
As Alex continued to beat up Zakir’s legs and body with his soccer kicks, he couldn’t help but scoff. If he had been fighting in Japan’s biggest Mixed Martial Arts promotion, he would have been able to stomp Zakir’s head in, or soccer kick his head from the standing position.
By doing this, Alex was certain that he could effectively end the fight then in there. But unfortunately, as previously pointed out. America was a nation filled with oversensitive sissies who outlawed such practical techniques.
Thus, he could only kick Zakir until the referee took a point from the man and stood him up. Which happened not long after. Finally, with less than thirty seconds in the round, Zakir was back on his feet, though his legs and body had welts on them from the damage he had received on the ground. And by now, the crowd had completely turned on the Dagestani wrestler, who seemed to not want to fight Alex on the feet, despite not actually being able to take Alex down himself.
In fact, Alex was the one who had shocked the world by achieving a takedown on the scorecards. Albeit it was done with a classic Thai sweep from the clinched position, but it still counted on his career statistics.
Once Zakir had been stood up by the referee, Alex decided to stop playing with his food. And thus, he charged forward. Though Zakir attempted to throw a jab and a cross at Alex. Alex nimbly avoided the attacks before throwing a jab and a cross of his own.
However, what shocked the crowd was just how effortlessly Alex had kicked his opponent in the head with his lead leg off of the cross he had just thrown. Before Zakir even realized it, the human anatomical equivalent of a baseball bat had collided with his jaw and sent him to the ground, out cold.
Alex then immediately got on top of the man and threw another three elbows on his temple before being pulled off by the referee. The crowd was bursting out into cheers. It was only round one, and yet Alex had knocked out one of the best up-and-coming wrestlers in the division. And he had done so after effortlessly stuffing all the man’s takedowns while playing with him as if he was beating a mere child.
However, despite his spectacular second appearance in the UFC. It was ultimately the interview that Alex would do on Jack Logan’s podcast a few days later that would raise the man’s popularity to newfound heights.