The Setup
As I drove to the school, my heart was beating so hard I could feel it in my scalp. Am I crazy? I haven't had a real full contact fight in five years now. I decided to put some Van Morrison on the radio to calm me down. Unlike most people, I fight better when I'm relaxed.
I get to the school later than I meant to, so I rush through the introductions. I meet the trainers and a coach, although I've already forgotten their names. I tell my competitor good luck, and find a spot on the floor to start stretching and warming up. I've already starting analyzing my opponent. He's 8 inches shorter than me, a significantly more muscular. He also looks scared. As I'm stretching, I start thinking about how I got myself into this situation.
The History
Three weeks ago, my chief instructor, Mr. Piccolo asked me if I was interested in a full contact match. We'd go up to six rounds. A friend of his at another school was training an 18 year old kid with a lot of potential. They wanted to set up a fight with somebody with some ring experience for training purposes and, for whatever reason, my name came up.
I've only done light contact sparring for the last five years, and the idea of a real fight was exciting.
***
So here I am, jumping rope and shadow sparring, trying to get my body warmed up. In about 30 minutes, a teenager is going to try to knock me out. Oddly, I don't feel nervous, just eager to get started.
***
My instructor seems oddly confident. He's holding pads for me now, but he doesn't seem interested in a pep talk. So I ask him what my plan should be.
I'm told that he was an all state wrestler in high school, so he's going to be dangerous on the ground. He doesn't have any Jiu Jitsu training though. Most of his ground fighting has centered around getting pins (as opposed to locks) so use that to my advantage, and be aggressive. I'm also told that my striking is likely to be more effective than his, so try to keep him on his feet as much as possible.
Gotcha!
The Action
It's time to get started now, so we step into the ring. We warmed up in separate rooms, so this is the first chance I've really had to size him up. I notice that he has trouble holding eye contact. Good, if I can keep him intimated, then that gives me a significant advantage.
Round 1
The first round starts. We're off to a standard beginning. We're both throwing some jabs and fakes in an effort to gauge each other. Two things jump out at me right away. He's keeping his guard low, more like a wrestler than a boxer, and his left arm is quicker than his right.
An idea occurs to me. I throw a two punch combination to his stomach. He blocks them, but that's what I was hoping for. Let's get those hands just a little bit lower. I fake a front kick to his stomach. He goes to block, but I abort the kick. I can see that he's uncomfortable. He's dying to take me down to the mat. I need to soften him up a bit before he does that if I'm going to win this.
Then I see my opportunity when he throws a combination towards my head. I avoid his punches, but I notice that he's leaning forward when he finishes the combination. He's putting way too much weight on that front leg.
I need him to do that again. I move around a bit, toying with him. I land a round kick to his ribs, and manage to follow it up a second later with a hard side kick into his upper arm. His whole arm has to be throbbing after that one.
He's getting nervous. He knows that he isn't going to win this fight standing up. Then he does it again. He comes at me with another flurry of punches, and as he starts leaning forward, I let him have it with the hardest round kick I can throw. It felt like his thigh was going to absorb my shin for a moment. His right arm (the same one I kicked earlier) drops at the moment of impact. I see the opening, and I unload on him. I manage to land 3 consecutive punches to his face, and as he stumbles throw a side kick into his stomach in an attempt to knock the wind out of him.
He hits the floor, and just lays there for a very long four seconds, before getting back up to his feet. The round is over though. I feel pretty good. He did manage to land a couple of punches, but nothing that I'm going to feel tomorrow.
Break
As I'm sitting, my instructor gives me a warning. "Expect him to try to take you to the mat quickly this round." He's a man of few words, Mr. Piccolo.
Round Two
Round two starts. I notice that he's favoring his other leg now. I also notice that his hands are back up where they should have been in the first place. Oh well, at least I took advantage while I could.
I decide to be aggressive now. I'm feeling confident. I don't want to wrestle though, and I have a reach advantage, so I decide to try to keep him at bay as much as possible.
So I concentrate on throwing kicks. I'm setting them up with hand techniques, but the kicks are where my real advantage lies here. I have to be careful though, I don't want to tire myself out. So I throw another couple of side kicks towards his ribs. His defense is a lot tighter now, and I'm having trouble finding an opening that will allow me to explode on him.
Oops
That's when I make a mistake. I try to fake a side kick to get him to back up, but I telegraphed it. He rushes me when I'm off balance, and lands a punch to my head and another to my body. I manage to block a third punch to the body, but I'm forced to clinch with him to stop the onslaught. Not good.
I try to shift and make a little room to get an uppercut or a knee in, but I've got to be careful. I'd rather not end up on the ground yet. I lower my center of gravity and get one leg behind his. He's not going to take me down easily at least. I decide to drive my knee into his hurt thigh a couple of times. That seemed to give me a little room so I do it a few more times. His grip loosens slightly so I bring my knee up into his ribs as hard as I can given the limited operating space. He retaliates by punching me in the ribs a few times.
Phew!
It's enough to make him let go, however, and I manage to push him off of me, with another kick to the thigh for his troubles.
I have got to be more careful. Still, I didn't end up on my back, so I'm feeling pretty good about how that exchange went.
We square off again. I need to end this quickly. I throw a back fist, that he dodges, but I continue my rotation and land another kick to his thigh. He retreats, so I follow. I start attacking his head. He blocks the first few, but he's back on his heals, so he's unable to counter effectively. I keep throwing punches, this is it, the fight could end right here.
I alternate throwing punches to his head and body, and I can see that he's losing it. I'm trying to both daze him, and knock the wind out of him. Finally, just as he looks like he's getting his balance, I grab him.
I feel a lot better about taking this fight to the ground now. I grab his leg, and he lands on his back before he even knows what is happening to him. I manage to get side mount on him quickly and grab on to his wrist. He tries to roll, and get his leg between mine, but it's too late. I grab my own wrist with my other hand, and twist my leg over his head.
I need to move quickly before he can catch his breath. I execute the Kimura and twist his arm back. He taps. It's over.
The Courtesy
I get up and offer him a hand to help him up. "You ok, man? That was a tough fight." I say. He says he's fine and acknowledges that it was a good fight, but he's pissed. I can't blame him really. It really wasn't that close of a fight.
The Conclusion
The obligatory honorifics are done now, and I'm sitting with Mr. Piccolo drinking some gatorade. He's telling me that I did a good job, and I'm telling him that it's all because of his training. Both of our butts are full of smoke.
I feel great though. There's something primal about a good fight, especially when you win. I wonder how sore I'll be tomorrow.
The End
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