Prologue: The Main Event

A Chapter by Brian B

Fight 1: Lightweight (155 lbs.)

Bobby “The Sandman” Valdez (Vengeance MMA) versus Scott Brown (Brotherhood Jiu-jitsu)

The door to the raised, circular cage opened, and a man stepped in. The lights gleamed off his black, polished shoes as he walked, the noise of his steps swallowed up in the furious beats of Chinese drums. The music ceased as he reached the middle of the cage. From the stadium ceiling high above a shining, vintage microphone descended until it touched his outstretched hand. He took it, and he spoke.

“Welcome to the Forbidden City Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada and to Elite Legacy.” His voice was deep and melodious. He sounded as though he could sing opera. His teeth sparked on his perfect smile, and his tuxedo stood in perfect contrast to the roughness of the cage around him. “Ladies and gentlemen, LLLET’S GET READY TO RUMBLLLE!”

20,000 people roared with approval.

And Legacy is underway! This is one of the most significant evolutions in the world of MMA so far. This is team MMA. This is gym versus gym. Dojo versus dojo. This is not about a lone fighter’s climb to the top. This is the reputations of coaches, trainers, and team members. Forget burn-out athletes. Forget lucky knockouts. To be a champion, your whole team must be made of champions. You have to have champion trainers and champion coaches.

And here come the fighters now.

The drums began again. Two fighters then entered the cage. One wore black shorts bearing the logos of a dozen fightwear companies. His hair was a bright, artificial orange. His gloves were red. The other fighter donned blue gloves and a rough, traditional martial arts uniform tied shut by a ragged black belt. Its white fabric had a single symbol stitched onto the back: a snake curled into a perfect circle, eating its own tail. Both fighters separated to opposite sides of the cage. The one wearing the white gi began to strip off his uniform until he was down to a pair of tight white shorts. He passed his bundled clothing over the top of the cage to a group of similarly dressed men on the other side.

The tuxedoed man spoke again, his voice rolling through the huge, open space like a church bell. “In the red corner,” he announced, gesturing to one side of the cage supported by a bright red post. “This man is a mixed martial artist. He weighs one hundred fifty-four and one half pounds. Representing Vengeance MMA in Long Beach, California, Bobby ‘The Sandman’ Valdez!”

Some of the crowd began chanting “Sandman” in a long, steady rhythm. The chant was so infectious that even the Chinese drummers took up the beat with their instruments. The fighter with the orange hair spun in circles, waving his arms and sticking out his tongue like a lunatic.

Sandman Valdez is a big favorite here. He’s one of Vengeance’s two fighters with Elite experience. He’s known as a shameless brawler with heavy hands and a wild disposition. Not a bad wrestler, either. Most other fighters hate him for what many of the fans love him for: his Rock ‘n Roll posture and his unbelievable history of unlikely knockouts. You just never know where the big finale will come from. Spinning backfists, superman punches, heel kicks. He does it all.

“Fighting out of the blue corner,” the announcer continued. “This man is Jiu-jitsu fighter. He weighs one hundred fifty-five pounds. Representing Brotherhood Jiu-jitsu in Vacaville, California, Scott Brown!”

There were no chants or beating drums for Scott Brown. It wasn’t that he wasn’t well liked. It was because he was simply unknown. In addition, he didn’t look like much. His head and much of the rest of him was covered in short, light brown, curly hair. His face was calm and focused. He lacked the youth and theatrics of his opponent, giving the crowd’s attention less to latch onto.

And here’s Scott Brown from the revered Brotherhood Jiu-jitsu. This is Brown’s first official appearance on the MMA scene, so we don’t know much about him. What we do know about him is he’s a retired Navy SEAL who’s seen a lot of action. He’s also forty-two years old, a full sixteen years older than Sandman. He’s also one of the most respected students of Brotherhood’s legendary coach, Master Ricardo Gracia, the Elite Hall of Famer. While his age is certainly a disadvantage, his training and his life experience are not. He’s definitely a wild card, but Gracia really seems confident in his man’s skills. In a moment we’re going to find out if Brotherhood Jiu-jitsu is in over its head in the modern version of this sport, or if the hype is true, and Brotherhood is really the team to beat here.

Both fighters approached the center of the ring, where a referee began to summarize the rules. As he rattled off the rote reminders and warnings, the fighters stared at each other. Sandman growled and tried to make the older man flinch, but Brown simply looked at him, or maybe through him, as calm as a man waiting in line at a deli.

They separated back to their corners, where they both took their stances and waited for the referee to signal the beginning. They stood differently. Brown’s posture was low, but relaxed with his hands open. Sandman Valdez leaned forward, shifting and snorting like an animal waiting to be let out of a cage. The Chinese drummers gave a roll that seemed to electrify the air and make the spectators shift forward in their seats.

“Fighter, you ready?” shouted the referee above the drums. “Fighter, are you ready? Then bring it on!” He brought his open hand down in a chopping motion, as though cutting down an invisible barrier that had been keeping the men separated. The drumming stopped.

And the first fight of Legacy has begun! Sandman Valdez from the formidable Vengeance MMA, and Scott Brown from the legendary Brotherhood Jiu-jitsu. I can’t wait to see what happens!

The fighters approached the center of the ring again, but this time without a referee between them. Brown extended his fist for the usual sign of respect between fighters, but Sandman didn’t return the gesture. Brown didn’t seem surprised by the snobbery, however, and he withdrew his hand and began to circle his opponent.

Already you can see a big difference in these guys’ approach. Sandman’s real aggressive, already throwing some combinations, big shots with the hands, and Brown circles away, not intimidated. Sandman is ready to end this with a big strike, while Brown seems to be in no hurry. He’s patient. He’s composed. He’s also older, and probably can’t take as many big hits as Sandman can. We see that in a lot of older fighters, usually once they’ve crossed over forty.

Brown dodged another wild barrage from Valdez. He stepped away to the side with his hands wide as if to say “whoa!” but his face sill hadn’t changed. He was a bull fighter, it seemed. Absolutely unafraid of the charging force of nature in front of him.

The Sandman threw a poorly-aimed roundhouse kick that snapped out and stopped six inches in front of Brown’s face, and after a moment’s circling, he charged in again. But Brown, it seemed, had enough time to watch his opponent and figure out his timing.

He didn’t step away again. Instead, Brown struck Valdez above his eye with an overhand blow that shocked the Sandman into retreat. Brown followed the momentum of his strike and closed the distance with the man. As his arms hooked under Valdez’s shoulders, he drove him forward into the circular fence.

Brown tags Sandman with a beautifully timed right cross and they clinch against the cage. Brown needs to be really careful here. Valdez is known for having a great clinching game. He has two big knockouts in the last year that came from the clinch. Although, Brown has successfully closed the distance to a place where his Jiu-jitsu can really be put to work. I’m really curious to see which of these two fighters will take the most advantage of this position.

The Sandman immediately began throwing knees in wild angles, furiously trying to pound away at Brown’s ribs. Brown pushed his hips into Sandman, twisting his torso way from the blows to lessen their impact on his rib cage. Though some of the shots landed hard, causing Brown to grunt and gasp, most of them landed flat against Brown’s back. Valdez felt that his knees weren’t having the impact he wanted, so he struggled to free his right shoulder from Brown’s controlling grip. He wanted the arm free to throw uppercuts into Brown’s face and take advantage of the weak chin that inevitably came with age.

But just as he began to free the trapped shoulder, Valdez’s whole world flipped upside-down.

That was a beautiful Uchi-mata, a Judo style throw! Brown just showed us how dangerous he can be in the clinch game. This is exactly the sort of fighting I suspected when I first sized up Brown. He’s patient. He waits. He took those knees from Sandman until an opportunity opened up, and POW! A gorgeous throw. Sandman’s feet clearly went over his head on the way down. Now they’re in a place where I think Brown will certainly have the advantage.

Brown’s team, a handful of men wearing nearly identical white gis as Brown wore when he entered the cage, shouted instructions at the top of their lungs. One team member, a young man with a brown belt tied at his waist, even jumped on the cage so that he leaned over the edge of it with his stomach resting along the top. “Pass the legs! Pass and mount!” he shouted. When the referee warned him to get off of the cage, the young man complied, falling back against his laughing team mates.

Valdez pushed away from Brown, trying to scramble away on his back, trying to get the space necessary to get back up to his feet. Brown closed the distance with him again and again, never allowing Valdez the room he needed to get his feet under him. Brown’s hands found holds along his opponent’s body: the back of his neck, his shoulder, his wrist, his hip, and under his knee. He appeared, almost, to be climbing hand-over-hand up Valdez’s body until both knees rested on either side of Valdez’s chest.

Valdez is in big trouble here! Brown passed to the mount and he’s got Valdez right where he wants him. Right where he can finish him! Right now, Sandman looks confused and panicked. He didn’t expect to be here in this fight. And now you can see him trying to escape, trying to avoid those heavy, heavy blows from above. Brown’s control here is superb. He’s not giving up the mount, and he’s not showing any mercy to Valdez.

Valdez’s body rocked as another one of Brown’s punches landed against his cheekbone. He could taste blood in his mouth and feel the trickle of something slippery and hot flowing down the hollow between his eye and the bridge of his nose. He could hear his coaches shouting instructions and encouragements. He could hear the frustration in their voices. As Brown punched again, Valdez bucked his hips and tried to roll his torso to the side. When he felt Brown assisting his maneuver, Sandman knew he’d made a mistake.

Valdez suddenly found himself on his stomach. He could feel a crushing weight on his back, pinning him like an insect on a display board, and limbs twisting and twining around his hips and neck. When the limbs constricted, and the world began to go black around the edges, Sandman began slapping his hand furiously against the canvassed floor.

Unbelievable! Scott Brown, in his first ever professional fight, just submitted Bobby Valdez! Unreal! Earlier, I wondered whether Brotherhood Jiu-jitsu was out of their element in modern MMA, or if they really were the team to beat here. I think I just got my answer. If you came to this event thinking that Ricardo Gracia’s team was the underdog here, think again. I think the legend is back, and this time I think he’s brought along some others just like him!

The referee held up Brown’s gloved hand as the announcer chimed, “Referee Alex Ramirez called a stop to this contest at four minutes and two seconds into the first round. The winner by submission: Scott Brown!”

As the crowd roared their approval and frustration, Brown exited the cage. His team waited for him at the foot of the short steps that led down from the cage. They handed him his gi again and poured out their congratulations on him.

“That was some good work, Scott,” said the coach. He was a little older than Scott with dark brown skin and deep lines across his face. “That’s six points. But remember, having more points will not be enough to honor this family’s legacy. Not with Hector here.”

The others solemnly nodded, and a few of them looked to the youngest one, the young man in the brown belt. His face was unreadable.

“We cannot lose a single fight. We cannot even leave doubt as to whether we should have won. We need submissions, knockouts, or unanimous decisions.” Ricardo paused and looked them all in the eyes. Five of his finest fighters, all of them black belts in his father’s Jiu-jitsu. All but one.

“George,” said Ricardo, snapping the young man out of a worried trance. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” the young brown belt replied. “I’m great.” But his face did not agree. He could not help but think of the face of his opponent. How did it come to this, he asked himself. Why am I at war with a friend?

next chapter

© 2013 Brian B

Author's Note

the dialogue in italics is supposed to be the voice of a commentator. i know this isn't very clear to the reader. suggestions for making this a little easier to understand?

My Review

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Reviews

Aaron Browder

It wasn't unclear to me. The voice in italics sounded like a commentator from the very first sentence.

I thought the action was well-paced, and its narration was strong and flowed well. You can write fight scenes, sir.

My only complaint is at the end, after the fight; I had to read it a couple times to be sure what was happening. For one, at the beginning you mention that George's "face is unreadable," but at the end you say that "his face did not agree." I was left thinking that these statements were describing two different people, though they aren't. I also felt confused after reading the last line; though I know you did it this way to generate a cliffhanger, maybe it would be good to give a little more background.

It may or may not affect my reviews, but I would like to know if this is a first draft or a final draft, and whether you plan on publishing.

Overall I think this is fantastic. I'll be tuning in for the next chapter.