Chapter 52: Professional Debut
After the weekend came to an end, and Alex returned to the shores of Busan with his women, they went their separate ways, at least for the time being. After all, Alex had bigger concerns. His first professional fight was coming up, and thus his attention for the next week was entirely on fighting, going so far as to ditch his classes and spend as many hours in the gym as he could.
He didn't have what one might call a traditional fight camp, where all a man does is focus on training for two months or so, instead he simply had a one week fight camp, which put him at a great disadvantage. But he did not seem to care.
The promotion itself was small, or in the terms of the MMA community, it would be referred to as regional. Its target audience was specifically targeted to South Korea, and the sport was not exactly popular in that country. Because of that, there was also no drug testing, not that Alex would test positive, nor was there any real press about it outside of specialized websites which covered as many promotions as possible.
Alex simply showed up for the weigh in the day before the fight which was held in Seoul where the fight would be taking place. Having spent the entire week dehydrating himself to the brink of death, Alex weighed in at 205 lbs or roughly 93 kgs.
He had cut a total of 20 lbs worth of weight in one week for the fight. And thus he spent the next twenty-four hours doing nothing but rehydrating. He did not even bother eating much for a breakfast and lunch the next day. After all, his nerves were wrecked. He might be confident in his abilities, and already have ample experience on the American amateur circuit, but Alex was never able to keep much food down the day of the fight.
The man had not even bothered to tell his family about his fight, or any of his other women. If he did get knocked out, he did not want them to see that. After all, he knew they would think less of him if such a scenario were to occur.
And then the hour finally arrived. Alex's hands were wrapped by a professional, and his gloves were adorned. They were white, with a red outline and black lettering which said the name of the promotion. Which, coincidentally enough, matched the color of his Vale Tudo shorts.
Alex simply smirked as his song began to play, signaling it was his time to walk out. There were any number of songs he could have chosen to play for his walkout that would be appropriate for the fight game. But he had chosen one that he felt was most fitting to his circumstances. The name of the song was "Throne", and it was played by a British metal band.
After banging his head to the sound of the music, Alex walked out, dressed in nothing but a pair of vale tudo shorts and a black sleeveless hoodie. What little crowd there was for such a small event cheered at the sight of the fighter as he boldly walked forward to the cage.
When Alex approached the cage, he noticed that there were several people waiting for him. People he was not expecting. All of his women were there, seated in the front row, screaming at Alex as if they were rabid fan girls, and there was even his neighbor Jung-Hyun, seated with them, who had come to show her support.
But what was perhaps most shocking of all, to both Alex and the girl in question, was that the captain of his university's Judo Club was seated near his women, along with a young man who he recognized to be from the club.
Knowing that the little brat was watching him fight, Alex now understood that he could not lose no matter what, and simply smirked as he pulled off his hoodie and threw it into the crowd, which Jung-Hyun caught and sniffed with an ecstatic smile on her pretty face.
Alex then stepped into the cage, with a confident gait, as he began to roll his knuckles, with a hungry expression on his face. His mouth guard, which was shaped like vampire fangs, only added to the menacing stare which he made towards his opponent. Who was also another foreigner? After all, there were not too many Korean men who were big enough to fight at the light heavyweight weight class.
The man Alex was fighting was an African, and his name was completely unpronounceable to Alex, when the announcer introduced him to the crowd with the nickname of the "Predator." After introducing the opponent, who had a professional record of five wins and zero losses, the announcer turned to Alex and introduced him to the audience.
"And in the blue corner, standing at two meters tall, and weighing in at ninety-three kilograms, making his professional debut, and fighting out of Seoul, South Korea, is Alex "The Ripper" Smith!"
Alex had earned that nickname through his days fighting in the amateur circuit, where he always left his opponent in a broken and bloodied state. His team started calling him the Ripper after his first amateur fight, and it has just stuck with him since.
Alex noticed that there was a very noticeable surge of cheering coming from a specific direction of the crowd, which was where his women were seated. After the introductions were made, Alex and the Predator stepped foot into the center of the ring, where they listened to the referee who went over the basic pre-fight rules.
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Meanwhile, in the VIP booth of the arena, Hee-Young and her family watched with amusement. The woman's husband wore a cruel smile as he made a wager with his wife about Alex's chances.
"This Senegalese is one fight away from entering the big leagues. It's a pity that the promotion hired your boy to be a tin can. I'll bet you five hundred thousand that he loses in spectacular fashion!"
Hee-Young's husband was an old, fat, and balding Korean man. How he had a managed to marry a beauty like her, nobody knew. But most suspected it was due to his vast wealth. As for Hee-Young, she did not even pretend to be pleasant with her husband, as she confidently smirked and accepted the man's bet.
"Why only five hundred thousand? Why not a solid million? I have full confidence that Alex will be able to beat the African. You have not seen what the boy is capable of!"
The old man smirked and nodded his head before accepting his wife's counter wager with a smug smile on his face.
"Alright, but when I win, you have to have sex with me!"
Hee-Young simply rolled her eyes and informed the man that was not going to happen.
"In your dreams…"
As for their young daughter, Ja-Young, she scoffed. She had never seen her parents actually get along, and instead, she had brought one of her many suitors to watch the fight with her. He was a handsome man in his early thirties from a well off family and who had made his own fortune. He listened to the older couple's squabbles and wore a smug smile while he took up the mother of his date on her wager.
"Mind if I join in this little wager of yours, I'll put a million on the African! He's undefeated and has won every fight via a finish. Besides, he has a long history in Senegalese Wrestling. I doubt your American will be able to defend himself properly. Let alone win the fight!"
Hee-Young simply scoffed, as she mocked her daughter's date with a single statement.
"It's your money…."
Just as they finished concluding their wagers, the bell rang, and the first round began. Where two modern day gladiators would face off in the cage for the entertainment of the crowd.
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Alex knew very little about his opponent, other than the man was from Senegal, and was undefeated so far, winning entirely via TKO. If Alex knew anything about Senegalese fighters, it's that they favored their own style of wrestling, and since his opponent had only won via TKO, he could accurately predict that the man's plan was to take Alex to the ground and finish him with ground and pound.
Of course, Alex never planned for his fights, at least not beyond the rudimentary level. He believed in the famous words of Mike Tyson, that everyone had a plan until they were punched in the face, and instead liked to fight on instinct. He felt like that made him more adaptable to his circumstances.
Thus, the moment after the bell rung, Alex swiftly made his way to the center of the cage, hoping to secure a dominant position, where he met up with his opponent. The African swung at Alex with little technique, clearly only recently learning how to properly strike, which Alex adeptly evaded.
However, the man quickly went for a takedown after throwing a few punches, causing Alex to sprawl so that he may defend it. The man continued to attempt to take Alex down with some nice chain wrestling, but Alex was experienced enough in takedown defense to remain on his feet. Where once the opponent stood, Alex followed up with a nasty front leg kick, along with a solid cross to the jaw.
The crowd broke out into a cheer as Alex cleanly landed his shots, and much to the surprise of the African. After all, he was not expecting Alex to have such power in his legs and hands. The man was slightly staggered by the cross, and felt a welt growing on his thigh after just one leg kick. This gave Alex time to circle around his opponent, getting away from the cage which he was nearly backed up against after defending his opponent's takedown attempts.
Once more, the opponent came in with a wild blitz, causing Alex to evade the strikes while moving laterally. He could not simply back up in this fight or he would be against the cage, where his opponent could make use of it to nullify his striking.
However, Alex was not a counter striker. He preferred to push the pace in a fight and decided in that moment that he would no longer evade the strikes. Instead, he would block them and press forward. Thus, after throwing a monkey kick, which landed cleanly on his opponent's gut, and pushed the man onto his back foot, Alex threw a jab, a cross, followed by a lead roundhouse to the body.
The jab and cross were blocked by his opponent, but Alex had thrown the leg kick so quickly, almost as if it were a sidekick, that it cleanly landed on the man's body. Where Alex then followed up with another jab, uppercut, and cross, before grabbing hold of his opponent's head with a Thai plum grip.
Alex began kneeing the man in the gut as hard as he could, while the man desperately tried to fight out of Alex's grip. But Alex was strong, far stronger than the man expected, and because of this he quickly broke the man's posture, where he began kneeing him in the head.
Unfortunately, Alex only got one knee to the head in before the round came to an end, and he was forced away by the ref. His opponent stared at Alex with rage in his eyes after nearly being knocked out in the first round. He was clearly shocked by Alex's takedown defense, and his aggression. After all, he had been assured by the promoters that this would be an easy win. Which would finally allow him to get into one of the world's larger promotions.
And while the man continued to listen to his corner's the crowd was roaring with excitement. They did not expect Alex to so easily nullify the aggression that the Predator was known for and instead respond with a flurry of well-placed strikes. While his opponent sat down on the stool and had ice pressed against his body. Alex chose to stand at the other side of the cage, where his corner began to speak to him.
"That round is definitely yours, Alex. Keep up the pressure. The idiot clearly doesn't know what to do when countered by a more aggressive fighter. He's probably going to start shooting for a takedown when you get into punching distance, so keep that in mind and make him pay for his attempts!"
Alex listened to his corner's advice as he drank from the water bottle, which they gave him. Soon enough, the bell rang and Alex was forced to put in his mouth guard once more, as he walked towards the center of the cage with a monstrous expression on his face. Almost as if he was enjoying every second of this fight on a deeply spiritual level.
After all, this was what Alex lived for. The adrenaline and endorphins that were pumping through his veins that came with a good fight, there was truly nothing else in this world that could compare. Not to mention the roar of the crowd, as they watched him beat the shit out of another man of equal stature. I truly made Alex feel like a living God. And thus he kept this in mind while he advanced against his opponent, with a superman punch followed by a knee to the body.
After successfully landing with the knee, Alex's opponent grabbed hold of his legs, in an attempt to take him to the ground, but Alex sprawled once more, dropping the man to his knees, while Alex leaned on top of him, where he quickly moved away from the man's grasp, and got to his side.
Alex then began raining punches to the side of his opponent's head, before standing up entirely, and kneeing the man in the ribs. His opponent tried to block these knees, but quickly found after taking two of them, that he could not endure for much longer, thus he was forced to get to his feet where Alex met this with a solid rear leg kick to the head which sent the opponent face first onto the canvas.
As if he were a shark that had smelled the blood in the water, Alex jumped on top of the man, with a flying elbow landing cleanly on his unconscious jaw. Where Alex began to pound him with another three elbows before the ref pulled him off.
These elbows had cut the man up, causing blood to pour down his heavily bruised face. But Alex did not seem to care about his opponent's health, instead he ran around the cage, while pounding his chest as if he were a barbarian. Before getting up on the top of the cage, where he slid his thumb across his neck in a particularly disrespectful gesture. Meanwhile, while shouting to the promoter in an overly excited tone.
"That's why the fucking call me the ripper!"
The promoter simply smiled and clapped, deeply entertained by Alex's antics. Meanwhile, the doctors tried to revive Alex's opponent, who came to only after about two whole minutes had passed.
The Senegalese wrestler had no idea where he was or what had happened to him, let alone how he had been knocked out. But Alex was already standing in the center of the Cage, waiting for the announcer to call the fight for what it was. Soon enough, his opponent gathered his wits and stood on the opposite side of Alex, with a particularly dispirited look on his face, while the announcer told the audience what they had all seen.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the referee has stepped in and called an end to this contest, at two minutes, and thirty-seven seconds in the second round, declaring the by knockout: Alex "The Ripper" Smith!"
Alex celebrated this victory in a way that completely shocked the crowd. He instantly grabbed hold of the prettiest ring girl who had approached him for a photo with her peers and planted a kiss on her lips. Which stunned the entire audience, causing the broadcast team to comment on his situation.
"Oh, no, this isn't good…"
However, the girl did not actually fight Alex, or resist in any way. Instead, she seemed to enjoy his kiss, and instantly began to reciprocate, much to the amazement of the crowd. Where all the men in the audience cheered for Alex. Causing the other member of the broadcasting team to comment on the bizarre situation.
"I don't know man, it appears like she's into it… Maybe they're an item?"
And while the broadcasting team commented on Alex's inappropriate actions, his women were all pouting, especially Jung-Hyun. She knew that she was the only woman who had come to support the man who had yet to sleep with him. However, all this incident did was cause her to want Alex even more while she thought about how she would approach him after he left the venue.
Meanwhile, in the VIP booth, the room was dead silent. That is until Hee-Young spoke up with a smug smile on her beautiful face.
"Well, I'd say not only did Alex win in spectacular fashion, but he also completely dominated the African wrestler. This was the easiest two million dollars I have ever made…."
Both the woman's husband and her daughter's date looked as if they had just eaten a whole bowl of shit. While Ja-Young gazed upon her family's employee, with sparkling eyes. One thing was certain, Alex now had his pick of multiple women, including the ring girls, all of which would be approaching him after he left the arena.
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Thank you for reading my novel, if you wish to read a more serious story with an intricate plot, and complex world building, as well as a decent sized harem, and a few smut chapters. Please check out my two other novels: Tyranny of Steel, and Interstellar Age.
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