After a few days of training without a contract, Lodovico finally managed to get a hold of Alexianos, and get him down to the WCFL offices in order to sign for the fight. I, for one, was happy to finally be getting the contract signed. This was a pivotal moment in WCFL history, and it was proved as I walked into the office of the chairman.
The media awaited in the room for my entrance; Kirzigian was already in the room, sitting in a chair in front of Lodovico's desk with his coach standing next to him. I sat down in an open chair in front of the desk, as did Tolvorn. The lenses of the cameras in the room followed my every move; the cameramen were rather determined to get this on film.
"Well," Lodovico began. "Looks like we've got a pretty… intense fight coming up. Two undefeated fighters going into the cage. I'm proud of both of you for making it this far in your careers. Alexianos, you're a veteran of the league. You've been here for almost eleven years now. Mathias, you've been here for around a year. Both of you are incredibly successful. I'm going to tell both of you now, signing this contract endangers both of your lives."
"Alexianos, you may bear the strongest punches on the planet, but Mathias has equally powerful strikes. Both of you are undefeated in your careers for many reasons; skill, strength, speed, cardio, mentality… This will be the biggest challenge of both your careers. Mathias, you are 7-0. Alexianos, you are 41-0. That's a 34 fight difference, but a difference that doesn't matter when it comes to how talented you both are." Lodovico slid a piece of paper onto the desk.
"This is no ordinary contract. This is what I like to call a do-or-die contract. Now, I have never put this kind of contract into effect ever before, but I feel this is the fight I will put it to. The terms of this contract; ten two minute rounds. Everything is legal except strikes to the spine, groin, neck, and back of the head, and strikes with the point of the elbow. The winner of this fight will either become, or remain champion. The loser will be forced to retire for at least five years before they can return to the World Class Fighting League."
My eyes went wide, heart sipping a beat. If I lost this fight, I was going to be forced to retire.
"This is the most risky contract the WCFL offers. Sign at your own risk. By signing this contract, you are aware of the fact that you could die in the conflict. You are also aware of the fact that if you lose, you will be forced to retire, and that you cannot return to the WCFL's roster for a full five years." The chairman slid the contract over to Alexianos and the Armenian man's coach, then placed a pen on top of the paper.
Silently, both the champion and his coach signed the contract. They slid it back to Lodovico, who then moved it over to Tolvorn and I. I glanced to my coach, looking to him for an answer to if I should sign it or not. He nodded slightly, and with a shaky hand, I grabbed the pen, signing my name on the contract. I handed the pen to Tolvorn, and he signed as well, sliding the contract back to Lodovico.
"Very well, then. The contract is signed. Six weeks from now, you will fight for the title. I'm looking forward to this. Now, Alexianos, we need you to stay here for a while to get advertising done. Mathias, you can go."
I stood and looked to Alexianos, who was simply staring into space, no emotions showing. It was scary to see the man so inexpressive, but I had to disregard it. He was my enemy.
I turned and exited the offices, followed by Tolvorn. Quietly, we both headed to the gym across the street. Once in the gym, I looked to the Icelandic man.
"Are you sure we should have signed that…?" I asked.
"I'm confident in you, Mathias. For the next six weeks, I'm going to put you through hell to get you ready for this fight. Thankfully though, I'm prepared. I've talked to a lot of the guys who have fought Kirzigian, and some of them are willing to help you. Take a look in the ring." Tolvorn motioned to the first of the two rings in the gym, where three fighters awaited me, in their fight gear already.
"How're you guys doing today?" He asked them.
"We're doing just fine, Tolvorn." One replied; I recognized him to be "The Veteran" Sadik Adnan.
"Mathias, meet the three guys you're going to be training with for the next six weeks." Tolvorn motioned to Adnan. "Sadik Adnan; one of the few original-roster WCFL fighters left. He's a striker mainly, but has expert ground game as well. He is the man who lost the championship title to Alexianos."
"I'm confident that with the right training, you'll beat Kirzigian, Mathias. Coming from a guy like me, that's rare. But don't think these next six weeks are going to be easy. I'm going to get you prepared for this upcoming fight. The mental game of fighting is just as important as any, and that's what I'm going to help you with." Sadik said. Tolvorn then motioned to the next man. I smiled when I realized who it was.
"You know this man already, Mathias. "The Southern Slavic Legend" Andelko Begovich. Kickboxing expert, legend in the eyes of the WCFL. He has his name for a reason."
"It's been a while, Mathias. Glad you've got your shot at the title, but I'm warning you now, it takes going through hell and back just to get ready for the fight. I'm going to be helping you with your striking offense, and defense." Andelko explained. Tolvorn then motioned to the last guy. I vaguely recognized him.
"This is Alexander Johansson. Not so recognizable since he cut his hair, but that's beside the point. He's a Jiu-Jitsu expert, who has world-class experience. Not only does he compete in the WCFL, but he also participates in a second league, the Europeisk Kampene Liga. He has been champion of the EKL four times. In his career, he has never won by KO, TKO, or a judge's decision. Every win he has achieved, has been by submission."
"In all seriousness, Mathias, I'm only about twenty percent confident that you can win this fight as you are. With the proper training though, I believe you can raise that confidence to a winning chance. I'm going to help you with your ground game, primarily transitioning and submissions." Alexander sounded less than thrilled to be here, but he was going to help me out on what was probably my weakest link; submissions.
"You ready to get started, Mathias?" Sadik questioned.
"Sure." I replied.
"Get yourself dressed and in this ring then. Tolvorn; shoo. For the next six weeks, you get a break from coaching." Sadik waved off my coach, who waved a goodbye then exited the gym. I chuckled a bit and went to the locker room, getting myself dressed in proper MMA gear. A pair of red shorts, a pair of gloves, and a mouth guard, which I put on the waistband of my shorts for the time being.
I exited the locker room, and went back out to the ring, hopping in with the three other WCFL fighters.
"Alright, Mathias. Here's what I want you to do; I'm going to have you stand-up spar with Andelko here first, then when I tell you to switch, start ground sparring with Alexander. Once I tell you enough sparring, I want you to hop out of the ring, do a lap around the gym, get back in, and repeat the cycle. We're going to do this for an hour, so I hope you're ready."
"Sounds alright." I said, grabbing my mouth guard and putting it into place over my teeth.
"Andelko, Alexander; you guys ready?" Sadik looked to the other two fighters, who nodded. Andelko stood towards one corner, while I got in position in the opposite corner. It was déjà vu to be in this kind of spot with the Croatian legend in front of me. Having fought him before, I knew his style. Sparring with him was going to be rather smooth.
"Begin." Sadik said. Andelko and I circled each other for a moment before I threw a few punches; two to his head, two to his body. The Croatian man spun on his lead foot, hitting me hard with a spinning back fist.
I took a step back, avoiding a punch from the legendary fighter. I then countered with a hard roundhouse to the ribs. We sparred, back and forth, attacking, guarding, and countering for around three minutes.
"Switch." Sadik finally ordered. I went to the corner I had previously been in, and Alexander went to his. We circled a bit before I went for a takedown, successfully getting him to the ground. I was in full guard, but carelessly, I left myself open for a submission. Alexander grabbed a hold of my left arm and brought it down the center of his body in a set up for an arm bar.
Using a strength I didn't even know the Norwegian had, he placed one leg on my chest and the other on my stomach, forcing me onto my back, and holding me there. I resisted against his submission, but it was impossible; I tapped before Alexander could snap my arm. He let go of me and we both stood.
"Alright, Mathias, do a lap." Sadik commanded. I got out of the ring and ran a lap around the gym, before hopping back in, where Andelko awaited me.
We went through that routine for an hour, like Sadik had first said. By that time, I was completely exhausted; it felt like I had ran at least one hundred laps around the gym, and had been submitted and hit hard more than I needed to be.
"Take a half hour break, then meet up back in this ring, guys." The Turkish veteran fighter ordered. I nodded and exited the ring, heading over to a bench and sitting down. Andelko was nice enough to get into his bag and toss me a water bottle and a small towel.
"Thanks." I said to the Croatian, who walked over and sat next to me. I opened the water that he had given me and took a drink, before placing the towel had had given me around my neck.
"You're welcome, rookie."
I wiped my face with the towel, watching Sadik and Alexander speak in the boxing ring we had been training in. Alexander seemed to be asking the Turkish man a question about a move or technique, seeing that the Norwegian demonstrated the start of a standing submission on the man.
It was an arm bar of sorts, but instead of initiating it from the ground, it began from a standing position. Alexander seemed to be a bit confused about it, so Sadik took it upon himself to do it the correct way to show the other fighter exactly how the technique worked.
Alexander went for a straight punch with his left hand, and Sadik grabbed his arm, cleverly using one foot on the ropes to hoist himself onto the shoulder of the other man. As Alexander fell to the mat, Sadik locked in the submission without resistance, forcing the Norwegian to tap.
"That's a wicked submission… You ever done anything like that, Andelko?" I turned to the Croatian beside me.
"I've tried once or twice. Haven't ever locked one in before though. My Jiu-Jitsu training is limited to what coaches can teach me. I'm predominantly a striker though, so I don't worry too much about being able to end the fight on the ground."
"But you're still classified a kick boxer and a Jiu-Jitsu fighter."
"Yeah; that's just so people know what my ground training is."
"Hm… Have you ever fought Sadik?" I questioned Andelko, though turning my head back to the two fighters in the ring. They were still talking about that same submission, and experimenting with it.
"Four times." Andelko responded, watching the two fighters as well.
"Really? How many times have you won?"
"Twice. Once by left head kick, one by doctor stoppage TKO."
"Doctor stoppage? How'd you manage to get a doctor stoppage facing Sadik of all people?"
"Kneed him so hard in the side, I cracked two of his ribs. Broke one."
"I know that feeling; it sucks."
"I know you know that feeling. I have a habit of injuring the people I fight. I injured you when I did that heel kick of mine…"
"I'm guessing you're used to the feeling of bones cracking or breaking when you hit someone, huh?" I joked. The other man chuckled.
"You have to be used to it when you have as hard of strikes as I do."
"Can I ask you a question, Andelko?"
"Sure."
"What is your honest opinion of my fighting style?"
"… Your fighting style is something to envy. You're a, amazing striker one moment, then you're an incredible ground fighter the next. Your punches are precise, your kicks are remarkable, your takedowns are explosive, your transitions are smooth, your submissions, though not numerous, are to be feared. You've got a strong future ahead of you; even if you don't beat Alexianos, you will get your next contract within a week after, and go on to keep fighting amazing fights."
"Well… Not exactly. I signed a special contract for my fight."
"Special contract?"
"Lodovico called it a do-or-die contract."
"A do-or-die… Wait, a do-or-die contract? That's the contract where if you lose, you retire for five years, correct?"
"Yeah…"
"How could Lodovico possible offer that kind of contract when you've only had seven fights in your career? You've been in the WCFL for a year; that's preposterous that Lodovico would let you sign something like that."
"Well… I guess he either wants me out of the WCFL, or wants Kirzigian out."
"If you leave for five years, you'll surely come back… Kirzigian won't."
"This could be my last fight, regardless if I win or not. My ribs are in such terrible condition. I've had two plates put in; it's a miracle that I can still fight."
"Try being like Adnan or me. In my career I've had sixteen surgeries to fix injuries. Six surgeries on my right leg, four on my right, three on my ribs, two on my left arm, and one on my right hand. Sadik has had at least twenty surgeries during his career… Though I think a few of those were for scar tissue removal in his eyebrows. I've actually been needing another surgery done on my right hand again…" He straightened out his hand and placed it in front of me. I looked at it, noting the fact that there was a scar towards the right side of his hand.
"Boxer's fracture I got during my fifteenth fight. I had the guy on the ground and tried to punch him in the head, but he dodged the hit and I punched the mat instead… I forfeited the fight and it was ruled a TKO. The fracture didn't heal quite as well as doctors expected, and they want to go back in and fix it, twenty eight fights later."
"Just shows how useful doctors are…"
"Yeah, no kidding… I have to say though, for the amount of surgeries I've had done, I'm in pretty good shape. I've taken my rounds of rehabilitation and allowed my injuries to heal correctly for the most part. My hand is just the only thing that doesn't want to comply."
"There's always that one thing in life."
"Yeah…"
After our break, we returned to training, which lasted five hours total. I was exhausted, battered and bruised by constant training. It was still nothing compared to a Kirzigian routine, but it made my typical training look like toddler's work.
I sat in my apartment, chatting with Tino as I ate my dinner; I hadn't eaten at all during the training during the day, so my hunger was getting to me. Tino had eaten earlier, so he just sat at the table, listening and responding.
"Man, training with those guys is just insane… I mean, I would have expected at least Andelko to be a bit more relaxed training-wise, but damn, he pushed me to my absolute limit… That's going to be every day until the day I fight."
"Andelko Begovich is a pretty conditioned fighter. He's "The Southern Slavic Legend" for a reason… I mean, people in the WCFL have their nicknames for a reason. They all do. They've earned them."
"You know any interesting stories about the different fighter's nicknames?"
"Well, Sadik wasn't always "The Veteran". He actually started off as "The Turkish Tank". He wasn't "The Veteran" until around five years ago, when the last of the original-roster fighters retired. He was the last one left out of the guys who had fought with Lodovico."
"I figured it was something like that, that gave him his nickname. Say, you think I'll get a different nickname if I beat Alexianos? I mean, I can't always stay "The Rookie", right?"
"I think that'd be humorous if you were the champion of the WCFL and your nickname was still "The Rookie". It'd be a contradiction."
"Yeah, but I won't always be a rookie. I'm not even one anymore, I mean, just look at where I am. I've got a title shot, after only seven fights… I mean, who really gets this kind of a chance so early in their MMA career?"
"Not a lot of people. You know, Alexianos was 7-0 when he got his title shot at Sadik. I can't help but think of this fight being so similar to Alexianos and Sadik's fight around… Nine years ago, I think?"
"It is kind of similar, huh? Sadik wasn't undefeated when he was champion though, right?"
"No. He had I think one or two losses on his record before he became champion."
"And that's an important difference between the two fights. Alexianos doesn't have a flaw on that famous record of his."
"I'm sure you can win this fight though. You're by far one of the most impressive fighters I've seen in a while. And considering that you've beaten some of the top names in the WCFL, I'm fairly confident in you."
"I just have to protect my ribs… That's the only thing I'm worried about is my ribs. First Andelko cracks ribs on one side with a spin-around heel kick, then Alexianos cracks the other side with a punch during training. I don't know how much more they can take, I mean… I have metal plates on both sides, and… with how hard your husband hits, I'm just not sure if they'll last."
"Who's helping you with your defensive skills out of the three training you?"
"Andelko."
"That'll be great. He's as good an offensive fighter as he is a defensive one."
"Not to be mean or anything, but I really never expected you to know anything about the WCFL or MMA in general. You just don't seem like the kind of person, you know?"
"I can understand that." Tino chuckled slightly. "I only really started getting to know it when I met Alexianos. For the past two years, I've paid quite a bit attention to the different fighters, and learned a lot about the WCFL and Mixed Martial Arts.'
"You ever thought about fighting?"
"Me? Fighting? Nah. I grew up with a nonviolent family. I have to admit, I'm kind of a pacifist unless provoked."
"You ever been provoked?"
"Yes, sadly. It's the reason I don't visit my family anymore."
I gave Tino a curious look. "Care to tell me the story? Or is it too personal…?"
"I suppose I can tell you. You have helped me out a lot over the past year, so… Here goes nothing…" The Finnish man sighed before beginning to speak. I listened closely, wanting to hear about Tino's past.
"I was seventeen years old, and living with my parents… They deeply despised the fact that my only desire was to own a successful business, instead of studying my ass off to become something like a doctor. When I… When I told them that I wanted to move to the United States to start my business, my mother accepted it, but my father… He hated the idea with a passion, and he and I argued back and forth about it. When I told him to stop controlling my life, and let me do what I desired in life, he… he grabbed a knife off of the dinner table…"
The Finn stood, and lifted his shirt up to reveal his stomach. He pointed out, towards the center of his gut, an indentation about an inch long, with skin paler than Tino's typical skin tone. It was a scar.
"And he stabbed me…" He sat back down, fixing his shirt. "All because I didn't want him controlling my life…. My mother took me to the hospital, and I had emergency surgery to get the knife out safely, and to repair anything the knife had hit… I spent about a week in the hospital while the nurses monitored my recovery… I… I went home just to discover that my mother had filed for divorce from my father… A month after the stabbing incident, I turned eighteen, and my mother was kind enough to pay for a flight to the United States for me…"
"I left the United States with a heavy heart, you know? I hated to leave my family in Finland, but not because I liked them. My younger sister is still there… She's still in high school… I don't talk to her much, but she's still dear to me, you know? She lives with my mom."
"You never told me you had a sister." I commented.
"I don't actually talk about her much." Tino replied.
"Does she know that your dad stabbed you? I mean, where was she during all this?"
"She was visiting our aunt during the week that occurred… My dad stabbed me about three hours after she had left the house. I was back home from the hospital maybe an hour before she came back from our aunt's. We never told her about why dad really left."
"What was your sister's opinion on you leaving a few weeks later, and never coming back to Finland?"
"She was always so quiet… She never said anything about me leaving Finland. Just told me to be careful. I don't know if I've been very careful here in the United States… It's only been a couple years since I left, but it feels like it's been ages, you know? I feel like I've made more mistakes than I've done things right. I got married after only two months of knowing a man… My business… it's falling apart at the seams, not due to finances, but because of such poor management…"
"Poor management?"
"For the past year I've just… fallen apart, you know? I've had problems with alcoholism, problems with my marriage… I just don't know what I'm doing wrong to deserve these problems. I started drinking again just to try to forget ever being hurt by Alexianos… I just… I don't feel like myself anymore, and it's affecting my business."
"I wish there was something I could do for you, man…"
"I just ask that you beat Alexianos, Mathias. If he's humbled by his defeat, I… I think I may be able to return to a normal life."
I nodded my head slightly.
"I promise you, Tino, I'll do my very best to end Alexianos' reign."
Tino smiled a bit at me, and I couldn't help but grin. Seeing the broken man smile was something that showed a spark of the Tino I had first met when I had joined the WCFL nearly a year ago.
That small glimpse of the former Tino made me wonder; if I lost my fight, how would the world react? How would my parents react? How would Berwald, my fiancé, react? How would Tolvorn react? How would Tino react? Would it send people back into the same spiral they had been in, with the reigning champion winning all his fights with iron fists? Would Tino's alcoholism kick back into full swing, and destroy his marriage once and for all?
One thing taunted me in the back of my head, nearly forgotten with all of my other racing thoughts.
How would I react?