361 Contender Part II
To say that Ismail was bewildered by the results of the first round was an understatement. He was beaten and bloodied, and damn near choked out. The anaconda choke that Alex had wrapped him up in was tight, real tight. If it had been applied just a second longer, he would have been slept.
But Alex didn't stick to the submission, instead he let go and got on top of Ismail, where he landed a flurry of punches and elbows. To the point where Ismail's face was now a mess, whereas Alex was walking around without a scratch on him.
Worse yet, Alex did not seem the least bit exhausted from the five-minute non stop beat down he put on Ismail. Further, the cocky brat was standing up, and actually shadow boxing in his corner, expending energy as a massive insult to Ismail. Who was heaving in between short sips of water?
To say that his game plan had failed miserably in the first few seconds of the fight was an understatement. And now, for the first time in his entire life. Ismail was hesitant to actually go for a takedown.
But, he also knew he did not have the striking excellence to stand with a knockout artist like Alex, especially one whose 8 limbs were as technical as a Lumpinee Champion. Only when the bell rang for round two did Ismail realize he may have bit off more than he could chew.
However, there was not much he could do other than fight. And because of that the man quickly stood in the center of the ring and began to swing with Alex. Alex nimbly avoided the one, two combo thrown by his opponent.
From his perspective, it was slow and sloppy. It was clear that this so called "Chechen Warlord" pretty much relied entirely on his wrestling in his fights, and never actually developed an efficiency in striking.
Because of this, Alex decided to play with his opponent some more. After all, he still had another round to fight in after this. Surprising the commentator's once more, Alex did not use his usually aggressive demeanor. Instead, he suddenly switched to a counter striker.
Effortlessly slipping past, or outright checking his opponent's strikes, before following up with short but crisp combinations, each of which held his full power on them. From the moment the Alex lined up a solid cross on his opponent's forehead, the man was staggered.
Nobody knew where the chant began in the crowd, but thousands of attendees began shouting a single word as Ismail got back into the center of the cage to fight Alex.
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Alex smirked when he heard this. Once more, like at the beginning of the fight, Ismail threw a feigned jab, which was followed by a takedown attempt. And just like before, Alex sprawled, circling around to his opponent's side. Where he held control of one of the man's wrists, with an inside grip. While raining punches to the side of his face repeatedly.
Ismail made the bold choice to turn into Alex in an attempt to get back to his feet. But Alex was quicker, standing up and snatching control of the man's head with a Thai plum grip. Repeatedly kneeing his opponent in the head the moment he was no longer legally considered a "downed opponent."
The chechen wrestler took a solid three knees to the skull, trying to block them with his hands, at the same time trying to take Alex down once more in a very sloppy double leg attempt. But Alex easily sprawled, before standing both behind him, and his opponent back up.
Just as Alex was about to land a vicious knee on his opponent's chin, the bell rang. Signaling an end to the third round. While Ismail was completely bloodied and battered, with multiple cuts, welts, bruises, and swelling across his face and body.
Alex once more appeared completely unscathed, and unburdened as he shouted at his opponent, while being forced back to his corner by the referee.
"You better quit on that stool, or you won't survive the third round!"
Meanwhile, Ismail was breathing raggedly, clearly not entirely there as his corner yelled at him in Russian. Whether he was thoroughly broken by Alex, and would quit on the stool or not, the crowd waited on the edge of their seats to see.