“Let’s see what the fuck you got,” I growled.
He scowled.
Everything went silent as I stared into Luca’s eyes.
In the blink of an eye, the bell rang, Mike jumped out of the way and Luca, dumbass that he was, went in too quickly with a left hook. I easily ducked the punch and jumped back, stepping out of arms’ length, making him have to come to me. Luca attempted to feel me out, implementing a couple of punches and forward kicks.
Every shot he took missed. Luca wasn’t a boxer, but it’d been the first fighting technique I’d learned. From the looks of it, he wanted to establish his dominance early on. Yet, he had no real defense for my strikes. His aim was to try and get me to the ground. The first time he attempted, I elbowed his back causing him to loosen his grip. Once he released me and stepped back, narrowly missing my right hook to his face, I saw the caution in his eyes. That was the sign to me that underneath all that bravado and scowl, he wasn’t as confident as he put on. I suspected he knew he didn’t have the stuff to be in this cage with me.
“You need to give it up, McConnell. You’re old as shit,” he taunted as we moved in.
Baring my mouthguard I went in for an uppercut to his chin but missed.
He chuckled. “See?”
It was right then I popped him in the nose with an uppercut. It started bleeding and the crunching sound I heard led me to believe it was broken. That didn’t mean Morelli was out for the count. Plenty of guys, including myself, could continue to fight and do some serious damage even with a broken nose. Letting up could’ve led to a catastrophe on my end.
“How’s that for old, motherfucker?”
He made a move, going for my legs for the takedown. As soon as my back hit the ground, I rolled out of the way, standing. Mike stepped in between us, briefly stopping the fight to assess Luca’s bleeding nose. I watched as the ref carefully looked over Luca, asking him if he was okay to continue the fight. I rose my fists again as soon as Luca nodded in the affirmative.
The rest of the first round went on like that. Luca attempted a few more takedowns but I was able to scramble out of them and get to my feet to keep the fight where I wanted it.
“One down, one more to go,” I stated, smirking to Syd and the rest of my corner.
Syd frowned as David wiped my face with a towel and looked over my face, assessing any bruising that may need tending to.
She shook her head. “Don’t get too cocky. This guy’s still a hell of a grappler. He’s trying to get you to the ground. If he does again, perform the arm bar we’ve been working on. He doubts your grappling skills and he won’t be expecting it. All right? You’ve got two more rounds in there. Be smart.”
I pushed David and the cutman away from me and grunted. “Not if I win this one.” Which I was certain I would. I felt too good and I’d barely broken a sweat in that first round with Luca.
“Any other advice?”
“Listen to me, Luke. Morelli might not be able to go toe to toe with you but don’t doubt his game, okay?” she insisted.
“Sure thing.” I tossed her a wink, which only caused her frown to deepen. I didn’t know what bug crawled up her butt, but I didn’t have time to think about it. The bell for the second round went off and I moved back to the center of the cage. Luca and I glared at one another.
His team had stopped his nose from bleeding and covered the cut above his right eye with a small amount of petroleum jelly.
Good.
The last thing I wanted was that fucker’s blood on me.
“All right gentlemen, let’s fight,” Mike yelled, jumping out from between Luca and me, allowing us to advance on one another.
This time around, I was the first one to take a swing. Unfortunately, I missed Luca’s jaw by less than a centimeter, barely grazing his skin. He was able to turn that missed punch into a shove at my back shoulder, allowing him the advantage of getting behind me for a take down.
We both landed on our backs with Luca’s arms wrapped around my waist. He tried to maneuver to put me in a headlock, but I countered with an elbow his rib to loosen his hold enough to escape the headlock.
“Arm bar,” Syd yelled from outside the cage.
I ignored her, knowing that I could bring this fight back on our feet. Pushing away from Morelli, I hopped up on my feet and swung a right hook, missing his jaw by centimeters.
Morelli chuckled. “Washed up. You’re too slow, Skullcrusher,” he said my stage name with scorn in his voice. “Everybody knows you don’t have what it takes anymore.”
For a second his words got the better of me, and I was caught off-guard when he landed an uppercut against my ribs. As I stumbled, he went in for a leg sweep of my right leg, taking me down to one knee.
“Shit,” I cursed before narrowly missing the left cross he directed my way. He was able to get off a shot at my ribs right when the bell ending the second round went off.
