Pissed, I sauntered to my corner, ripping my mouth guard out while peering across the cage at Luca and his team.
“Don’t touch me,” I growled at David when he went to put an ice pack against my upper back.
“Luke, why didn’t you do the arm bar?” Syd asked, moving in front of me.
I didn’t answer. I kept staring.
“Look at me,” she said, getting closer. “This entire round he’s going to try to get you to the ground. He knows you are tired. When he does, do what we’ve practiced. He often leaves his right arm open, giving you the perfect opportunity for an arm bar.”
Still, I didn’t respond.
“Luke, do you hear me?”
Grinding my teeth, I curtly nodded and put my mouth guard back in. The bell for the third round rang.
“Fight,” Will yelled for the third time of this match, jumping out of the way.
I zeroed in on Luca, going in for a right jab right off the bat. He ducked it and swung, kicked at my lead leg. The kick stung but it only pissed me off more, especially when he grinned when I grunted. I took that opportunity to fake him with a slip to the left and then a right uppercut to the jaw. It landed perfectly.
Luca stumbled back and I seized the opportunity to advance. While I landed another shot at his ribs, he was successful in getting his arms around my waist. We toppled to the ground. When he went to move over top of me, I wrapped up his left arm, making it useless as he tried for a chokehold. He was tough, though because he scrambled and was able to get to his side, giving him more leverage to either stand or move over me to climb on my back for another choke out attempt.
“Arm bar,” Syd yelled from my corner.
I growled as we both tried to regain leverage, trading elbows and knees from the awkward position on the ground. I grew angrier with each second that passed, recalling Luca’s words from earlier. He continued to talk shit as we wrestled.
With less than a minute left in the round, I was able to land an elbow to the side of his head that stunned him. It enabled me to move out from underneath his body. I climbed on top and sat on his torso and began wailing on him with the old ground and pound. Morelli could do nothing but cover his face with his arms.
“That’s it!” Mike yelled as the third and final bell sounded.
As soon as I stood Mike lifted my arm, declaring me the winner. I grinned, looking to my corner. I caught David and even my cutman clapping and smiling at me. However, when I moved my gaze to Syd’s the frown on her face caught my attention.
I tossed a wave to the crowd before stepping out of the cage.
Washed up my ass.
While we made our way to the back room, Lenny, clapped me on the back of my shoulder, congratulating me. I stared at Syd’s backside as she walked ahead. She hadn’t said a word since I stepped outside of the cage.
“Can you all give us a minute?” She asked of everyone once we entered the room.
Lenny nodded and held the door open as David and the PT exited, leaving Syd and me.
“What the hell was that?” She asked, folding her arms over her breasts?
I cocked my head to the side. “That was me winning.”
She gave me a scornful look. “That was you not listening to a word I said.”
I made a sound at the back of my throat before turning to the table at the far side of the room. Taking a seat, I stared at her.
“Luke, you didn’t take a word of advice I said.”
“I didn’t see his arm open.”
“Bullshit,” she cursed. “He was wide open. You had ample opportunity to go for the arm bar and yet you chose not to listen.”
“What the hell does it matter? I won,” I said, holding my arms up. I ran my hand through my hair.
“It matters because Morelli isn’t half the grappler that Rodriguez is. Tonight was about you testing your grappling skills. Yet, you chose to rely on what you know, your old game. We’ve discussed this.”
