Sucking my teeth, I punched him in the shoulder, garnering a small smirk from his lips.
“Anyway, yes, Sonnen versus Silva. You know why?”
“No, but I bet my left nut you’re going to tell me.”
“Because, for one, it’s a thing of beauty. Sonnen was stellar in that match. He had Silva on the ropes, so to speak. In their case, on the fence. The whole fight he looked as if he were going to pull it out. The great Anderson Silva was on the verge of losing his title belt. And we know how that ended.”
Luke, cavalierly said, “Silva pulled it out in the end, keeping his champion status.”
“Right. But it was how he did it. He hung in there, round for round with Sonnen. And in the end, it was his grappling that won him that match. Sonnen tired himself out throughout the fight. Silva held on, got the lock, and submitted Sonnen. The last ninety seconds of that fight are what won it.”
“Is there a point to this trip down memory lane?”
“Yes. Spin me to your left.”
He frowned, dipping his eyebrows.
“Spin me to the left, please.”
He pushed out a breath and moved his arm to spin me in the direction I asked. I braced my right foot, stopping the spin before it started.
“Go ahead, spin me,” I instructed, staring him in the eye. He did so, only this time when I tried to brace my right leg again, he moved his arm in such a manner that I had no alternative but to spin in the direction he guided me.
“That’s it,” I said, smiling.
“What?”
“What did you just do?”
“I spun you. Like you asked.”
“And when you came up against resistance?”
“I forced you.”
“Right.” I clapped my hand against his shoulder. “You didn’t give me the option of moving in any other direction than what you wanted. When dealing with a dance partner who refuses to take your lead, you force their hand. In the cage, your opponent is your dance partner. They are not going to take instruction well. So, you have to force them to go and do what you want. That’s how Tomas was able to arm bar you just now.”
He stopped moving, keeping his attention on me. However, his look had gone from scathing to indifferent to interested.
“Those dance lessons weren’t a waste of time. You learned how to counter your opponent’s bodyweight, to the music.” I jutted my head in the direction of the speaker. “Take what you learned and put it in the cage. Because when you go up against Rodriguez, the fight will go to the ground, and you will need every bit of what you learned to beat him.”
Luke’s nostrils flared as he inhaled and for the first time, I got the impression that what I said was sinking in.
“Waltz with him, Luke.”
Chapter 21
Talk Shit Get Hit
Syd
“Yes. Now, that’s how you clear a bitch,” I shouted and banged my hand against the cage as Luke locked up Gabriel, another one of the student fighters at Aeryn’s dojo.
It’d been four weeks since my return and our dance refresher course in the middle of the cage. Since then, it was as if a switch flipped in Luke and with his grappling. He still had a ways to go but he’d become more attuned with his positioning on the mat and locking his opponent out of place.
“Hell yeah,” I encouraged when he was able to use his leverage to force Gabriel onto his right side, allowing Luke to gain the upper hand and perform a chokehold on him. Within seconds, Gabriel tapped Luke’s arm, signaling his defeat.
“Shit, you smell like a damn dumpster,” Luke said as he stood up with a cocky smirk on his face.
