The UFC-A fights had started as a summer event, a tournament that would allow those Animalians that had real competitive and more "aggressive" personalities a means to use those instincts in a way that would all them to be used without turning things into a blood bath and keeping in line with Animalia's general pacifist outlook when it came to things like military service. Many combat sports, such as boxing and Greco-Roman Wrestling served the same purpose and were actually quite popular in Animalia. The UFC-A was a bit more extreme and allowed for a bit more "violence" than some of the other sports, but still remained close enough that all sides could see it as sport and that the goal wasn't to kill the other person... or even to deliberately inflict major harm on anyone.
And the UFC and Animalia had done as much as possible to make sure of that. As Joshua made his way into the center of the ring, he could see the protective measures that had been taken. Heavy padded gloves covered his hands and feet and made sure that the Komodo Dragon Animalian's claws were a non factor, and that was something similar that was applied for all Animalians that had claws that were used for either traction or gripping. The intent was to prevent clawing someone open. His opponent, a Leopard Animalian wore a sort of padded "helmet" that set up a sort of muzzle, which wasn't too different from the one Joshua had on. The difference between them was that the Leopard Animalian's head gear was brown while Joshua 's was red in color. That purpose was like those to prevent someone from clawing others. The long canines for Leopards were used to grab and hold prey and it was theorized that the Komodo Dragon was venomous. In this, protecting against biting was important.
In fact, much of the UFC-A tournament was set up for protection of all the competitors. That was part of why the tournament had gone on through the summer and into the fall. While the sport had its rules against certain blows and so on, that didn't mean that even the fight winners came out of them without issues of soreness and potential medical issues. And Joshua had made sure that the rounds in the UFC-A tournament would give all fighters some time to heal and prepare for the next fight, and so far, that had gone well, and now Daniel found himself in the championship round as the referee came forward to give the rules.
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In the private both for UFC officials, Brett Horne and Marcus Pennington looked through the large glass windows as the observed one of the last official matches. Marcus was quite pleased with how well the tournament had gone. It might have been a bit slower than he'd expected, but no one had suffered serious injuries, even among those that had lost fights. That was a victory for the medical system that Joshua had put together as the first Animalian tournament was set up and the rules that Brett Horne and Mario had put together. It all made for some good matches.
Brett had kept track of the competitors and who they were. While there were a few Animalians that came from animal species that were solitary, most had actually come from animals that were not only social but had complex social hierarchies in those matches. Nearly all of them were based on wild animals in which some sort of combat was a natural occurrence, and many of them were also converted Humans who had had some interest in the sport before their conversion, and essentially converted to get the muscle mass to be competitive.
"Things have looked pretty good, eh?" Marcus asked as they watched the ref explain the rules from their both, "No one's had major injuries and we've managed to demonstrate that this is for sport."
"Yes," Brett nodded, "that has worked out well... and will make good competition that can be continued in that all the fights have been relatively close."
And that had been something that Brett had been very firm on as the fights were arranged. Many underground rings often, as a means of building up excitement for a perceived champion, often had fights that were clear mismatches in that one fighter was easily out-weighed by his opponent or lacked the experience needed to be competitive. It was done to let the promotors build up storylines they wanted for fights and gave the victors the confidence to go into those bigger fights, and often left the losers badly beaten because they weren't physically big enough to compete or weren't experienced enough. Avoiding that sort of thing would allow for yearly seasons and would make rematches interesting.
And that closeness made for some interesting matchups in the title fights. The lightweight division had pitted a pet rat Animalian, with the actual species being the Brown Rat, but thanks to years of selective breeding, his coloration was not the solid brown that the wild version was known for, against a Prairie Falcon Animalian. The two went back and forth with the Rat Animalian ultimately winning. The middleweight division had pit a Bobcat Animalian against a Coyote Animalian, and that had very nearly been a draw with the Bobcat's strength almost perfectly matched by the Coyote's cunning. The refs called that one in the Coyote's favor, and so far people were already making cases for either side on Twitter. They were presently in the heavyweight match which had Joshua , a Komodo Dragon Animalian going against a Leopard Animalian.
And Marcus happily smiled at that. Success for the sport meant success for him, and with some of the deals made with Animalia would mean wider success for Animalia on the whole.
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In the ring, Joshua prepared himself as the match began after the ref had finished listing the rules of the match. They were pretty standard rules, and Joshua expected them. His opponent opened with a series of fast strikes, leaping in trying to land some blows that went like a traditional boxer's and then jumping out before Joshua could try to land a blow of his own. Joshua , DID, however, manage to deflect those blows away from him by raising his arms to deflect the blows away from his torso and did relatively well in doing so.
He guessed that the Leopard Animalian was trying to lure him into a sort of fast paced bout that wouldn't favor him. And would play to advantages that Mammals and Birds generally had over most other animals. Amphibians, Reptiles, and various species of Fish were often cold blooded, which meant that it took them longer to get going and often meant that they couldn't maintain a high level of activity for long. Their metabolisms and respiratory systems simply weren't built for that sort of thing. They could achieve great speed in short bursts, but couldn't sustain it for long, while most Mammals and Birds were generally very well suited for that. In this, the Leopard Animalian had to hope that Joshua would try to lunge and rail at his opponent and turn it into a "running" fight and thus wear Joshua out.
But Joshua was not someone who was totally unfamiliar with fighting or combat. Just like Daniel, he'd served in World War II. He'd served as a medic, which meant he wasn't often in the thick of it, as medics were required to handle immediate medical emergencies, and it wouldn't do well if the men who were medically trained got themselves killed charging in with the infantry. But that didn't mean that medics weren't trained to deal with that at all, particularly the combat medics who were often closer to the front lines. The reason being that since they were still in the army, there would still need some combat training. Like Daniel, Joshua remained proud of his World War II service, and if there ever was a threat on par with that that came about again, he wouldn't be above putting his life on the line to care for the injured and the wounded. However, there were some people that seemed to argue that he wasn't as brave or able as those like Daniel that had gone in with their Garands or BARs in direct combat. That was part of Joshua's reasoning for being in the UFC-A, to show that he was strong and more than capable of holding his own in those situations.
And that let Joshua put what he'd gotten in basic training to good use. He could tell the Leopard Animalian was trying to lure him into a fight that he couldn't sustain for long. However, Joshua also knew that if he could avoid taking serious blows, he could also grind down the Leopard Animalian and let him wear himself out against a well defended opponent and then land the main blows at the end of the match. It would be tough, as he'd have to keep his opponent in front of him and conserve energy while avoiding major hits. And since he didn't have the benefit of a hard shell, it'd be even tougher to do. Especially as the Leopard Animalian moved to dodge around his right. But the move was close and Joshua decided to try something.
He swung his tail out to a side, and in a way that was reminiscent of some monster action movies in how the monster or robot monster would use its tail as a weapon. It'd also be similar to how some dinosaur movies had Sauropod Dinosaurs like Apatosaurus use the bulk of their tail slap the smaller Theropods aside. The move was quick and sudden and the Leopard Animalian never saw it coming. He was hit in the midsection in mid leap and sent skidding back along the floor of the ring right in front of Joshua. Joshua then landed a pair of quick hits as the Leopard Animalian tried to get to his feet. The blows knocked the Leopard Animalian further back and practically cornered against the edge of the ring. It's only there when the Leopard Animalian feigned a kick to take Joshua's legs out from under him, which allowed him to dive and dodge away from Joshua and get into the more open part of the ring.
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"It's an interesting match," Mario commented from the stands to Courtney.
"It's a slow match," Courtney answered.
"That's all part of the strategy," Mario smiled to his wife.
While Courtney was greatly interested in sports, many of the combat sports, like boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts, and others were things were a bit outside her interest. In this, as they watched Joshua try to conserve energy and brush aside his opponent's blows while the Leopard Animalian tried to rush in blows and draw Joshua into a more active fight, Mario tried to compare the fight to Courtney's interest in American football.
"Think of it like some of your football teams..." Mario commented, "Joshua is moving slowly and deliberately. Like a team that has a poor passing game, but a good running game and a very good defense against the run. He's trying to draw the match into a slow and steady battle of attrition... Take the body blows and grind it out. His opponent, Ramon, is trying to move fast and furious, like a team that has a great passing offense and an average but balanced defense. He wants the match to be quick as he goes up and down and force his opponent to match him score for score... big play for big play."
"Interesting," Courtney commented, "though... it means that neither can afford to make a mistake."
"At least not a major one," Mario commented, "Minor ones can be corrected for, but a major one... that can be costly. So far, Joshua's avoided the major mistake and hasn't let Ramon land too big of a blow."
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"The tail blow was legal?" Marcus wondered.
He knew the rules that the UFC ran with by heart, but that was mostly with human combatants. Many of the Animalians had so many adaptations that were outside normal human anatomy that there were chances that some of those rules might not apply... or would be very different. He knew that some of the unique adaptations, like the clubs on some Ankylosaur-like dinosaurs and armored mammals from the Cenozoic Era, or the thagomizers on Stegosaur-like dinosaurs would need to have some specialized rules because of their potential lethality. But Joshua wasn't an Animalian based off of a prehistoric Animal. The Komodo Dragon was still alive and living. In this, Brett Horne was actually far more knowledgeable and up to date on the rules regarding Animalians, as he'd help write most of them and Marcus's role was more on the bigger business picture.
"Legal, yes," Brett answered as he watched Joshua and Ramon go back and forth through the match. Though he also noted that Ramon was starting to tire a bit, as though his initial attempts to lure Joshua into a running fight were beginning to hit him. "The Komodo Dragon has no added weapon on its tail and he landed a clean blow to the area between the waist and neck. That is a clean hit."
Marcus nodded and looked out again, noting Joshua land a strong uppercut that drove Ramon back toward the ropes. Ramon managed to recover and made a dive to a side before jumping to try and land a kick at Joshua's side. The blow failed to make contact, and while it did force Joshua back, Marcus also got the sense that Ramon was fast running out of steam, particularly as Joshua never jumped into any sort of quick move.
"Is it just me... or is Ramon looking tired to you?" Marcus wondered.
"I think he is," Brett nodded, "Joshua's played a pretty slow match... and while he hasn't landed a killer blow, he's in much better shape. If the refs call the fight... they should call it in Joshua's favor."
They watched as the match continued. Ramon continued to be faster and more nimble, but he was clearly slowly down. This gave Joshua the advantage.
"I'd think we'd best get down there," Marcus stood up as he turned back to the specialized title belts that had been made for the UFC-A tournament. They were adjustable and made to fit both the largest and smallest Animalians, at least those lacking some of the more outlandish adaptations that some dinosaurs and Cenozoic megafauna had. Marcus figured they'd need to update them when it came for the Mesozoic Fight Club's opening next year, but for now the present title belts would do. They'd even got some help from Animalia's resident gold mine for the metal needed for the belt, which would be held to each weight class until the next tournament. Similar ones with brass were also planned as the ones that would be able to be kept by each winner that would be engraved with the tournament year as well as the individual's name. "We don't want to be late."
Brett nodded and slowly stood up as Marcus collected up the belt for the Heavyweight Match.
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The longer the match went on the more confident Joshua felt. His forearms and one of his shoulders would probably be pretty bruised, if one could tell through his blackish-gray scales, but he'd managed to do what he'd set out to do. Keep a calm and steady fight, knowing that while Reptile, Fish, and Amphibian Animalians weren't completely cold blooded and thus had many mammalian traits that mundane Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish wouldn't have, their endurance levels were generally lower than Mammal Animalians. He knew he had to avoid charging at the "bait" that Ramon had offered at the beginning of the fight, and he also had keep Ramon in front of him.
But he'd managed it, and without wasting too much in the way of energy. And the longer the bout went on, the more confident Joshua became. For the more Ramon's more active style began to wear on him, the more open Ramon was to attack, and the more Joshua took advantage of it. There were periodic breaks for things like water, and so on, but it wasn't at a point where Ramon would have time to get his full energy back, which let Joshua smile under the headgear and muzzle he had on to make sure there wasn't a "biting" issue.
He retained his confidence as he kept with his game plan. Ramon did eventually catch on that his original plan wasn't working, but by that time, the momentum had fully gone into Joshua's corner. Ramon still managed to move, and Joshua's trick with his tail didn't work a second time, but it wasn't enough to avoid taking some blows, and eventually Joshua landed a strong blow to Ramon's gut, which sent him staggering back. Joshua watched as Ramon stepped back and eventually feel to a knee, breathing hard. It was at that point that Ramon raised up one hand showed his palm to Joshua and to the referee.
"That's the match!" the referee shouted and blew his whistle before taking Joshua by one hand and lifting that hand up.
A strong cheer rose from those in the stands, and Joshua looked out to see Marcus Pennington and Brett Horne standing near the gates to the ringside area with the championship built held between him. That made him smile and he pumped his fist at the success and the win.