Contests over breeding rights were things that were relatively common in nature. Most times the contest was settled through some form of intimidation or display for a male to get another to back down, or sometimes even for females to get other females to back down. Sometimes it would escalate into something more physical, and particularly when both competing animals were of comparable size. This took on various forms, from sheep and their relatives often butting heads, most deer locking antlers, most predatory animals wrestling to establish dominance, and so on. But this was with mundane animals.
Animalians were a bit different from the animals they were uplifted from, or used for the conversion. Animalians had gained features, abilities, and skills that a few years before would have been considered solely Human abilities or concepts. Thus Animalian couples often found themselves in love with their partners in ways that they might not normally be as mundane animals, and this was the case with Ling and the North Korean government agent/diplomat known in Animalia as Mr. Hyun, and in public, so far as most people knew, even Ling referred to Hyun as Hyun. Hyun had originally been assigned to assist in a project that was intended to allow for the Animalia Virus to either lead to Animalian super-soldiers or a weapon to use on North Korea's enemies and that started with Ling's uplifting.
Over time, however, Ling's innocence and being opened to things that weren't seen in North Korea made it ever more clear to Hyun that Ling would never accept being either a super soldier or a farm laborer for the North Korean government. At the same time, the more Hyun was with Ling, the more he began to personally bond with her, something he never initially expected. The result of this was that he eventually explained his mission to Ling and admitted that he personally didn't want that for her before becoming a Korean Water Deer buck to be with her. Ling forgave the deception, as she'd found a lot of good in Hyun and the two were privately trying figure out some way to preserve and protect Ling from being enslaved and Hyun from being killed either by the Americans or by his own government masters.
Things like the Covid 19 pandemic had made certain aspects of that easier, as countries were starting to issue travel bans against Americans or those in America to their respective countries, largely as they tried to keep the world's hot spot for Covid 19 from bringing it back to the rest of the world, including places that had largely gotten themselves under control. But eventually the pandemic would pass and things could become hot then, and at the same time, Hyun had also found himself facing an issue he'd never really had to face before. Another male interested in Ling, and while this other converted Korean Water Deer buck might be American and didn't seek to enslave Ling, it was also clear to Hyun that this male made Ling uncomfortable and THAT would not do. That had nearly lead to a fight in the lobby area of the Claw Coliseum where Hyun and Ling were waiting to go jogging when this new buck arrived as Hyun came to his bond mate's defense.
The uncontrolled fight was prevented by Brett Horne's arrival, as the other Korean Water Deer Buck didn't want to fight both Hyun and a Styracosaurus Dinotopian. However that soon set up what was now finally going down, a more formal fight in the Claw Coliseum's main arena with Brett serving as the event's main referee. There was only a very small crowd that was actually present and much of it was going straight onto television. Chairman Kim had even sent a letter not only authorizing the fight but promising honors if Hyun won, eventually.
"You don't have to do this," Ling said to Hyun from the edge of the mat where the male was presently stretching and going over some of the martial arts lessons that he'd taken since the original scheduling of the fight, "you are the one that I love and will mate with."
"He made you uncomfortable, Ling, and it didn't look to me like he was going to accept you saying "no" to him," Hyun answered, "that is low... and likely the result of this dolt living near some gym and putting more into weight lifting and machismo than anything related to intellect and certainly more than dealing with your thoughts and feelings. And I will defend YOUR honor. Because I love you."
Ling sighed and nodded and moved off to the specialized seating area that had been set aside for her while Hyun stepped on the mat. Being raised on a North Korean farm, Ling had never seen male deer go through the rut and battle for a female's attention, but she could recognize that there seemed to be a lot of testosterone related behavior that went into all this. She loved Hyun, and him defeating this new buck... or being beaten by that buck... wouldn't change that. It was another thing that proved that Animalians were different from the animals they were uplifted from.
Hyun slowly walked onto the center of the mat and approached Brett Horne who stood calmly inside the mat's center point. At the same time other buck approached giving a few poses that flexed his muscles and then flipping his blond hair back, showing that like Hyun, he was a converted Human and not an uplifted deer, like Ling. When he arrived, Brett Horne spoke clearly.
"Hello and welcome to this specialized match between Mr. Hyun, representing North Korea and Ms. Ling's honor," Brett spoke with one hand gesturing to Hyun and then moving to gesture to the other buck, "and Maxwell Musclemann... representing himself."
The two slowly shook hands, though Hyun wondered if the man had changed his name to be "Musclemann," though even if he didn't... Hyun felt the man's name fit his persona.
"Hope you and your mate have a long happy life together," Musclemann said to Hyun, "and hopefully wen I win... someone would become a female Water Deer and then we can have our own little herd here..."
"Perhaps... though I would expect you to apologize to Ling for making her feel uncomfortable after I win," Hyun answered him. Musclemann only answered with a shrug while Brett moved to then explain the rules of the fight.
"Okay... there WILL be set rules to this match," Brett spoke, "the first is that this IS a legal fight and that ALL parties have agreed to it. Thus regardless of the winner, Musclemann cannot be charged with assault or used as justification for war, understood."
"I understand," Hyun answered, "and Chairman Kim would seem to accept that... he has stated this to be a sporting match for "national pride" as it were."
Brett nodded, guessing that was something that related to the cancelled Olympic games, "this is also to be safe fight. Your tusks are not to be used. Any deliberate use is an immediate disqualification. There will also be no blows below the waist and no grabbing or twisting of body parts. Any attempt would be an immediate disqualification. Am I clear?" Hyun and Musclemann both nodded before Brett continued, "and the fight will go on until one is unconscious, has sustained some physical injury that would limit their ability to continue, or until one competitor concedes the fight. We have doctors present that CAN intercede and stop the fight should they notice a potential injury and both competitors MUST accept their advice or call should it be delivered. If there is something less... each competitor can request a timeout for a "health check," and then must accept the doctor's judgement. Clear?"
Hyun and Musclemann both nodded to which Brett then lowered his hand down between them to start the fight and then backed away. This opened things up for the two Korean Water Deer Bucks begin to circle each other and focused on the other. Musclemann held a clear size advantage, though Hyun was a bit more muscular than he was when the two had first confronted each other. However, it was soon clear that Hyun had an advantage in the other parts of what would be going into the match. Both moved slowly, but Hyun did so with an effort to keep himself balanced and improve his reaction time while it looked like Musclemann was only just shuffling along the mat. The blonde haired male might be able to react quicker to a sudden movement than what a Human competitor might, but that had more to do with the athletic builds that all Animalians seemed to have.
Eventually, Musclemann then lunged forward and swinging a hard fist with the intent on landing the blow on Hyun's head. Hyun saw it coming and managed to sidestep and duck the blow, gave one small chop into Musclemann's ribs as he went by, and then pivoted to land a spinning kick that caught Musclemann's other side. The kick took Musclemann to the ground, partially from the momentum generated by his lunge to try and land a blow and then added in with the kick to his side. It was something that showed the differences in ability and thinking between the two. While Hyun had put on some additional muscle in his training, he was still smaller than Musclemann. Thus if Musclemann landed a blow, there would be no doubt that it would be a hard blow, but because everything else was being sacrificed for power, Musclemann had little response time and little balance. Which meant that while he was physically impressive... that was about the only thing Musclemann brought to the fight.
That was largely how a lot of the fight went. Hyun did his best to avoid taking on any direct hits and make sure that any hits he took were glancing. He took some blows and he was sure there would be some bruising under his fur, but they were glancing hits and because he'd managed to keep his balance better he recovered quicker. Meanwhile, Musclemann continued to try and land hard blows that often had him off balance and even open to certain counters. The more Hyun took advantage of those openings the more frustrated he became, and it showed. Eventually it boiled over into an explosion of anger and Musclemann charged Hyun, panting a bit as he did so. He swung both firsts, with the intent of catching Hyun's head from the sides, but he again missed high and then caught a blow in the stomach and then the ribs that sent him falling back onto his back and panting heavily.
"Okay..." Musclemann said slowly while trying to catch his breath and patted the mat with some embarrassment, "I give...I... I need some water."
Hyun felt some personal sense of triumph at being able to out last his opponent, though he suspected exhaustion was probably the thing that had really gotten Musclemann to concede the fight. The blond haired buck's breaths were quick and sounded desperate to get air. He didn't sound sick, but clearly tired from only managing some glancing blows. Musclemann eventually sat up as the doctors came up with some bottles of water.
"This is embarrassing," Musclemann admitted as he looked to Hyun, "you had me totally out maneuvered... I'd thought I'd get at least one good blow in..."
"You came close a couple of times," Hyun admitted while rubbing one shoulder where Musclemann had landed one of those glancing blows, "but that is where appearance and ability are not the same thing. And ultimately... I'm sure you will find a woman that would become a Korean Water Deer to be with you... and hopefully it will be for an emotional and loving bond... like what I have with Ling."