Furuya Uno (1)

Yu Jung-ak commuted from Yoon-ho's house. Since driving wasn't easy, Yu Jung-ak had to leave earlier to head to the gym. Driving skills improved with frequent practice. Although Yu Jung-ak didn't need to drive much since he mostly stayed at the gym, there might be situations in the future where driving would be necessary. Yu Jung-ak was practicing driving with that in mind, even though it was still difficult and scary.

Bang Yong-pal had made great preparations for Yu Jung-ak. He brought in skilled fighters from around the country to spar with Yu Jung-ak. Even though it was just boxing sparring, not mixed martial arts, it was still very helpful.

Even among practitioners of the same discipline, each person had a different style. They all learned boxing from the same coach, but their styles varied:

Aggressive style, aiming for a single powerful strike, pressure-focused style, point-scoring style.

There were countless styles, which is why sparring was important. The more diverse styles a fighter experiences, the better. Yu Jung-ak was learning surprisingly much at Bang Yong-pal's gym.

Bang Yong-pal provided various sparring partners, and Yu Jung-ak sparred with over twenty fighters during the month. Some of them had boxing skills far beyond Yu Jung-ak's level. Thanks to this, Yu Jung-ak was able to identify areas he needed to improve.

The original plan was to go down to the center on weekends for supplementary training, but since Bang Yong-pal specially arranged sparring partners for the weekends too, Yu Jung-ak couldn't go. So he decided to train at Bang Yong-pal's gym for a month and spend the rest of the time at the center.

Yeom Yun-ho seemed very busy and rarely came home, not even mentioning investment talks. Yu Jung-ak only saw him about three times while training at the gym.

"Is today the last day?"

"Yes. I came to say goodbye."

"You could have done that yesterday. Why come all the way here? Just go down and we'll see each other next time."

"Thank you for everything."

Yu Jung-ak went to Bang Yong-pal's gym early in the morning to say goodbye, then headed to the center. It was his first time driving such a long distance alone, but he had become quite accustomed to driving in Seoul. With the navigation system and his careful defensive driving, he had no major difficulties getting to the Silence Center.

"You're driving well now, aren't you?"

"Parking is still difficult."

"You'll get better with practice. Drive around more often."

Yu Jung-ak unpacked in his quarters, did some light conditioning training, and finished his day. From tomorrow, the real training would begin. While the training so far had been focused on striking in general, from now on, it would be about intensively analyzing and training for Furuya Uno.

"He's trickier than I thought."

"It won't be an easy opponent. He might be the most difficult one you've faced so far. He doesn't have flashy impacts, but he doesn't have weaknesses either. Plus, opponents who used to underestimate you won't do so anymore. They'll analyze you thoroughly before coming."

"The tournament was a big deal, huh?"

"You've been lucky to some extent until now."

Yoon Chang-seon said.

"But it's not like I've just been fooling around after the tournament."

"That's right. And I can somewhat understand why they sent you to Bang's gym."

"Yes. I watched Furuya's match. His standing punches were a bit..."

"He's got power, but his movements are big. He has good chin and ground game, so he tends to push forward even after taking a few hits."

"I saw his third match. He took a counter, came in one more step, and threw a hook to gain the upper hand."

"Right. That's why we sent you to Bang's gym. This fight, you absolutely need to conserve energy and move out while striking. Your reach is longer, so it's definitely possible."

Rumsak Noi held the mitts for Yu Jung-ak as agreed with the trainers. They minimized elements like knee kicks and focused on long-range striking. He held the mitts further away than usual. Yu Jung-ak felt a bit awkward at first but gradually got used to the distance.

Rumsak Noi was also good at analyzing opponent fighters. After frequently reviewing the videos, he accurately caught the opponent's attack range and held the mitts accordingly. These detailed aspects were the criteria for judging a trainer's ability. In that sense, Rumsak Noi was top-tier as a striking coach.

Yu Jung-ak confidently threw punches, imagining the position of Furuya Uno's head.

After morning striking training, they did ground training in the afternoon. Yu Jung-ak did jiu-jitsu sparring with Angela and other fighters. Yu Jung-ak's ground skills weren't great. However, he focused intensively on escape moves and submission defense, so his defensive aspects were quite advanced.

Although his excellent balance meant he primarily aimed to avoid going to the ground, anything could happen during a match. So it was good to prepare bit by bit. Furuya Uno was a fighter with good ground game, having won by submission three times. If the fight wasn't going well, he might forcibly try to take Yu Jung-ak to the ground.

Weight cutting was going smoothly, but it was a bit harder than before. Yu Jung-ak's normal weight was increasing slightly, albeit by a very small amount. He was already a large size for the lightweight division, and his muscle mass was increasing due to intense training.

Yu Jung-ak was covering this with a brutal diet control, but it was reaching its limit. This didn't mean Yu Jung-ak had to move up a weight class immediately. If weight cutting became difficult, he could just start the cutting process earlier. Of course, if his normal weight increased dramatically, extending the cutting period wouldn't be enough, but his weight gain wasn't that severe yet. Yu Jung-ak's current normal weight was around 84kg. This wasn't even considered very heavy among lightweight fighters. There were monsters in the lightweight division whose normal weight approached 90kg.

Unlike before, the weight cut was quite difficult, so he thought there might be issues with his condition on the day of the fight, but that wasn't the case. On the day of the weigh-in, his condition was very good.

At the weigh-in, Furuya Uno didn't make any provocations, and neither did Yu Jung-ak. However, in an interview, Furuya Uno said that he was a more complete fighter than Yu Jung-ak.

The match between Furuya Uno and Yu Jung-ak was attracting a lot of attention in Japan as well. Yu Jung-ak had competed in Japan before and was the most notable MMA fighter in Asia. Moreover, the fierce battle he showed in the World One Tournament was enough to make his name known worldwide. And now his opponent was Furuya Uno.

An undefeated rising star, just like Yu Jung-ak.

If Yu Jung-ak was considered the future of Korean MMA, Furuya Uno was evaluated as the future of Japanese MMA.

Naturally, it couldn't help but attract attention. In terms of recognition, this matchup could be said to be the biggest fight in Best FC history without exaggeration.

Expert predictions were evenly split 50-50. While Furuya Uno had the edge in terms of record and experience, Yu Jung-ak's fights had been incredibly impactful. Plus, all of his opponents had been formidable. On the other hand, Furuya Uno had steadily proven his presence.

Though both were undefeated rising stars, they had walked different paths. Furuya Uno had many amateur fights and 10 professional fights. 10 wins, no losses.

He had four more fights of experience than Yu Jung-ak, who had a total record of 6 wins, no losses. Including amateur fights, Furuya Uno was far more of a veteran.

Yu Jung-ak was managing his condition while watching the fights of Team Silence fighters. Two rookie fighters from Team Silence participated in the dark matches, but both unfortunately lost. The expressions of Team Silence officials were not good.

The next fight was Kim Young-tae's. The first fight of the main card.

"Win, bro."

Kim Young-tae smiled once and headed to the arena. The fight ended in a close decision loss for Kim Young-tae. It was a tight match, but Kim Young-tae's allowing more significant strikes was regrettable. It was difficult to overcome the points lost in the early rounds.

Having cut weight down to middleweight, Kim Young-tae looked slimmer. He fights at middleweight after cutting from a normal weight of over 95 kilos. His facial features became surprisingly sharp.

He also had thick muscles. Since Kim Young-tae was good at wrestling, instead of a striking match, he tried to look for opportunities to take his opponent to the ground. This strategy of Kim Young-tae's was quite rational. Kim Young-tae threw feint kicks and looked for an opportunity to attempt a takedown. But a problem arose. The opponent quickly wrapped Kim Young-tae's neck and attempted a guillotine choke. A guillotine is a submission technique that chokes the neck when the opponent attempts a takedown.

Kim Young-tae, being a veteran, tried to defend skillfully, but it wasn't easy. The opponent's grip was more solid than expected. Kim Young-tae tried his best not to twist his body and secure his carotid artery to avoid passing out.

The opponent pushed Kim Young-tae down and threw ground-and-pound strikes. Kim Young-tae defended as much as he could and gave up the first round to the opponent.

From the second round, Kim Young-tae fought back well. In the third round, he even had his opponent on the ropes, but he lost the decision.

"I'm sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for, bro? You did well. The decision was a bit unfortunate."

"I gave up too many points in the beginning, didn't I?"

"The judges must have scored the first round heavily."

Kim Young-tae said as soon as he saw Yu Jung-ak. Kim Young-tae was smiling awkwardly with a swollen face. Yu Jung-ak hugged Kim Young-tae and patted him on the back. All the Team Silence members gathered around Kim Young-tae to encourage him.

The team atmosphere worsened after Kim Young-tae's loss. The third fight of the main card was the women's match featuring Angela, and the coaching staff tried their best to boost the mood to avoid affecting her.

Yu Jung-ak turned off the monitor to avoid watching the next fight.

"Why did you turn it off?"

"To rest my eyes. I watched too many dark matches."

"Are you going to listen to music?"

"Yes."

"Then use the speaker instead of earphones."

Cho Yong-il brought a portable speaker, and Yu Jung-ak connected it to his smartphone.

"The title of the background music you requested this time is unique. Is it indie band music?"

"I usually listen to that kind of music."

"Don't play something like 'Hell whatever' like last time."

"I like that song. And it's not 'Hell whatever', it's 'Go to Hell' by Kim Sa-wol X Kim Hae-won."

"I know it's good, but it doesn't match the entrance music."

"It matches quite well this time. More importantly, how's Angela doing?"

"She seemed very nervous, I'm not sure."

"I wonder if she'll do well, it's only her second time."

"Angela practices well and her skills are improving. She's doing the weight cut diligently as you taught her. She has a surprisingly tough side, so she'll do well."

"There's such a thing as team atmosphere, you know."

"She's not the type to be shaken by that. It's her first MMA fight, but she's had many competitions before. Don't worry too much."

"Okay."

"You should focus on controlling your own mindset without getting swept up in the atmosphere."

"Let me know when Angela's fight starts."

Yu Jung-ak said and lay down on the mat on the floor. There were still 4 fights left before Yu Jung-ak's fight. There was no need to warm up right away. Lying spread-eagled, Yu Jung-ak listened to music. Classical music played. Angela's fight came soon.

Angela, who had chosen upbeat hip-hop as her entrance music, entered the octagon looking not nervous at all. Even without makeup, Angela was pretty. Judging by her face alone, she looked more like a bright celebrity than a fighter.

Thanks to Angela's beauty, she was quite popular despite being a rookie with only one fight. The crowd reacted strongly when Angela entered. Angela smiled and responded to the crowd's reaction as she climbed into the ring.

Then the fight began. The opponent, Japanese female fighter Takano Emi, was much older than Angela and had a much better record.

She was good at striking and, above all, excellent at grappling. Japanese fighters generally tended to be good at grappling. She was from the same gym as Furuya Uno, and the commentators made sure to point out that Yu Jung-ak and Angela were from the same Team Silence.

As the fight started, the smile disappeared from Angela's face. Angela threw the first attack. She threw an inside leg kick, but the opponent countered with a sensational strike. A jab followed by a right hook.

A clean strike that you'd usually see in men's fights landed on Angela's face. Angela stepped back, and the opponent launched a fierce attack. Angela's corner shouted for her to clinch.

Angela took several more strikes before grabbing the opponent's waist. And she avoided the crisis. Angela seemed quite flustered by the opponent's initial strikes, but gradually regained her composure. She took many low kicks and face strikes. There was bleeding from her nose, but her eyes were still alive.

In the first round, Angela only managed a few low kicks and some knee kicks and dirty boxing in the clinch. The opponent didn't fall for Angela's takedown attempts. This meant her skills were not to be underestimated.

Nevertheless, Angela didn't give up and kept trying to take the opponent to the ground. In the latter half of the first round, she didn't just get pushed back by strikes but showed she could trade blows as well. However, Takano Emi clearly had the upper hand in striking.

As the second round began, Angela pretended to engage in a striking exchange but then grabbed the opponent's waist and used an outside leg trip to take her to the ground. The opponent twisted her body as she fell backwards. She was attempting a reversal.

However, Angela didn't fall for the reversal and managed to take a back mount position on Takano Emi. The reversal attempt had backfired. As agreed with her corner, Angela didn't recklessly attempt submissions. This was because the opponent was also quite skilled on the ground.

From the turtle position, where the opponent was on all fours with her back exposed, Angela threw some ground-and-pound strikes. These weren't full-power strikes but moderate damage-dealing punches. As she threw light punches, she smoothly maintained the dominant position when the opponent tried to change positions. The dominant position simply meant being on top of the opponent.

Although Takano Emi was also good on the ground, once Angela took the dominant position, the skill difference began to show. Since Angela wasn't recklessly attempting submissions, this difference became even more pronounced.

While Angela was outmatched in striking, she absolutely didn't lose on the ground.

Angela strictly followed her corner's instructions. Despite taking quite a few strikes in the first round, she calmly tried to score points on the ground. She didn't recklessly go for a KO.

Fighters who underperform in the first round often make rash moves to make up for it. Such rash moves usually backfire and end up losing even more points. Nevertheless, many fighters tended to make these rash moves. Human greed wasn't something easily shaken off.

But Angela wasn't like that. She acted strictly according to her corner's instructions. She didn't overexert herself and prepared for the third round.

The opponent was getting impatient with Angela's strategy. She needed to throw big ground-and-pound strikes or attempt submissions to reverse the position and turn the tide, but Angela was acting leisurely like someone determined to go to a decision. So the opponent couldn't find an opportunity to reverse the position.

The opponent's face turned red from Angela's constant small strikes. Even in women's fights, taking many ground-and-pound strikes would cause the face to swell. Especially the strikes that didn't look very painful on screen actually dealt significant damage in reality.

In the latter half of the second round, Angela threw bigger ground-and-pound strikes as instructed by her corner. The intention was to leave a strong impression at the end of the round to score more points. Yoon Chang-seon's instruction was textbook, but it didn't apply to the current situation.

This was because Takano Emi had been waiting for Angela's movements to become bigger.

Thwack!

Angela Jin slightly raised her body, and Takano Emi seized the opportunity to deliver an up-kick. Angela momentarily staggered. An up-kick refers to a technique where a grounded fighter kicks upwards towards their opponent's face. It would be a foul if the top positioned fighter's knee was touching the ground, but it wasn't a foul when the opponent was raising their body.

Up-kicks were surprisingly powerful as they came straight up from below. They were particularly dangerous when aimed at the chin, so caution was necessary. Although not common in MMA, there were cases where fights ended with up-kicks.

The nosebleed that had just stopped started flowing again. Despite this, Angela persistently maintained the top position. She continued to unleash fierce pounding strikes while bleeding.

The second round was overwhelmingly in Angela's favor. She had momentarily staggered from the up-kick, but that was all Takano Emi had managed to do. As the third round began, Angela initiated with an intense tackle from the start.

"Hey!" Yoon Chang-seon shouted, indicating it was too hasty. As Yoon Chang-seon had anticipated, Takano Emi was waiting to counter. She was experienced. Takano Emi waited for Angela's tackle and raised her knee.

This type of counter was quite powerful, so wrestlers always had to be careful of it. Yu Jung-ak had previously pointed out this aspect to Angela.

Thud!

Takano Emi's knee struck Angela's face, narrowly missing her chin. Yoon Chang-seon sensed defeat and prepared to jump in immediately.

But something surprising happened. Amazingly, Angela endured the knee counter with her toughness, persistently clung on to grab a grip, and then lifted Takano Emi high.

Bam!

Angela executed a powerful slam, and Takano Emi quickly assumed a turtle position, trying to get up. But Angela was faster. She swiftly mounted Takano Emi's back. As she prepared to rain down punches, Takano Emi raised her guard high. Angela quickly slipped her arm inside the guard and wrapped her legs around her opponent's waist.

Rear naked choke.

This choke technique was particularly effective in women's divisions. The reason was that female fighters' arms were generally thinner than male fighters', making it easier to slip an arm between the opponent's arms. Moreover, Angela was a jiu-jitsu expert.

Like a snake that doesn't miss an opportunity, she coiled around Takano Emi's neck like a snake curling its body, and the choke was locked in. The referee hesitated for a moment, and Takano Emi lost consciousness without even managing to tap out.

Ten seconds.

When a choke is properly applied, it takes less than ten seconds for the opponent to lose consciousness. In women's matches, it wasn't common for fights to end in unconsciousness. Referees often intervened early, and above all, female fighters didn't tend to endure as stubbornly as male fighters. Most would tap out when they felt a technique was locked in.

Takano Emi had intended to tap out. The moment she felt Angela's arm tightening around her neck, she knew it was properly applied. She tried to struggle briefly, but realizing it was futile, she raised her hand to tap out.

However, she lost consciousness. With choking techniques, if the timing of the tap is even slightly delayed, one could lose consciousness.

If the carotid artery was still slightly functional, it was possible to tap out, but in a perfectly applied choke, one had to tap quickly to avoid fainting. Takano Emi had tried to tap out a beat too late, which led to her losing consciousness.

Usually, referees would catch this and separate the fighters immediately, but chokes from the turtle position were difficult for referees to see clearly. The technique was applied with the caught fighter pressed flat against the ground, making it hard to see their face.

The referee slightly lifted Takano Emi's arm and let it go. It fell limply. The referee immediately separated Angela and Takano Emi.

Third round. Submission victory by choke.

It was Angela's win.