The True Competition Begins
"Hello, dear viewers, good afternoon! I'm your old friend, Richard Ferretti, and I'm currently at…"
"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!"
"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!"
"Sorry, give me a moment. There's too much noise here. I might need to change my position."
At the competition venue, Richard Ferretti, the sports channel HBO host, greeted the cameraman, Sean, covered his ears, and moved to the far-left corner of the newly designed karate combat arena.
This time, the elevated karate combat arena featured an imposing and functional design, ideal for high-level tournaments and competitions.
The combat platform rose approximately one meter above the main floor, standing out at the center of the venue.
From the seating area, which could accommodate more than eleven thousand spectators, the black mats and the six referees, along with the security team, were clearly visible.
Without a doubt, this was finally a competition that could rival any other, and it was expected to become a national martial arts school tournament by next year.
At that moment, as the star of the hour, Max, entered the combat arena, the crowd roared the name of his martial arts school, creating enormous waves of deafening sound that easily drowned out the reporters' voices.
When they reached the corner, there were banners blocking the way, which somewhat muffled the cheers.
Richard Ferretti exhaled and gave a thumbs-up to the cameraman, who turned the camera back on.
Dressed in a black suit, holding a microphone with the HBO logo, Richard smiled at the camera and said, "Hello, dear viewers, good afternoon! I'm your old friend Richard Ferretti, and after many of your requests, do you know where I am right now? As you can see from the banners, that's right—I'm at the All Valley tournament, which has recently gained popularity for its fascinating matches."
"For those wondering where this tournament is being held, I'm currently at Cobra Kai's facility, where they are hosting this tournament themselves."
"Some of you might think we arrived late, but as I understand, there are still plenty of matches to come. We are now in the Round of 16, with the best competitors remaining after a week of qualifying matches. You can imagine the level of skill we'll witness in these fights."
"Now, let's take a moment to recall the origins of this tournament…"
He recounted the history of the tournament, which debuted in 1968 and had continued to this day.
Currently, the All Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament is an annual karate event held in the San Fernando Valley, California. It gathers the best students from various dojos across the region, competing to become champions.
The tournament is overseen by a committee of karate experts.
However, it had never been so famous until now, thanks to its television broadcast and the viral fights of one particular fighter who performed moves so spectacular they seemed straight out of an action movie.
According to in-depth research about Max Jones, everyone was left stunned by his fights across Asia, where he brutally dominated all his opponents.
In just one week, Max, a one-eyed fighter, gained the support of hundreds of thousands of viewers, many of whom were now watching the televised tournament just to see him fight.
"Max Jones! Max Jones!"
The crowd's cheers suddenly erupted, interrupting Richard's broadcast, but he continued without cutting the feed.
With a professional smile, Richard turned to the camera, raised his fist in the air, and said energetically, "That's right! Max, the famous undefeated fighter who crushed all of Asia in the junior divisions!"
"This tournament, once confined to the Valley, has become a national event due to Max Jones' participation. Although his reputation isn't yet widespread in this country, he's certainly recognized within martial arts circles."
"For you, Max is someone impressive because of his fascinating fights, but he's also a target to beat for fighters his age. It's said that it's only a matter of time before Max, who is trained by none other than Georges St. Pierre…" Richard paused, covering his ears, raising the microphone as the chants grew louder.
"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!"
"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!"
The audience was ecstatic and didn't stop shouting.
"Max Jones, a young American just seventeen years old, is an expert in mixed martial arts but is now focusing solely on karate."
"According to his trainer, he has been studying martial arts for less than five years. This Karate Championship is his first amateur karate event, and he has achieved astonishing results in this tournament."
"Everyone—and I mean everyone, including you watching from home—we're all here for Max Jones."
Since the Karate tournament began, Max has delivered impressive fights that have kept social media ablaze for days.
Even the Mixed Martial Arts magazine commented, saying this young fighter could achieve what no one else has, and if he joined MMA, any opponent would be destroyed by his hands.
After seven days of eliminatory fights, today at Cobra Kai's mixed martial arts school, the Round of 16 for the All Valley Karate Tournament will take place.
In the past, the tournament's highlights were always during the finals, but now everyone was eagerly anticipating the Round of 16, something that had never happened before.
Daniel's efforts to make Cobra Kai lose public interest and fade into obscurity had failed. Now, his only hope was to prove that his two remaining students in the Round of 16 had the karate skills needed to defeat Cobra Kai.
But what everyone cared about now was Max's fight against his opponent, an eighteen-year-old karateka named Ethan Dexter.
The cameraman Sean focused the camera lens on the two fighters in the combat arena.
On the black mats stood two strong youths facing each other. One had tanned skin, while the other had bandaged hands that mostly covered his pale skin.
Richard continued reporting on the scene: "The muscular young man wearing a purple uniform with a lion logo is the Canadian karateka Ethan Dexter. He's 1.80 meters tall, has long arms, and weighs about seventy kilograms. At just eighteen years old, he has already won several prestigious national tournaments."
"It is said that many martial arts promotion companies have made offers to spar with Ethan, and as far as we know, Ethan also plans to enter professional MMA after winning a Karate championship at the Olympics."
"Standing in front of him, the strong Karateka dressed in black with the cobra logo is the star of the moment, Max Jones. His record shows that out of over 150 fights, 110 are by KO, and the rest were unanimous decision victories."
"Many know he has been disqualified from numerous fights due to his bad behavior, but that doesn't take away from the merit he has in martial arts. To this day, he has delivered incredible matches, some of which many believe are too good to be true."
"But I'll make you change your mind when I tell you about the MMA legend Georges St. Pierre, also known as GSP, a retired mixed martial artist. Having been a two-time UFC welterweight champion, St. Pierre was ranked as the number one welterweight in the world for several years by Sherdog and many others."
"He is here today to show us that his martial arts are more than just a visual spectacle. No one more than this young man wants to elevate the martial arts school to the highest competitive level, and he will demonstrate his true level today."
After finishing the broadcast, Richard took a deep breath, grabbed a water bottle from his assistant, took a sip, gargled a couple of times, and spat it on the ground.
"Mr. Richard, the organizer asked if you'd like to interview the first fighters who will open the round of sixteen in this tournament. If you don't interview them, the competition will begin now," an on-site assistant asked urgently.
Richard looked at the combat arena, nodded, and said, "Max is a very troublesome fighter, so it would be good to interview him."
The assistant nodded and ran to deliver the message.
After preparing, Richard walked toward the combat arena with a camera in hand.
HBO is a giant in cable television broadcasting, and airing martial arts events is a key program for HBO TV.
Normally, they broadcast professional boxing matches and earn money through pay-per-view. Occasionally, they air some relatively high-profile amateur events, but now, due to the rising fame of Karate, they made an exception.
As usual, HBO only broadcasts the heavyweight championship finals each year. However, this year, a dazzling newcomer unique to martial arts—Max Jones—has taken over social media. Competing in a Karate tournament, he has attracted a lot of attention. For this reason, HBO also shifted its focus in martial arts and will broadcast the remainder of this tournament live.
Richard jogged toward the combat arena, greeted the audience first, then walked over to Ethan Dexter, handed him the microphone, and asked, "Good afternoon, Ethan. The person standing in front of you is a fighter with over a hundred matches and no defeats, many of them by KO—Max Jones. Are you nervous about competing against him?"
Ethan Dexter flexed his thick arms, showed his white teeth, and said with a smile, "Of course not. He's the one who should be nervous. I won't go easy with fake punches like other Karatekas do. I'll take him down with my fist and prove that one punch will humiliate that fighter."
"Wow!"
An eruption of exclamations echoed in the arena.
Max squinted his eyes and smirked. When he first communicated with Ethan in private, he was polite and friendly, but in front of the camera, Ethan had thrown dirt on him with his first comments.
Interesting.
"Wow!"
Richard exaggerated his reaction and handed the microphone to Max. "Max, Ethan said you fake your punches. What do you have to say?"
Max shrugged and smiled. "There's nothing to say. For opponents who are worthy of respect, like Andrew, I'm willing to compete for a few more rounds to exchange and learn. If I come across an opponent who isn't worthy of respect, I don't mind ending the fight early. Ethan Dexter, did you say I was a liar? Fine. To prove you wrong, I'll knock you out in the first five minutes. Please get ready because the fall will be hard."
"Wow! Wow! What am I hearing?"
Richard exclaimed again, holding the microphone and shouting to the audience: "Max said he'll knock out Ethan in five minutes. Wow, this is a high-level, point-based competition. For what it's worth, Ethan has good endurance and is the best-ranked Karateka of his age. Tell me, did I hear you right? Max, are you sure you want to knock Ethan out in five rounds?"
"That's right. I only need five rounds. He'll discover a rule of my martial arts school: no mercy for the enemy," Max said into the microphone, clenching his fist.
"Wow!"
"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!"
"Max Jones! Max Jones!"
The crowd chanted Max's name with excitement.
On the opposite side, Ethan clenched his fists tightly, gritted his teeth, and glared at Max angrily.
The host, Richard, handed the microphone back to Ethan and asked, "Ethan, Max said he'll knock you out in five minutes. What's your response to that?"
Ethan glared at Max and shouted, "He's daydreaming! I'll use my iron fist to teach him a lesson, knock him out, and make him swallow his words."
"Max Jones! Max Jones!"
"Max from Cobra Kai…"
Richard took the microphone and was about to ask Max what he thought, but at that moment, the referee approached and reminded him that the showtime was over. Richard put the microphone away without hesitation and left the field with the cameraman.