One by one the fighters get announced, along with their opponents, to fight. They each have their own song and they walk out almost in a trance. Most of them have an entourage accompanying them, and many of them are wearing headphones.
Each fight goes a few rounds, until one guy either gets knocked out or they both last and the judges tally up the points, and then a winner is announced. I have no idea what they’re fighting for, but it must be something major because these fighters are taking this entire thing extremely personal.
Fortunately for Kayla, every guy who comes out of the… locker room (Oh! Maybe that’s what it’s called.) has to walk by us and she’s definitely taking advantage of the situation by snapping pictures left and right.
The fights are crazy to watch. These guys are seriously no joke. I wouldn’t last a second in that ring. At the end of every fight they both walk away beat to shit—bleeding everywhere—several parts of their body bruised and broken.
I’m starting to wonder how many of these fights are going to take place tonight—there’s only so much blood and gore a girl can take—when the lights dim down and it’s announced that coming up is the main event of the evening.
The first guy enters to Imagine Dragon’s Radioactive. He has a hoodie on and is surrounded by a bunch of guys. He is shaking hands and smiling wide for everybody to see, like he knows he’s got this shit in the bag. And hot damn he’s a big guy. I don’t know who the other guy is, but I can’t imagine anybody beating this guy. Heads are going to roll, and I doubt it’ll be this guy’s head. He walks to his corner of the ring and his entourage starts getting him ready for the fight.
The music ends and the next song begins. This time, the guy is walking out to Eminem’s, ‘Til I Collapse. Like the first guy, he’s wearing a hoodie, but unlike the first guy, he keeps his head down and doesn’t shake anybody’s hand. It’s not that he isn’t sure of himself… it’s more like he doesn’t feel the need to be cocky about it like the other guy. He’s focused and his song matches his mood perfectly. His entourage following him acts the same way. They walk out determined like they’re here to do a job. I take it back, this guy will be the winner. There’s no doubt about it. He’s about to fuck this guy up.
“Oh. My. God, Liz! Is that Kaden? Wait, is that Bentley?” Kayla starts tapping on my arm, while jumping up and down, trying to get a closer look.
Everything in my world goes still as I finally catch a good glimpse of the guys surrounding the fighter. A loud gasps escapes my lips—not loud enough for anyone to hear over the music and cheering, but loud enough I can hear it. That’s when I take a look at the fighter, like really look at him, and I see it, on his right arm is the dragon tattoo I’ll never forget.
Holy mother of God, it can’t be. There’s no way.
My fingers go up to my necklace. The boxing gloves he gave me. He told me he practiced MMA.
Well isn’t that an understatement of the year.
Kayla continues to shout at me, but my mind is all foggy and I can’t focus on anything but the man walking away from me toward the ring. It feels like the boxing gloves resting on my neck are suddenly burning a hole through my skin. The music stops and the guy on the loud speaker introduces the two fighters.
“And now three rounds in the UFC Middleweight division. Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner, this man is a valid judo fighter holding a professional record of twelve wins and zero losses, standing at six feet two inches, weighing in at 165 pounds fighting out of Los Angeles, California. He is The Ultimate Fighter season winner, Damian The Massive Garcia. And now introducing his opponent, fighting out of the red corner with a record of eight wins and zero losses, he stands at six feet three inches, weighing 170 pounds, fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada, he is Liam The Raaaaaage Cooper.”
Holy hell. I can’t believe it. A few things come to mind when I hear his introduction. First, Cooper is his freaking last name, not his first name. And that makes me wonder if maybe I did come across him online but didn’t realize it.
Second, he’s a famous fighter. That explains why he has to stay in shape.
And third, Rage? Well, goddamn that explains our daughter’s temper.
Kayla and I lock eyes, having an entire conversation without having to say a single a word. What the hell are the chances of running into my daughter’s father here?