Fighter's Brew – S3: E7 (Audio + Transcript) (Patreon)

• Fighter's Brew

[Note: Read the manga images from right to left.]

"Just stay cool, Meguru," says Furuya. "You know how to escape leg locks. Get out and get to dominant positions. If he moves to your side, he's not looking for a side kick but a flying scissor leg lock. Most importantly, do not get in a leg lock contest with him."

"Meguru Takayanagi," thinks Masuoka as he walks to the ring. "Apart from doing some karate when he was little, he's got no fighting background, and he only recently started MMA. The kid is only in high school. How did he beat Mitsuya? Then there's also Yamabuki. I guess prodigies do exist."

"In the red corner," the announcer exclaims, "from Fighter's Brew, Meguru Takayanagi! And in the blue corner, from Team Chikugo, Kyosuke Masuoka!"

"Fight!" the ref shouts.

Meguru reaches his hand out to touch gloves, but Masuoka charges in with a pro wrestling flying drop kick. He misses.

Masuoka stays on his back and invites Meguru to fight him on the ground. Meguru backs up, and the referee ushers Masuoka back to his feet.

Masuoka charges with a wild hook. Meguru counters with jabs and follows up with a right straight to the stomach.

Masuoka backs up and blocks a stiff high kick.

He shoots. Meguru momentarily takes his back. Masuoka scrambles, looking to get to top position, but Meguru gets back to his feet and delivers a knee before backing out.

Masuoka shoots again, and Meguru stuffs it. He falls to his back, looking for a leg lock. Meguru scrambles and ends up on top. Masuoka transitions to a knee bar. Meguru rolls and escapes.

They both get back to their feet. Masuoka dives for another leg lock, but Meguru escapes.

[Masuoka is controlling the leg but not the rest of Meguru's body. Meguru can move his body to free the leg. For a submission to be at its most effective, the rest of the body must be immobilized.]

Back on the feet, Masuoka eats another high kick, followed by a jab.

"As soon as he lets his guard down," Masuoka thinks, "I'll go full force and finish him in one shot!"

Masuoka eats a right straight, followed by a low kick. He charges in with punches. Meguru backs up. Masuoka dives for Meguru's legs and catches him with an inside heel hook. Meguru rolls and escapes.

"Close call," says Takashi's teammate. "How did he escape that?"

"Meguru's legs are more flexible than mine," Takashi says.

"Does he have rubber bones or something?" Masuoka thinks.

Meguru pressures Masuoka into the corner.

"Perfect," Masuoka thinks.

He clinches Meguru but gets turned around. Meguru goes for a knee, but Masuoka jumps for a flying scissor takedown.

Trapped in the corner, Meguru attacks with his own leg lock. Masuoka rolls to escape. They both fall out of the ring.

Neither is injured, and the match resumes from standing.

Masuoka shoots for another takedown. Meguru spins for his back, but Masuoka rolls for a leg lock. Meguru escapes and goes for his own leg lock. Masuoka counters, and Meguru escapes back to standing. Regardless of his opponent's strengths, Meguru's attacking what's open.

Time is running out, and Masuoka is losing on points.

Meguru backs up, drawing Masuoka in.

Masuoka dives for a leg, but Meguru times the knee and hits him clean on the chin.

Masuoka goes down. He's out.

[Meguru can predict Masuoka's actions. By backing up, he invites the dive for the leg and sets up the knee counter.]

The ref waves his arms. Meguru wins by knock out.

"Well, shit," Furuya says. "He's starting to surprise even us."

Meguru celebrates with his team.

"I thought I told you not to get into a leg lock contest?" says Furuya. "You took needless risks. You need to control the flow of the match from the starting bell."

"Right," says Meguru.

"Yo, Meguru," Urasawa says. "Whoever wins this next bout is your next opponent. If I had to bet, I'd put my money on Shu Katori. He's one of the favorites to win along with Takashi Yamabuki."

"He's 180 cm tall," Furuya says, "8-0 with two knockouts and six submissions. All of his submissions were by rear strangle."

"Fight!" the ref shouts.

"He's a lanky southpaw who makes the most of his reach," Furuya continues.

Katori lands a jab, followed by a front kick and a long left straight. His opponent drives forward to close the distance. Katori counters with a knee. The opponent shoots. Katori stuffs the takedown and spins for the back. He sinks in the strangle and wins by tap out.

"He wrestled in high school and college," says Furuya. "He's an all-rounder, like you. But Katori has size and wrestling on his side. He also beat Kagaya with that same strangle in grappling. But your strength, Meguru, is that your opponent doesn't know what you'll do because we don't even know what you'll do."

Kagaya also wins his second match by knockout.

"I'll see you in the finals," Katori tells him.

Takashi is up. He's facing Genta Umezawa from Kamaishi. He lost his family to the tsunami.

"Don't play at his range, or he'll eat you up," Katsuma tells Genta. "Pressure. Don't give him room to breathe. When you're close, he'll go for his uppercut. Don't give him time to act. Get underhooks and take his back."

"After this match," Furuya says, "we'll have our lightweight final four."

The match begins. Genta pressures forward with strikes. Takashi counters with a knee.

They exchange. Genta throws a left body hook, but Takashi blocks. Takashi kicks, but Genta dodges. Takashi kicks again but Genta parries and lands a left hook to the body.

[Speaking of predictable, Takashi is also predictable. Genta knows the kicks are coming, so he parries.]

[After the parry, Takashi is out of position and vulnerable to a counter.]

Genta looks for a body lock, but Takashi grabs his head for a knee. Genta pushes him away to reset.

[When they're close, Genta knows Takashi will grab and attack with the uppercut. The solution is a simple shove. Genta is revealing flaws in Takashi's perfect practice. Practice makes perfect makes predictable.]

Takashi throws a head kick, but Genta blocks.

[The head kick or body kick is coming whenever there's space. Rather than just blocking with the arm, Genta would be better served with a two-sided block you often see in Thai-boxing where you block with the arm and the leg to cover the head and body. Because if you block the head, a kick to the body is coming, or a kick from the other side. There's a clear pattern.]

"Yamabuki's not really the circling type," says Furuya. "He might be blocking, but he's getting pushed into the ropes before he can set up a kick."

Genta swings for a hook, but Takashi ducks underneath it and follows up with an uppercut. Genta backs away, and Takashi lands a left body kick. Genta fires back, but Takashi counters with a spinning heel kick. Genta ducks and takes Takashi to the mat.

"I survived the tsunami for a reason," thinks Genta. "I can't stop here."

[Whenever you're kicking, you're balancing on one leg. Since Takashi mostly kicks to the body and the head, you have a clear line to the leg. You can keep shooting whenever he kicks or kick out his supporting leg. Takashi primarily fights on one leg. That's a big opening.]

They crash to the mat. Genta moves to the side.

"Umezawa's in his element now," says Meguru.

Takashi gets an underhook.

"It's a trap," Meguru says.

Takashi works to get up, but Genta spins for a crucifix. He gets the rear strangle.

[How Takashi gets up from a takedown makes him susceptible to getting his back taken.]

Takashi is caught with one arm trapped. Takashi uses his free hand to pry one of Genta's arms off his neck.

"Damn, dude is strong," says Maki.

As they fight for position, Genta flinches. It's his ribs. It's injured from the body kick.

Takashi scrambles back to his feet.

"I won't make it to the finals in this shape," Genta thinks, "but if I'm going down, it's going to be in a blaze of glory."

Genta charges in. Takashi shoves him back. Genta blocks the left high kick. Takashi switches to a hook kick. It dazes Genta.

[Takashi is going to kick. That means he will be on one leg. Genta had exploited that opening before and should have kept exploiting it rather than just standing there. But you don't need to beat someone to reveal the playbook to defeat them.]

Takashi follows up with a left straight and knocks Genta out.

"Takashi is good," Meguru thinks, "but there's also been luck on his side. He's technical but relies on his size and strength more often than he realizes. He sticks to a script but hasn't had it tested yet, so he thinks it's infallible. But what happens if I test it and you lose control?"

"Guess this means my opponent for the semifinals is the same guy I should've faced in the Kanto qualifying finals," Kagaya tells his teammate.

"Damn it, I can't believe it ends here," says Genta.

"It doesn't," says Katsuma. "Now we head home, and the real work begins."

Next is Maki. Her first opponent is Erica Barboza Morita from Brazil, a BJJ purple belt with a 6-0 grappling record.

"I don't know how good her strikes are," says Maria.

"I don't care," says Maki. "I'm just gonna kick the crap out of her."

The match begins.

Erica flies at Maki with unorthodox kicks.

"It's capoeira!" Maria shouts.

Maki can't get close enough to land her own kicks.

Maki is pushed back to the corner. Erica swings with a big spinning heel kick, which dazes Maki. Erica goes for another kick, but Maki counters with a left knee.

"Outta my face!" shouts Maki.

They clinch. Erica jumps for a flying armbar. Maki pulls her arm out, but Erica follows up with a sweep. Maki scrambles back up. Erica grabs a guillotine and jumps to guard.

"This is bad," Furuya says. "We know nothing about this girl."

Maki fights Erica's grip and pulls her head out of the choke.

Erica kicks her away.

They're back to standing.

Erica throws spin kick after spin kick. Maki can't find her opening.

"She can't maintain this pace for long," Maki thinks.

Maki jumps for her own kick. Erica and Maki knock each other down.

Maki gets up in the scramble, and Erica locks in a triangle. Maki drives her weight forward until she escapes into a side pin. Maki steps over into a triangle choke of her own and rolls onto her back.

It's locked.

[A leg triangle happens to be a submission, but it's really putting a loop around an opponent's head and arm. You can also think of it as a triangle guard. From this guard, you can still attack an armbar. Releasing the triangle to go for something else means releasing your control position.]

Erica does not tap. Maki switches to an armbar, but Erica escapes. She's breathing hard.

Erica labors for a spin kick, but Maki sweeps her. Erica gets up and tries to get her kicks going again, but Maki intercepts with a clinch and knee.

Maki pushes her and lands a left body kick.

Erica backs up and smiles. She's hurt.

Maki marches forward and lands a left knee.

Erica is down.

There's 30 seconds left. Erica gets back up and beats the count.

Maki throws another left body kick. Erica blocks. Maki follows up with the left again, but this time to the head. Erica doesn't see it coming.

She's out.

The referee waves his hands. The match is over.

The ref helps Erica back to her feet. Maki shakes her hand before Erica is helped out of the ring. Erica embraces her team. This will be her last tournament in Japan before heading back to Brazil.

"How'd my grappling look?" Maki asks Momoko. "Killed it, right?"

"Hell yeah!" Momoko answers.

Next up is Ayako Nagamine vs. Kaoru Nobeoka.