Fighter's Brew Transcript: Episode 8 (Patreon)

• Fighter's Brew

All-Rounder Meguru was created by Hiroki Endo. Fighter's Brew is written, produced, and narrated by Sam.

[Note: Manga is read right to left.]

At the shooto event, Yudai and Maki are teasing Meguru for barely winning.

"What a funny kid," Maria says to Furuya. "He actually won by copying his opponent."

"We can't let him keep that up, though," Furuya says. "In the sectionals, you only get one four-minute round. He can't use all that time to figure out his opponent."

"Good point. He may not have a solid style or special move yet, but it's clear he's growing."

Now it's Maki's turn. Despite this being her first shooto fight, she has no fear.

She warms up with Yudai.

"Stay calm, and if she grabs you," Maria tells her, "get the overhook and biceps control. Then turn her around."

As they walk to the ring, "She's a judoka, so look out for leg sweeps and trips," Yudai tells her.

"Uh-huh," Maki replies nonchalantly.

Maki steps into the ring. "Is she even listening?" Yudai asks Maria.

"C'mon, you know she isn't. She's so sure of herself."

Maki looks at her opponent.

"My prey," Maki thinks.

Maki is fighting Kaoru Nobeoka from Shindokai MMA Dojo. Maki is a foot taller than her. This is not uncommon in MMA when you have striker vs. grappler.

"She has a lot of reach on you," Kaoru's coach tells her. "But it won't matter if you can get in close. Trust yourself."

"Right!" she says.

"Keep your distance, and don't panic if she takes you down," Maria tells Maki.

"Uh-huh."

The fight begins. Maki has a tall muay Thai stance. She hasn't adjusted yet to MMA.

Maki throws a left middle kick, which is blocked, followed by a right low kick.

"Looking good, Kamiya!" shouts Furuya. "Move to your right!"

Maki is picking Kaoru apart from range. Even when Kaoru correctly times a counter, she's too far away to land.

"I'm surprised she can kick so freely in her first MMA fight," Furuya tells Maria.

Maria sighs. "It's because she doesn't know fear yet. They're still on their feet."

Takashi's Senior to Takashi, "She throws her middle kicks to the shoulder like you do to avoid it getting grabbed. She has a similar style to yours, Takashi. She's even a southpaw."

"But if you keep throwing kicks, you're eventually bound to get taken down," Takashi says.

"I can do this!" Kaoru tells herself.

Maki throws a jab, Kaoru ducks and shoots for a takedown. Maki counters with a knee to the stomach.

"That was dead on!" blurts Yudai.

A painful lesson in martial arts and self-defense is, hurting someone and stopping someone are two different things. Maki hurt Kaoru, but she didn't stop or even address the takedown.

Kaoru drives through with a bodylock into a trip. She has already accepted that she would have to take a shot to get a takedown.

But while Kaoru tries to catch her breath, Maki seizes the moment to kick her off and stand up.

They're both back to standing.

"That last knee hurt her," Maki thinks. "I'll end this with a high kick."

"I can't let her intimidate me," Kaoru tells herself. "This just means I have to take her down again. Nothing's changed."

Maki goes for the head kick. Kaoru bravely charges in with her guard high.

Kaoru blocks the kick and throws a wide left hook. Maki leans forward to jam the punch. That's exactly what Kaoru was looking for as she grabs another body lock. She goes for the trip again, but this time Maki is wise to it and is able to stay on her feet.

But to counter the trip, Maki has to lean forward. Kaoru uses Maki's forward momentum to throw her over her shoulder.

They slam onto the mat.

"If Maki knew any grappling, that would have been a dangerous throw for her opponent," Tamiya says. "This isn't judo. Even if you're thrown, you can take your opponent's back from that position."

Kaoru isolates Maki's left arm and drops back for an armbar, but Maki has her hands locked.

Maki uses her natural athleticism to roll on top. She then uses strength and rage to yank her arm out.

She throws a punch at Kaoru, who is still on her back.

"What the hell is she doing?!" Yudai shouts.

The ref calls a time-out and deducts three points from Maki for an illegal ground strike.

The ref on the outside yells, "Do that again, and you're disqualified!"

Furuya is upset. "Does she not know the rules? Her opponent isn't a pro, she's doing this for fun."

Embarrassed by her pupil, "She unfortunately knows the rules," Maria says. "She probably had no intention of actually hitting her, she just wanted to intimidate her."

Maria, to herself, "What am I going to do with her?"

"Don't get mad, Kaoru," her coach tells her. "Keep your cool!"

The round ends.

At Maki's corner.

"Maki-chan! That was uncalled for!" Maria scolds. "The fact that you can't follow the rules proves you're scared. If you stay calm, she can't beat you."

"I know, alright!" Maki shouts back.

"I'm surprised she got out of that armbar," Meguru says.

"She's a natural athlete," Tamiya tells Meguru. "Athletes can make up on the spot what takes others hours of practice to figure out. But the problem is that without that practice, it uses up a lot more energy. She can tire herself out if she goes to the ground again."

"You know what to do," Kaoru's coach tells her. "Clinch, throw, finish."

"Got it!"

Round two begins.

"She has no answers for my left mid kick," Maki tells herself. "Be confident!"

"I can't keep eating those left kicks to my shoulder, or my right arm is going to give out," Kaoru thinks. "I have to get to the clinch quickly."

Maki throws the left middle kick to Kaoru's shoulder. Kaoru reacts, she's hurt. Maki smells blood.

Maki throws another left kick. Kaoru raises her arms to defend, but the kick lands on her stomach instead. Kaoru winces in pain, but the middle kick is below her arm this time. That means she can grab it.

Kaoru grabs the kick and drives Maki to the ring post. Maki does what she practiced with Yudai. Using the overhook to lift Kaoru up, then controlling her biceps and turning her around. Maki lands a knee. It's the third shot to the body. Kaoru holds her stomach and falls to the ground.

The referee starts the count, but Kaoru gets up at four.

"That is one tough grappler," Tamiya says.

"What do I have to do to finish her?" Maki thinks.

"Look at Maki-chan's face," Maria tells Furuya. "She's used to breaking her opponents. But her opponent's spirit is making her doubt herself. She's a bully, and bullies falter in the face of an opponent more ferocious than they are."

The match continues. Maki, a bit tired, sticks out a jab but Kaoru ducks under it into the clinch. But rather than going for a takedown, Kaoru drops to guard and sweeps Maki.

[This sweep is both opportunistic and deterministic. When their feet are square, if you control their posts, you can easily knock your opponent over. If they're standing tall, it works even better. If you understand this universal principle, you can apply it broadly.]

"Oh, wow. She's not just a judoka. She has a guard game also!" Tamiya says in shock.

Kaoru begins to pass, but just as she did with Maria, Maki instinctively rolls over to get up.

[Overcoming instinct, fear, and habit, takes lots of practice.]

"No!" Maria yells.

Kaoru jumps on Maki's back and secures the sleeper hold. Maki panics and taps without resistance.

Kaoru Nobeoka is declared the winner. She bows and thanks Maki for the match.

"Watch your back!" Maki tells her. "If I see you on the street—"

"—Maki-chan!" Maria yells.

"Maki-chan lost," Meguru says. Disappointed.

"Still, it was a good opportunity to show her there are girls stronger than her," Furuya says. "By the way, where's Tamiya?"

Meguru and Furuya look around to find Tamiya handing Kaoru a business card and trying to recruit her to Fighter's Brew.

"Get away from my student!" Kaoru's coach yells.

"Woah! Iwanami-san?" Tamiya says. "You're already back from Brazil? Do you still have athlete's foot?"

"That was five years ago! My dojo's showers are spotless now!"

"Tamiya-san knows everyone, huh?" Meguru asks.

"Looks like it. Seems like he never found a home until Fighter's Brew." Yudai says. "But what are we going to do about her?"

Yudai points at Maki, who's had the same half-eaten bite of banana in her mouth for the past five minutes.

"She hasn't moved," Yudai says.

Maki begins to cry.

"Should we say something?" Meguru asks.

"Maki-chan!" Maria says. "You broke down in the middle of a fight."

Maki glares at her.

"So what? Are you going to quit MMA now?"

Maki tears up again and quietly says, "I'll do it. I'll do MMA."

Maria sits and comforts her student.

Takashi is fighting now. His opponent is Takuya Inahara from GS Academy. Takuya is also covered in tattoos, but more of the generic MMA-bro kind.

"What kind of fighter is he?" Meguru asks Furuya.

"He's a striker with a full contract karate and boxing background. So they match up well. But he's really aggressive and has a bad temper. He's nabbed a lot of KOs with left hooks and body blows. So will it be Inahara's karate and boxing or Yamabuki's karate and muay Thai?

Meguru to Maki, "Maki-chan! You should get a look at Takashi's left kick."

The fight begins.

Takuya opens with a right straight, then chains three more punches while shifting from stance to stance.

[Shifting is when you disguise your stance switch into your footwork.]

"He's not going to tackle me," Takuya thinks, "So I can punch all I want."

Takashi backs up while dodging all the punches. Then returns fire with a left middle kick.

"Not bad," Maki says.

"Right?" Meguru agrees. "His left kicks are great. He can stop anything with them!"

"Why are you more excited about his fight than mine? You know he's not even on your team, right? Didn't he already beat you up? What's the deal between you two?"

Maria smiles. "I'm glad she's back to normal."

Takashi throws the middle kick again, but this time Takuya parries the kick and uses a karate sweep to trip him.

[Again, the same principle of off-balancing. Parrying the kick makes the opponent stand square and tall. Push your opponent back as you kick out their posts. No posts, no balance. Removing both posts is easiest when they're already lined up.]

On the ground.

Takuya follows up with a punch to Takashi's face but stops right before contact and smirks. Takashi is stunned.

The ref calls time and deducts three points from Takuya.

Meguru to Furuya, "Furuya-san, look!"

"Even if he didn't make contact, that was blatantly illegal. However, if this was pro shooto, Yamabuki would have been KOed. The question is, how does Yamabuki respond? Is he the type who thinks being saved by the rules is a disgrace?"

The ref calls fight.

"Hah!" Takashi yells as he gets into a traditional karate stance.

"The sanchin stance?" Takuya thinks. "Does he think that shit will work in MMA?"

[This actually is a bad stance for fighting, but this is where we just have to go with the story.]

"Stay calm, Takashi!" his Senior yells. "Anger leads to defeat."

Takashi stands with his feet parallel and both hands up like he's curling a barbell.

Neither makes a move.

The ref calls time and deducts a point from both corners for inactivity.

Takuya moves forward with jabs, but Takashi tries to intercept with a left straight. Takuya dodges and lands a right body shot.

"From this stance, he probably can't see a right hook," Takuya thinks.

Takuya follows up with a right hook to the head, but the sanchin hand position makes a natural barrier for the hook.

Takashi lands his uppercut.

"That uppercut again!" Furuya thinks.

[From this stance, you can't defend takedowns, you can't block to the body, and you can't block straight punches. So the opponent goes for a wide hook to the head, the only punch that you can block from this stance. But this scene isn't about realism but Takashi honoring the past.]

Takuya is knocked out. Takashi wins again.

"You're lucky your left reverse block was there," Tsukisada-sensei says. "But if he threw his signature left hook to the body instead of a right hook, it would have been you to go down."

Tamiya to Meguru, "That upper looked like it barely tapped him. Do you know how he does that, Meguru?"

"No idea. But I do remember Takashi's grandpa using a similar move on me before. He hit me with his palm from 10 cm away. I'm pretty sure he was holding back, but I still collapsed on the spot. It felt like the impact tore right through my back."

"Like a chi blast?" Tamiya asks.

"Sounds like bullshit," says Yudai.

"Takashi's grandpa—" Meguru corrects himself. "I mean, Sensei called it 'achieving maximum power with minimum effort.'"

"It's true MMA is about creating your own style," Furuya thinks, "but this kid is trying to invent his own style while mixing the ancient with the modern, and he's not even 20. Better keep an eye on him."