Imai Cosmo vs Laila Nazari

The crowd was tense tonight. They had heard that there was going to be a double debut between two tough wrestlers with MMA backgrounds. If that was true, then they were going to be in for an interesting match tonight, especially since two new wrestlers would be fighting with a lot to prove.

As the audience began to grow a little restless, a heavy metal theme began to play, and the first newcomer came striding into the arena.

Spoiler:

Striding down the ramp, Laila Nazari's gaze focused on the ring. Even as the audience burst into cheers  at the arrival of the good-looking newcomer, Laila didn't spare them even the smallest sideways glance, Laila ignored them as she made her way towards the ring. She seemed utterly focused on the match to come, her powerful body moving with a stiff relentlessness that matched her grim expression.

Sliding under the ropes, Laila wasted no time in clambering up to the corner post, her tatoo-ringed eyes narrowing as she watched and waited to see who her opponent would be...

As Laila's music died down the lights dimmed down before, in sharp contrast to the heavy metal, the electronic music of Daft Punk went through the arena with Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger playing. After a few moments a figure stepped out onto the ramp, blond hair and bright blue eyes with a grin on his face, "Heh, time to leave my mark on a new industry!" He mused to himself as he began to step down the ramp, cracking his neck from side to side.

Spoiler:

Imai removed his shirt on his way down to the ring, revealing the well toned frame that his youthful look hid as he raised a fist into the air to the cheer of fans before rolling under the bottom rope and into the ring. As he got to his feet he looked to his opponent with a friendly smile, hearing she had spent time in MMA like him before coming to tension. "Hey there, since we're both debuting let's show this audience a good time." He greeted as he offered a hand for a shake before the match began.

As her opponent made his way into the arena, Laila took the time to get a good look at him. Although he was noticeably shorter than her, his body was nonetheless packed tightly with muscle, and despite his beaming smile and almost Ken Doll-esque blonde hair, he had the walk of someone who knew how to use this body effectively. She sensed no malice from him as he walked up and extended his hand to her.

She almost casually slapped his hand aside. "I'm not here to make friends," she said stiffly. "I'm here to defeat you."And with that, she would back away, waiting for the bell to ring. The moment it did ring, she would back out of her corner, circling Imai and waiting to see what he would do...

If Imai was bothered by the other's response to his greeting and hand shake offer it didn't show, instead he merely gave a shrug and small laugh, "Well that's fine too. Just don't expect this to turn out in your favor unless you put in some major work." He replied as he stepped back as well, waiting for the bell. The moment it rang he would seem to change in an instant, a more focused look on his face as he crouched into a stance.

Since both of them were MMA fighters before they came here he knew that this could be decided in a moment's hesitation as he inched his way closer. Focusing himself he would make a dash towards her, aiming a fist towards her, a way to test the waters so to say.

Laila was quiet as she watched Imai, noting how he moved, how those muscles of his seemed to ripple with each confident step. His attitude had changed almost immediately, his happy go lucky expression melting into a serious, measured gaze. It was a gaze and stance that told Laila tht this was an opponent to be taken seriously...which was fine. So was she.

In an instant, Imai was rushing towards her with a raised fist. Knowing that this was probably a feint, Laila stood and let Imai charge...and then at the last second exploded into movement, sidestepping his punch and spinning to hopefully hammer an elbow into his side.

Imai felt his eyes widen a bit as Laila suddenly seemed to vanish from view before glancing to the side, catching a trace of her. As he felt the elbow begin impact with his side he twisted to move along with the blow to dampen the impact.

Still he had to wince as he stumbled back before quickly regaining his footing, fists raised and bouncing lightly on his feet. He definitely knew now to avoid going in reckless, he would have to make use of his own speed to go for strikes and grapples. A small grin formed as he would dash, seeming to go for another punch, only to at the last second switch to a kick aimed at her knee.

Imai recovered quickly, returning to his feet after Laila had nailed him with that elbow and retreating beyond her striking range. Glaring at him, Laila followed after him, not wanting to give him time to recover or retaliate, and the early stages of their dance resumed once again.

Imai struck out again, lashing out with another punch. Laila moved to catch his arm, but realized too late it was a feint-- Imai's leg smacked against her knee, causing her to hiss as pain shot up her leg. Hobbling a little, she tried to retaliate with a chop-- once again, feinting, this time trying to power forward to drive a knee into his abs!

Imai grinned a bit as he felt the kick connect against her knee, it was still early in the match but getting in a blow against such an important part of the body was invaluable. But he knew to keep up his guard and to not take his opponent lightly, she was already proving to be a tough opponent. And that was shown as she quickly went to counterattack after his kick and he dropped his grin going back to a more serious look to prepare for the chop.

However when she quickly changed to move forward his eyes widened as he felt the knee hit his abs and, even tightening his abs at the last second, the blow knocked air out of him though he still moved to get some distance. As he did he aimed another kick to her knee to try and force her to make distance between the two of them so he could recover.

Laila almost grinned...almost...as her knee struck Imai's abs, the blow compressing the slightly around her leg as she struck. She saw Imai stagger back, winded by her blow, and charged in to follow up. Imai recovered quickly, shooting another leg at the same knee he had struck earlier. This time, a stifled cry of pain escaped her lips as pain shot up her leg.

As Imai drew away, Laila backed away as well, her guard up. Her knee was throbbing now, and it was it was starting to hurt to put weight on her leg. Not a good sign, she knew. Wincing, she nonetheless circled Imai, knowing that she now had no chance but to react to his next move. Might as well lull him into striking range, she thought, if she was going to get a hit in...

Imai, despite the discomfort the knee to his gut had given him, couldn't help but grin, both because his kick landed and because he was enjoying the fight so far. He always enjoyed when a match could go back and forth but now he had to keep his focus as he worked to recover the air knocked out of him from the ab shot.

Watching Laila back away as he did he was glad to get the breathing room, as brief as it might be to recover. He then went back to his stance, bouncing on his feet lightly, eyes focused squarely on his opponent. After a few seconds he would swiftly move from a striking stance to a low stance and moved forward quickly, aiming for her legs to try for a takedown against her. If successful he would then move to try and get into a mounted position, his MMA training coming in for an attempted ground and pound.