Maxi vs Ronin - Clash of the warriors!

Maxi really didn't like submission holds, it just wasn't something he really incorporated into his approach to fighting. It slowed down the pacing of the battle, and let the enemy often catch their breath while at the same time whittling the guardian of the seas down. Hence why Maxi tried to avoid it when he could, but still it paid to know how to try and cope with the situation at hand. And Maxi had felt like he'd done so, given that Ronin hadn't expected the hard shots to the kneecaps.

Still it seemed as if that made the nameless warrior back off, perhaps at this point in the match it was too early to consider a hold on the man from Okinawa. Maxy took this opportunity to get some distance, doing a small crawl and going into a forward roll to create some space. When the guardian of the seas had turned around, Ronin picked up his weapon and chucked it out the ring. Maxi, needless to say hadn't expected this. Perhaps the man could have used the nunchucks to his advantage, then again anyone who lacked the training was more likely to injure themselves after all. At least those ones were from the dojo, and not the precious pair that Maxi had when he travelled Japan.

Maxi wasn't fazed though, instead he gave a smirk and flicked his hair with one hand before thumbing his nose. Ronin wanted to play it that way, fine by him. Maxi elicited a Kiai noise as he settled into his martial arts stance, with the way of Jeet Kune Do. The guardian of the seas could be just as deadly without his trademark weapon of choice, and he'd prove it here. Maxi would near Ronin, take a couple of steps. And then quickly crouch down and then leap up, hoping to clip the nameless warrior on the jaw with a beautiful backflip kick!

Despite the fact that Maxi managed to get him to back off easily, Ronin could still consider it a win in his book; he managed to get those damn nunchucks out of the picture, which was perfect for now. It evened out the playing field for the moment, if only by making their reach a little more equal for the moment. To assume that Maxi didn't have anything hidden or up his sleeves would be naive.

The fact that Maxi didn't seem fazed by the desperate attempt to get those nunchucks out of the ring was just proof to that point; the "kiai", on the other hand, just brought Ronin up to a standing position -- and made him laugh. He knew it was the beginning to something deadly, sure -- but Jesus Christ it seemed to come out of nowhere! Of course, it was just a moment -- but a moment was enough.

That beautiful backflip kick hit him squarely on the chin, sending Ronin stumbling back into the ropes. He cursed himself for getting distracted by the sound. He was better than that. He let his arms hook onto the ropes, tilting his head to and fro as a result of the kick -- but he was keeping an eye on Maxi. Time to play possum for a little bit.

The crowd gave a very loud burst of cheers in response to Maxi's attack, it was certainly unexpected from the guardian of the seas. But that was the point, it wasn't a move that could easily be done. If Maxi didn't move his legs and hips enough at just the right way then the martial artist could land crack on his head, but when the stars aligned in their formation.....It would knock the enemy silly and had the ropes not been there in place for Ronin he'd probably be flat on his ass. In contrast to Maxi's usual jovial attitude the finesse that went into this attack was a clear indicator of how much time he had spent practising his martial arts. And the dedication that came with it.

Maxi landed on his feet, hunched down somewhat as he handled the momentum of the move as it went full circle. The guardian of the seas had taken the nameless warrior off guard with that attack and connected in the head, the main target for most of Maxi's battles. On instinct the man from Okinawa flicked his hair, and he knew what he needed to do. Press the attack, the advantage had been made and the ex sailor smelled blood.

With that in mind Maxi stood up fully and took a step back, and would then proceed to rush forward towards Ronin on the ropes. Sticking out his nearest arm on the way forwards Maxi would seek to try and strike into the nameless warrior and go for a clothesline right to the outside!

Thankfully, that one kick told Ronin more about Maxi than anything else in the match so far, the least of all being that Maxi was more dangerous than he looked. Even without the nunchucks, he still managed to get Ronin on the ropes, quite literally in this case. He'd have to be a little more careful going forward, though he might be able to turn it back around if he played his cards right. Maxi was skilled, that much was apparent -- but so was Ronin in his own ways. He couldn't help but grin at the man from Okinawa; this match was going to be fun.

He could see the clothesline coming a mile away, and that would be his saving grace. He squatted down right before he connected, grabbing for his legs -- before moving to try and flip the guardian of the seas over the ring ropes. What was nice was that he was skilled with extremely close quarters; while he might not be able to take a few more of those kicks or hits, he could at least grapple his opponent into submission. Which he was good at.

If he managed to get Maxi onto the concrete, he would try and move once more, going up the ropes -- and hoping that Maxi hadn't recovered too quickly, he moved to jump off and onto him in a nice crossbody, if it even landed. Otherwise, he would end up flopping on the ground more gracelessly than a dead fish. And if he couldn't even get Maxi over the ropes -- well, that would be an even bigger problem for him.

Maxi was a skilled martial artist, but it wasn't just the years of training that made him dangerous. It was the sprit that he had, living on the streets was rough. More than dangerous at times, which prompted the guardian of the seas to be a fighter in order to survive. Over time he had actually grown to thrive on the risk and danger that came with it, the exchanges with Ronin served to remind Maxi of it. This was a fight plain and simple.

Still though Ronin wasn't going to take it lying down, Maxi relied on mostly taking the fight straight to the enemy which had served him well in most cases. But not in this point, the nameless warrior was going to be able to see the guardian of the sea rushing in and without any sort of acrobatic move to blur the moment of impact Ronin could catch Maxi and counter. All it took was getting down low and grabbing Maxy's legs and letting momentum do the rest.

"Shit!" Maxy yelled out, his eyes widening as the realisation hit him. It was like the coyote before the fall, thankfully though the ropes were within reach and on instinct the Jeet Kune Do fighter shot his hands out to grab them. Though the speed at which Maxi had ran in meant he was still hitting the mats outside, just the landing was a bit softer than it might not have been.

Maxy winced as he took a tumble, though it wasn't the worst fall he'd taken. And he'd landed on harder floors, try a dumpster after a fire escape jump. Though Ronin was going to take advantage of this, the martial artist turned around and proceeded to stand up. When suddenly the nameless warrior was taking to the air with a crossbody, the second thing to take Maxi by surprise. Ronin was a big guy, and they didn't normally fly like that.

Which resulted in having the guardian of the seas bowled over, Ronin would plow square into him. The weight of the enemy resulted in Maxy giving a very loud and painful exhale, and he'd simply lay there. Pondering one thing, just what the hell hit him there?!

While Maxi was a skilled martial artist, this was a wrestling ring -- and Ronin was a skilled wrestler. He had grown up on the streets too, much like Maxi -- and he learned how to be a fighter not only to protect himself, but to make a living for himself. So while he'd never seen guys quite like Maxi before, he had seen many people coming in and out of the ring -- and he knew how best to fend for himself, not only by using his opponent's style against him, but also by using his own style.

And Ronin knew what to do against men like this. Men who tended to dart in and go for power punches and kicks, and going for prettier moves than anything. Though in Maxi's case, they were pretty and they were deadly. So when he managed to counter the blow and throw him over the ropes, it was a moment of triumph for Ronin! He grinned to himself as it worked, not letting it distract him as he went for the follow up.

And when he heard Maxi curse not long before he had hit him with the crossbody, he couldn't help but feel satisfied. He couldn't do too many big, aerial moves like that -- but he could maybe land one per match, so long as his opponent didn't realize it was coming too quickly. It took Ronin a moment to get back up, as well, and he moved to go under the mat -- so he could grab a nice, metal chair and swing it down on Maxi. A bit of recompense for bringing the nunchucks into the ring to begin with!

This wasn't the first time Maxi had taken a fall from someplace, in fact this one he'd consider to be rather tame. Nothing was broken at least, still though it had been a bit of an odd tumble. But the guardian of the seas knew that he could keep going, he wasn't ready to lay down and accept defeat if he could help it. Maxi fought to survive and not just to win, the rush that came with that was something he relied on. Since settling down it seemed that led to Maxi's edge being dulled, just a bit. Not much, but enough.

Maxi arched his back a bit to try and numb the pain, but he had a feeling that Ronin was going to try and press this advantage. He'd do the same thing had the roles been reversed, and this was a no DQ match. Over his time spent travelling Japan Maxi had developed what he'd like to think were good instincts, and he trusted them when it came to fighting. Sure enough they proved correct.

The guardian of the seas had turned to his belly, to get a better look at what the nameless fighter was going to attempt. It was a steel chair shot, Maxi had a nagging feeling that was coming. Though he didn't panic, first thing not to do was that. He waited, right to the last second. When the steel came down, Maxi would aim to quickly roll to the right. He'd hear the sound of it smacking the ground, and breathing heavily the guardian of the seas would stand up and fire out a dropkick to blast Ronin back and if he held the chair in front of him it'd land into his head. Either way would work but Maxi needed to counter back.

Ronin had to admit, this was starting to become one of his favorite matches. The sheer ability that Maxi showed as the two of them flowed from one move into the other was impressive, to say the least, and he found himself grinning even when his moves missed, like when Maxi managed to roll away from the chair that he tried to send crashing down. He couldn't help but respect the guardian of the seas as each second passed of their match. But respect would only go so far when it came down to it, and he knew that he would have to focus on the task at hand if he wanted to beat this man.

So when Maxi saw the steel chair coming, Ronin knew that the blow wouldn't land. That's fine; he knew that the chair was a bit of an issue if he kept it around, or even if he just kept it in his hands. So he just let it drop when the attack failed, moving to stand up fully and get an eye on Maxi to see what he was doing. And what he was doing was countering. The dropkick got him before he had a chance to dodge, sending him backwards and onto the edge of the ring, giving a small groan. The chair was a little too far away for him to reach, and he knew that Maxi probably wouldn't fall for him playing possum so soon after he did it last.

Ronin had another plan. He shifted away quickly, before he went to the corner of the ring -- and grabbed the steps off the side of the ring. The moment Maxi would move towards him, he would throw the steps his way, and dash forward to tackle him to the ground if the steps didn't do the job for him. Or, he would try, at the very least; the issue with the move would be that the steps blocked his vision a bit too much when they were in the air. He wouldn't know if they missed until it was too late.

Maxi could tell this Ronin guy was a good fighter, it wasn't the silent attitude and the confidence his opponent had. It was simply that the nameless warrior was showing he had the skills to pay the bills, backing up the image Ronin had. With the dangerous situation Maxi was in he found himself thinking that he was back to his wandering days, where he got into fights on a regular basis. The attacks back and forth was proof that both were fighting to win.

The dropkick wasn't a usual move of Maxi, despite his martial arts background. Still though since coming to Tension he expanded on what he could do, the attack was strike based and so Maxi stuck with it. Putting his impressive lower body strength to use in blasting Ronin back, disaster nimbly being avoided. Still though the nameless warrior wasn't going to stick around long if he could help it, performing a sort of strategic retreat away from the guardian of the seas.

The man from Okinawa proceeded to stand back up, intent on trying to press the attack. Smelling blood was the proverb, that said though Maxi might wanted to have checked himself before wrecking himself. Ronin took the pragmatic route by grabbing the nearby steel stairs and proceeding to try and toss them right at the martial artist. Maxi's eyes widened, but his reactions kicked in. Wasn't the first time folks threw things at him, but that was a ploy for Ronin to swoop in and take him down with a tackle right back to the hard ground outside the ring. "Augh!" Maxi grunted out, the pain shooting into his back. A smart tactic that he'd probably give praise to were he not on the end of it.

The two men weren't too different, in all honesty. Having spent many years honing their styles of fighting, it was only fitting that the two warriors battle it out in a hardcore match. The two of them could probably go out for a drink after this with enough respect for the other fighter to have a good time -- and end up telling stories that the other person was familiar with, having dealt with it in another part of the world or what have you.

It was a good thing that Maxi followed after him like a shark as soon as he shifted away; the move might not have worked otherwise. But he managed to throw that staircase at Maxi and tackle him down handily, eliciting that loud grunt as he brought Maxi to the ground. With a small smirk, he shifted, moving to grab Maxi's hair as he stood up. There wasn't much he could do on the ground in order to wear Maxi out, but so long as he managed to get him to his feet -- there was plenty. He moved to do it fluidly, aiming a stomp at Maxi's midsection in order to try and make it a bit easier for him to handle.

And so long as he managed to get Maxi up even slightly, he would move to scoop him up so he would be able to force Maxi over his knee in a backbreaker. He didn't want to put the guy up on his shoulders just yet, he still had too much energy to him. Hopefully, so long as he managed to get Maxi in the backbreaker, he would be able to drain that energy quickly.