Imai Cosmo vs Laila Nazari

Laila winced as she felt Imai's arms pummel against her forearms, each hit leaving slight bruising on her dusky skin. She took a deep breath, and was ready to twist, to try to throw Imai off of her...but instead, Imai grabbed her by the wrist. Before she could stop him, he was suddenly locking his legs around her arm, trapping her with an armbar of his own! Hissing between clenched teeth, Laila bit back a cry of pain, and clutched her shoulder, trying to shut out the hurt as best she could.

Countering quickly, Laila tried to roll over towards Imai, throwing some punches down at his abs to "convince" him to let her go. If this failed to do the trick, however, of if she was unable to do so, then she would get her feet and elbows under her, trying to angle her body and pull them towards the ropes, hoping to get a leg over the rope to force a break...

Imai grinned a bit as he managed to pull off the armbar before wincing as he felt the punches that connected with his abs but otherwise tuned it out. His time in underground fights had built him up to be tough to those kinds of attack and so he maintained the hold as much as he could. Of course the difference between those matches and here became evident as his dark skinned opponent moved and managed to get one of her legs over the rope. The ref called for a break and Iami was quick to reply, letting go of the hold as he rolled back to get into a kneeling position, keeping his eyes on his opponent.

Imai let out a breath as some sweat from the match thus far dripped down to the mat. "Not bad for a warm-up eh?" He mused with a grin as he moved to a stance halfway between kneeling and standing. Despite his smile he was focused on kept his guard up, this was certainly not an opponent he could afford to take lightly, 'Heh, my mentor was right this is shaping up to be an interesting place!' He thought to himself as his blue eyes took on a glint.

Laila let out a hiss of air, a breath she had been holding in as Imai had started working over her arm. As the ref told him to break, Laila rolled away from him, quickly getting back up to her knees. Across from her, Imai was in a crouch, still smiling that goddam smile of his. she glowered at him, only now feeling the sweat adding some shine to her dusky skin, her breathing a little more rapid than it had been before.

Slowly, Laila began to circle Imai, watching him....and then lunged upward, aiming to slam into him with an aggressive collar and elbow tie up. If she was quick enough, she hoped to hit him with enough force to knock him down onto his back-- otherwise, she would settle with shooting a knee up into his abs and judo flipping him over her shoulder, hoping to lock in a rear naked choke while he was on his butt.

'My my she's looking pretty scary~' The blond thought to himself in response to her glowering at him as he maintained his stance, not dropping his guard for a moment as he waited for her to make her move. Truly a fight like this was certainly something that excited the teen and his fighter's spirit was burning hot at this point to face someone so skilled. However her rush into a collar and elbow did take him off guard enough that he was moved onto his back and before he could regain his bearings he was moved to his butt and placed in a rear naked choke.

His eyes widened though he worked to keep himself from panicking, knowing the feel of the move as it was one of his most well known finishers in MMA and underground fights. With this in mind he began to work to get himself free as he aimed to aim an elbow at her side, trying to get her to either loosen her hold or stun her. If it hit then he would aim another elbow shot, his goal being to either make her loosen her wrapped arms around his neck or get her to a state where he could try and move to get her on her back in an improvised pin. Either way he knew he needed to try and get this move broken fast as it would be rather demoralizing for the King of Stranglers to lose his first Tension match by choke out.

Laila almost smiled....almost...as she managed to wrap Imai up in the rear naked choke. She now had her prey exactly where she wanted him: squirming and helpless as she choked the life out of him. To his credit, however, Imai wasn't going down easily as he struggled in her grip, straining against her powerful arms to get free, which only made them contort all the more around his throat and head.

And then, all of a sudden, his elbow slammed home against her firm abs. She let out a startled grunt as pain shot through her abdomen, her firm muscles curving under the blow. A second later, another elbow hit the same spot, causing a louder grunt of pain to escape her lips. She gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the pain, but for a few vital seconds, her grip around Imai's head weakened...

Imai winced a bit as he felt circulation begin to be closed off from the rear naked choke as he aimed elbows at her abs. However a slight smile managed to form as he heard the grunt and felt his elbow bury into flesh, signs his elbows were hitting home. With each shot he worked make an opening and soon enough the moment came as her grip loosened and he aimed to make his move for freedom and make his comeback!

His other hand moved to one of her arms, even as he aimed another elbow to her abs as he aimed to move her arm away enough to make the gap enough to slip out of the hold completely. If this succeeded he would turn and aim a knee at her face to try and get her on her back!

Laila was determined not to show weakness, let alone lose, to her male opponent. For her, it had always been a battle to prove that she deserved to be in the same ring in her male opponents, deserved their respect, that she could take anything they threw at her...which was why she was determined not to give ground to Imai, no matter how nice a guy he seemed. Another elbow, however, quickly told a different story: a painful gasp of air burst from her lungs, and her grip around his throat slackened, enough that Imai was able to slip his entire head free, leaving Laila gasping uselessly on her side.

The next thing she knew, Imai's knee cracked up against her skull. Colours danced across her vision, and she sprawled over onto her back, dazed as she stared up at the arena lights....

Imai had his own drive to win, no matter what kind of opponent he faced and no matter the league he fought in. He had always been one to get into fights, no matter how bad the odds were against him and it probably would have gotten him into some really deep trouble before he met his mentor Kureishi Mitsuyo, who gave him proper training. In intense matches he had taken on a variety of opponents and found he was both one who enjoyed fighting and deeper than this he had a strong desire to win. And so he would keep going against Laila until one of them was unable to keep going. He only hoped there would be no hard feelings between the two of them no matter the result.

As he felt his knee hit the mark against her he couldn't help his grin as he watched her sprawl out on the mat. He would then take the time to work to catch her in a front headlock position and, if she didn't move to stop him, would aim to transition it into a D'Arce Choke, working to try and choke her out.

The colours were still swirling across Laila's vision after that nasty knee to her face, her skull still ringing from the impact. She had taken worse bumps in her career, of course, but all the same, Imai's knee had taken her by surprise at the right moment, and had left her feeling thoroughly dazed-- something that Imai would no doubt capitalize on.

She groaned as she was pulled back up to her knees. A second later, however, Imai was in front of her, his arms encircling her head, one arm winching around her throat and trapping the arm while the other cinched it. Laila gagged as her air supply was expertly cut off, and then felt the buildup of pressure as Imai squeezed, giving her a faceful of his abs in the process.

Laila's breathing became muffled, and for a moment she was trapped in Imai's hold, her muscles bulging visibly against her opponent's as she fought to free herself. Gritting her teeth, she used her free hand to grab at Imai's wrist, and suddenly twist her entire body sharply, hoping to roll the two of them over onto Imai's back and, from there, get free of his choke hold and instead get him in a sitting site headlock while he was down.

Imai had to admit to developing a healthy dose of respect for his opponent already by this point in the match. Mixed matches had not really been something he had experienced before but Laila was leaving an amazing first impression for the concept, having been able to match the blond blow for blow. The audience in turn had seemed to get more and more into the match, impressed by the skill both had been putting into the match and both being good looking probably helped as well.

As he clinched in the choke Imai worked to maintain the hold, aiming to wear down the other further until he could go for a proper finish. A part of him hoped he could finish the match without needing to fall back on his secret weapon, Zone, to avoid revealing it to any sharp eyed observers who might've been watching the match backstage. Still Laila was far from done as she made clear by gripping his wrist with her free hand and with a sharp twist of her body, took him off guard and get him onto his back. Imai bit back a curse before being caught in a sitting headlock by the other, trying to aim a knee with the leg on the side she was on to try and keep her from fully locking it in. If it failed he'd be vulnerable if she wanted to lock it in or transition to another move.