Kyoko Akan vs. Masuyo Ai - Iron Sharpens Iron

Masuyo couldn’t resist growing a slight grin despite her position at managing to boot Kyoko in the face despite her position. People would probably argue that there would have been more damage done if Masuyo had actually agreed to wear boots, but she enjoyed going into these fights barefoot. Call it a habit from her mixed martial arts days. Made her feel more free, easier to breathe, and besides, a heel hurt as much as any leather underside. Case in point, she’d managed to halt Kyoko’s attack against her, giving her a couple seconds of breathing room. She didn’t have a robust knowledge of her opponent’s ground game, but she’d rather not give Kyoko the chance.

Her leg still wasn’t free, either, so not much better off than she was before. Masuyo brought her fists up, guarding against whatever attempts to mount her may come. She still had one free leg, however. Might as well make use of it. Masuyo snapped her leg to the side as Kyoko recovered, attempting to slap her foot against the side of the woman’s knee. She aimed to use the Belly Queen’s grip on her leg against her, drawing her within striking range to get her on the ground, at the very least, slow her down.

Masuyo was cleaver with her use of her own leg but that didnt mean Kyoko was about to let up too fast, not when she had a prime position for controlling the early going of this match. Even as the girl pulled on the side of her waist with her leg Kyoko was a bit more focused on the incoming leg as she tried to bring her other arm and either deflect that or catch it, trying to put an end to her fighting as she would attempt to bring her leg up and send a kick to her thigh of the leg she was holding.

If she could grab at the girls leg she would then attempt to pull on her waist and try to turn them both around into a Boston Crab submission hold. Figuring that a change of plan was in order and it was probably better to start wearing her down with moves like these before going to the floor. Though if Masyo was able to keep her leg free and kicking at her Kyoko would have to abandon the hold entirely and back away, quickly figuring that trying to hold out wouldnt be worth it.

Masuyo was sure she would have been able to bring Kyoko down to the mat with her if she just kept up the pressure on her leg. Her kicks weren’t the strongest around, not while her old pal Alicia was still alive, but they were still plenty strong. She was no slouch when it came to conditioning, and she was still fully capable of ending a match or two with a well placed shot to the head. Bringing someone down to their knees wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Kyoko didn’t seem inclined to give her that chance, however. After a couple of shots to the woman’s knee, Masuyo felt one of her own smack against her inner thigh, causing her to yelp as the soft, vulnerable tissue turned red from the impact. In that same moment, her opponent seized her vulnerability and grabbed her free leg, flipping her around into a Boston Crab. She was cranking it hard, clearly trying to wear her down with the first of many submission holds to come. Well, the MMA maven wasn’t inclined to just stay down and let it happen.

Planting her hands firmly on the ground, she’d attempt to slowly crawl towards the ropes and break the hold. Kyoko no doubt wouldn’t make it easy on her, but she just had to take it nice and slow. Power her way through.

Kyoko had surprised herself with the success of the move, having been pretty close to giving it up had another well placed kick landed, and she was certainly going to take advantage of her good fortune this time around as she started to turn her over and bend her legs as much as possible to get some damage done to the legs. Holding her down Kyoko felt relief that she was able to cinch this in so quickly in the match. As the clock ticked on endurance would be the name of the game and the more she could force her opponent to work while she worked significantly less the better for her. Plus if she was working with a tired Demon she would be able to control the match and make it work more along what she wanted to do. Something that encouraged her even more.

"Your legs hit so hard you'd forget your not wearing boots, So lets see how good you are with your hands." Kyoko said cranking the hold as well she could with Masuyo quickly making for the ropes on her hands. Pushing through whatever pain Kyoko could muster in the hold. Shed certainty get there at this rate as Kyoko couldn't even take the time to stop her and pull away, and once she did get there the Belly Queen would hold it for about 3 seconds more and let her go backing up and turning around so her eyes weren't off the fellow fighter for too long.

Honestly, the hold wasn’t what was concerning her the most at the moment.

It did hurt, of course. No doubt about that. Kyoko kept up the pressure as the Demon attempted to crawl away towards the ropes, making her abdomen cry out and in pain and her back sear with agonizing heat the further back it was pulled. Masuyo was doing everything in her power to ignore it as she made her escape.

The real problem, however, was the energy she knew was being wasted in this escape. Her purple-haired opponent was aiming to wear her down second by second, a goal made only more clear when she didn’t let go of the hold right away. After three long, agonizing seconds, Masuyo’s legs were released and flopped down on the canvas once again. She brought a hand to her back as she stood up, trying to numb out the pain before standing fully upright and turning to meet the Belly Queen with a wide smirk.

“That impressed you? I wasn’t even trying, Kyoko-san.” She arched her back, getting out one last kik before righting herself and stepping forward, curling her hands into fists and bringing them up in a guard. “I don’t think your ready to see what my fists can do.”

As Masuyo guided them to the ropes Kyoko could do very little but add to her troubles, knowing full well stopping her would be a fools effort and Eventually when her hands got on the ropes Kyoko just quickly did her damage and backed off. Quick and efficient. though to her credit Masuyo was quickly to get back up and was all smiled when she did showing that she as ready to get right back in it rather then wait it out. Kyoko matched her smile and brought her hands up as well to try and ready herself for what came next.

"Intrigued me more likely. Im still waiting to be fully impressed, maybe your fists can pull that off." Kyoko said as she started to move in towards the girl, her arms still up while she tried to close in and attempt to throw a punch towards her chest and then a right aimed at her face. If she was going to go in she better go in all the way and try to get a good hit in.

“You asked for it.” She sneered.

Despite appearances, Masuyo was struggling a bit to ignore the damage that Kyoko had just done on her. A Boston Crab was a popular move, and that was for a reason. Easy to execute, hard to get out of, and put some wear on the spinal cord directly, making the fight a million times harder if enough damage was done. She still a had a bit of a kink there, but it would subside in time.

She had to focus on the woman in front of her here and now. At the very least, she was getting a sense for how Kyoko moved, how she operated. Hard and heavy. A brawler with some ring prowess backing her up if her eye wasn’t deceiving her. Masuyo had to be ready for anything as the woman approached.

She hissed as the first punch met her chest, but what really caught her attention was the right hook roaring towards her. She ducked under the punch, letting it whiff her hair and catching a few strands in its torrent. From her low position, she’d thrust forward and shoot a punch into the woman’s exposed side, going for a gut-wrenching liver punch to get the Belly Queen reeling.

As two closed in for another go at each other Kyoko decided it was better to go ahead and start the attack while Masuyo was put on the defensive by Kyoko's early offense. Keeping her there would likely assure she got the first fall of this match and when she did she would be able to start slowing the pace of the match down a bit to try and rest before going in for the kill again. Her chest shot connected and caused the Demon to reel a bit while she went for the headshot she thought would help stagger Masuyo a bit. Though that time she was ready for her, ducking under the punch as her fist only barely caught hair while Masuyo moved in and slammed her fist into her side.

"Hrrggnh.." Kyoko groaned out as she flinched to the side from the punch. Her core was solid all around but that was a well placed punch that caused Kyoko to take a few steps back as one of her hands lowered to try and defend that spot. Still on her feet Kyoko tried to keep up her guard and try to keep up with whatever Masuyo tried next, and hopefully not show off how much it hurt in the process.

“Told you.”

Masuyo chuckled to herself as she came back into her proper stance. Despite Kyoko’s best attempt to hide it, it was obvious she would be feeling that blow for some time. A liver punch could end fights in the octagon. In an Iron Woman match? Definitely something that she wouldn’t be shaking off right away. From the way she was clutching her side, in fact, it looked like something to keep an eye on as this hour ticked on. If she was smart, Kyoko would be getting an idea of what stepping into the ring with the Demon of Shibuya meant.

For now, Masuyo had to just keep up the pressure while the Belly Queen was on the retreat. She’d come in fast and heavy, swinging a couple of hard hooks towards Kyoko’s head, on the same side that her strike had landed and her mobility would hopefully be limited. In the event she got to swing both of those punches, she’d then go low with a sweep kick, looking to take her purple-haired adversary’s feet out from under her from the back of her heel.

"Told me what? Anyone could have figured you could punch." Kyoko said trying to move around and looking at the girl as she tried to deal with the pain in her side from the liver shot. She had seen such a punch down people much bigger then her with shots that connected only half as well, she had even heard it felt like you were gonna die. Kyoko didnt feel like that but she definitely felt the blow would be hindering her for the duration of this match, something she was sure Masuyo had planned exactly. Though now wasnt the time to feel bad about her situation she had a match to win and they were barely 2 minutes into it.

When Masuyo closed in to try and keep punch Kyoko tried to bring her arms up to block the punches, causing them to connect with her arms. Though that wasn't the end, shortly after firing those off Masuyo went low and went for a leg sweep catching Kyoko's legs and knocking her clean off her feet and sending her falling back to the mat. "Kknngh..." Kyoko landed on her back and but shaking her head.