Sabrina Anderson vs. Yvonne Gulski

Having a built up endurance and resilience like she had was something only people in actual fighting could build up. You could train yourself a lot, but Sabrina clawed her way up to where she was through grueling combat and trials without pause. It wasn't easy, but she had built up a body that could handle some of the heaviest and harshest of blows, even those that left her head ringing slightly. She held her arms up, keeping them firm despite the slight wobbling of her stalwart legs. That blow was all momentum rather than just a simple throw, so that left a bit of a bruise upon her face. A slight reddening of the skin.

This chick was such a pain.

Sabrina wasn't used to going against her natural enemy so much, that being reach, but it wasn't just that. This chick wasn't a moron. She was smart, crafty, and she knew well enough of her own strengths against her right now. Were this an underground type of scenario, Sabrina could have evened the odds, but it wasn't, and she had to adjust and adapt to that.

Sabrina kept her guard firm, hoping to try and turtle away from her opponent's offense the moment she struck out with a jab. She didn't know why this woman stepped in further when she could just pepper away. However, she didn't have much time to think. Sabrina kept her guard tight, watching as her opponent went for another blow, but her eyes widened the moment it stopped halfway through.

She tried to break her guard and reposition.

Too late.

Her opponent's glove soared right from below and tagged her good right on the chin. Sabrina's head snapped upward in one quick and fluid motion with the girl biting down upon her mouthguard in annoyance. She snarled as her head looked up to the ring lights above. God, that one stung. She stumbled back a step or two, trying to regain her senses and hopefully snap forth a wild right cross aimed for her opponent's body! Desperate, but rash.

Success. Success. Success.

Yvonne counted each strike as a small victory in and of itself, saw every blow that she landed without risk as another rung climbed on the ladder to victory. This was the best way to parse a match, in her experience. To focus on the little parts instead of the whole, win the war through a series of small battles. Victory through attrition, through outlasting the opponent. Simple, but such a simple strategy was so often ignored.

The fruits of her labor showed clearly on her foe's face. A bruise. Small as it was, it was tangible proof that she was creating real damage on this brute of a woman, that her walls were being chipped away. More importantly, her hit had done its job well, stunning Sabrina enough to create a golden opportunity. On instinct, Yvonne stepped forward, drew her right arm back, prepared for one of her best punches.

But a flash of movement from her foe stopped her in mid-movement, showing life that took her off guard. A cross came her way - brutish, sloppy, but brutal, and she had the smallest window to avoid it. Aborting her attack, she juked to the side, letting the blow flit off her shoulder...but even that small touch was enough to make her wince. That power, that force. Incredible, really.

Yvonne threw out a pair of quick jabs at Sabrina’s face, more to keep her at bay than anything, and took a couple of steps back, out of both their ranges. Staying light, she decided to stay there for a moment, as she reassessed her options.

Sabrina wasn't sure if her blow would have hit or not, but she had hoped to gain some ground between her opponent and herself. This chick wasn't an idiot. While some could call Sabrina stupid, they wouldn't be too wrong, she wasn't an idiot in the ring. Even with a bit of surprise on her side, her opponent STILL managed to evade her blow, if only barely. She could tell she had nearly struck the taller woman, but it wasn't enough to stop her in her tracks though. Still, she didn't have much else to gain other than hastily throwing up her left arm, the jabs glancing off her arm as she hissed.

Taking a few steps back herself, Sabrina panted softly as she assessed what damage had been done. She hadn't landed a single crushing blow on this chick at all and she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to do it if she played safe. If she just turtled about, this chick was gonna demolish her down and break her apart piece by piece.

She huffed softly, staring at the taller woman briefly as she considered her options. Should she throw herself in all the way now? No, that was just fucking stupid. She wasn't that desperate either and it wouldn't do good if this chick kept sniping away and peppering at her frame.

Could she wait it out?

That was also bad...

She didn't have much choice aside from doing what she could. She was gonna have to keep it defensive for now, but she couldn't just stop trying to take shots. Taking a few quick breaths, she began to bounce on her feet briefly. She didn't much care for the show she gave concerning her chest, it wasn't exactly special. Aside from that, Sabrina attempted to close in quickly, trying to keep her arms up to close the gap between her and Yvonne as soon as she could.

Just a little closer and she could find a nice home in Yvonne's gut for Sabrina's right glove...

Sabrina was strong.

That seemed like a blindingly obvious statement, given the way her physique was on clear display, but Yvonne felt it was worth noting now that she had an idea just how strong this woman was. Looks could deceive, and the only true way she could gauge a foe’s power was by taking their punches. Just from that brief exchange, she could sense the deep well of destruction her foe had to work with, a crushing sort of power that could overwhelm her if she wasn’t careful. This wasn’t the sort of fighter who won through finesse and technique - she was a hammer. Blunt, brutal, but effective.

And she was coming. Now that difference between them was stark, she would be closing that gap, and Yvonne’s normal punches might not be enough to keep her at bay. This required a special touch, and while she hated bringing it out so early, there was no way around it that she could see.

Yvonne stepped back and dropped her left arm, bringing it down until it formed an L-shape. Like that, she started the swing - left and right, left and right, timed with her movements, over and over, making her arm a pendulum. The crowd murmured, most of them confused, but a few well-read veterans recognized what she was doing and what it meant: She had just switched to her Hitwoman Stance.

The reason why would become obvious right away - as Sabrina stepped with a fast rush, Yvonne lashed with her left, shooting it like a whip. She hurled three sharp flicker jabs in her foe’s face, slicing at her in quick succession. None of them were hard blows by themselves, but they launched fast and used her range to its fullest.

Sabrina was just going to have to endure and tank through what she could. She had to hope that she could just withstand the punishment that was coming because if she couldn’t, that was gonna be it for her there. Still, she wasn’t expecting much else from her opponent other than a single trick or her being more technical. Even when her opponent slipped away just a step back, Sabrina just tensed the muscles upon her frame as she began to close in upon Yvonne. This was all she...

What?

What the heck was she doing right now? Taunting her? Trying to get a rise? Something? The black-streaked blonde shook her head from side to side and just kept going, ready to finally bull rush it as best she could and start laying down a heavy punishment upon Yvonne, ready to...

Her eyes snapped wide and suddenly she pumped the brakes first. Boots skidding hastily, her frame wobbling briefly, Sabrina found three streaks of leather-clad fists smashing straight into her guard face just before she could raise her gloves right up to her face. She stumbled, shaking her head briefly with a daze as she hissed. They weren’t the hardest of blows, no. Were they fast? They were faster than anything she had seen before. Hastily trying to keep her guard up on her head once more, she stared at Yvonne.

Did she have another style on her!?

Of course, because of her surprise, she forgot she was still in a match.

Yvonne didn’t want to show it, but she was inwardly cursing herself at the way this was going. This was early to be breaking out this style, far earlier than she ever had resorted to before. Most often, it was a way of fighting she went to when things had reached a significant point and she could be sure that her opponent had grown accustomed to her rhythm, a useful way of throwing them off at a crucial point. Here, now, it was simply because she was being pressed. She could sense her foe’s power, and she wanted no part of it.

It was an irritating thing to admit, but there was no getting around the fact. Being pressed like this was...problematic.

But she would deal with it, and so far, the results were promising. Three flickers, three hits, each one landing perfect, leaving her foe stunned. It was enough to stop her bullrush, despite all the power Sabrina had to offer, and that's all she needed to know. The range was hers. The distance was hers. If Sabrina wanted in, she would have to navigate a minefield.

With her opponent open and stunned, Yvonne pressed her advantage, stepping her way with her arm still swinging. She took a slow step, then a faster one, dipping into Sabrina’s range, only to pull back at the edge and fire off flicker as she retreated, before she jerked to the side and let another fly at a different angle. Poking and prodding, testing for weaknesses, wearing away on Sabrina like a hammer on a wall.

Sabrina had already shown her distaste for her opponent’s style, but she couldn’t hate the woman. She just hated being so fucking short sometimes because shit like this happened a lot if she was up against someone taller. Still, as much as she wanted to bitch and moan, her curiosity and being stunned didn’t exactly let her off free because her opponent wasn’t some boastful bitch. Nope, she was already prioritizing her greatest strength that she had naturally been born with and Sabrina was going to experience it firsthand.

Talk about son of a bitch, right?

Nevertheless, Sabrina was already shaking herself out of her stunned stupor, just in time for Yvonne to take various steps. Her eyes were on the woman’s limbs, more focused on where her hits might go, but it didn’t help. First a slow step, a fast step, and just as Yvonne dipped into her range, Sabrina struck with a wild right hook...

And struck nothing but the air.

Yvonne had pulled away and a single flicker had greeted Sabrina’s frame once more. She growled, gritting her teeth into the plastic within her mouth. Just as she prepared to try and shift, Yvonne had dipped in once more and tagged away! Sabrina swung wildly again, but her opponent was just dancing around her! She snarled, bringing her guard back up to her face and doing her best. She couldn’t block everything, but she could endure.

But, fuck, she was gonna be a little worn when this bitch was done tagging her...

”What are you doing, playing tag?”

“Stop dancing and fight! Coward!”

“Box! Box! Box!”

The crowd was starting to show their disdain for Yvonne’s tactics, growing weary of her hit and run style. It was to be expected. Most of them were wrestling fans coming over from the other two brands, no doubt expecting more of the same sloppy fighting with a pugilistic spin. They were accustomed to substance over style, to showboating and taunts, to fighters who focused on entertainment over competition.

They would get none of that from Yvonne. Her sole thought was a simple one: Win.

On that note, she was making decent progress, with her punches confounded Sabrina. She fell for the ruse, moving in range and opening herself up, taking both of Yvonne’s blows in short succession. So far, things were working quite well, but with less than a minute on the clock, she found herself wanting more. She doubted she could get a KO in this round, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t make it count.

As Sabrina advanced, Yvonne threw out another flicker and another after that, tagging her guard for little damage. She fired a third after a short pause, only to pull it back before impact, making it a feint. Instead, she moved in and swung her right for a sudden change, throwing a hard, crushing hook to crush Sabrina’s guard.

Would...

They...

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET HER FIGHT, YOU FUCKS!" Sabrina couldn't stop her rage from building up briefly as she looked off to the sides and the crowds. Honestly, a bunch of little shits who couldn't understand what the fuck was going on, could they!? Honestly, she knew these people craved a shit ton of wrestling, but these fucking maniacs didn't understand that it took more than slinging leather to be a god damned boxer. Call it an annoyance or even trying to be nice, but Sabrina leveled a huff and glare toward the audience surrounding them from all over before focusing back on the fight.

Wrestling was about showing off and providing entertainment. The same could be said for boxing, but the second part was just providing entertainment via heavy fighting and punching. This wasn't the underground. It wasn't where people could watch slugging of all forms, barely any rules, or even brutal beatdowns that went down to borderline scary.

These people haven't seen some of the cool shit she had seen and Sabrina lived for it, but while normal boxing was a little meh for her at times, the opponent is what brought on some fucking challenge! Seriously, these fucks were begging for a punch. Nevertheless, the blonde was focused back on her taller opponent as she continued to turtle away.

Sabrina advanced forward, keeping her guard close to her face, allowing her frame to stomach the blows that might come afterward. She endured a flicker jab and kept moving forward. So far, so good. Another struck and she endured. Good. She just needed a few more and she could...

Wait, why didn't the next connect? She had lost focus and had allowed her to guard to grow lax. It made Yvonne's next move perfect because, in seconds, a heavy blow came barreling from the corner of her vision and SMASHED through her guard. Her arms broke apart and left her exposed, the black-streaked blonde was left shocked before scrambling to try and lunge forth, hoping to try and rush in as quickly as she could and slam a simple right-handed straight aimed for her opponent's stomach!

A wild move, but one she wasn't confident in.

When Sabrina responded to the heckling fans, it created a rare response in Yvonne. It was beyond her control, no more of a conscious choice than sneezing or blinking. A reflex.

She smiled.

It didn’t last long, less than a second, and she erased it almost as soon as it was created with her usual grim glare. But it was there, as much as she hated to admit, as she appreciated the gruff woman’s sentiment. Crude as it was, as different as they seemed to be, she could tell they were similar in at least one respect: Their respect for the sport, for the technique, for the purity of their art. If nothing else, she could respect that in Sabrina. It would not stop her from crushing it along with the rest of her, but the respect was real.

Her little trick worked well - surprisingly well, in fact, slicing through Sabrina’s guard with ease, and leaving the woman open, or so Yvonne thought. It was a notion she was dissuaded of right away, however, as her opponent charged in and lashed out. A simple straight. Nothing to worry about.

It would have brought Yvonne to her knees if she hadn’t blocked it in time.

Even with the block, it was still more than enough force to knock her back and create ample space between them, leaving her knees wobbling. She regained her stance a moment later, but stayed away for now, outside of both their ranges, hoping that Sabrina wouldn’t realize how much that blow affected her, that she wouldn’t dare to come close so soon.