The Final Flooring (for LARIATO)

Senji kept his grip on her arm, debating on what to do next. The shots to his side made the young man fall out of his thoughts for different scenarios while switching hands so that he could keep a grip on her arm and defend himself at the same time. Senji grimaced, irritated at his tender midsection being disturbed. To stop it, he tried to intercept her blows with her forearm in order to delay her assault. A submission. He needed to get her in a lock or choke.

["Right now. Maybe this will do it...."]

He said, referring to the point where her fist sailed into his side. At a similar time, he chose to send his fist soaring into her cheek. Said strike drew a stifled whimper out of his vocal cords but he had expected her to not avoid the jab to the face due to most strikers aiming to avoid damage by striking when the MMA opponent was winding up when he'd done the opposite. Senji tried to capitalize on this next but muttered out a compliment.

"You're... phenomenal, just like the others."

Senji went to pull Jesse's right arm towards him and plant it by the side of her head. If the arm drag was permitted to work, he tried to grab ahold of Jesse's neck in a frontal chokehold. This consisted of pushing his slim but firm, left forearm underneath Miss Roger's neck and curling inward. He endeavored to shoot his right elbow underneath his left arm's fingers before wrapping them in that nook, constricting the head and arm together, similar to an Arm Triangle. Once he established this grip, Senji leaned back properly to further sink her into his guard. This was a D'arce Choke variation, with the included benefit of being able to be applied from the bottom position. If he managed to get this far, he settled into a nice squueeeezeeee. If she didn't tap, then she'd go to sleep within approximately 10 seconds or less. But for now, he awaited for the next move on Jesse's part if his submission hold managed to not get evaded.

Jesse’s strikes into the man’s midsection seemed to be working, though she was made to pay for it with a stiff shot right into her cheek. She grimaced, winced and grunted at the pain that flared up with the blow, but didn’t let it deter her. Mike Tyson once said, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” But there was something to be said for those who could stick to their plan even after that. Jesse liked to think so, at least.

But for all her diligence in keeping to her current defensive plan, there was one monumental problem with it: Jesse was unknowingly defending against the wrong hold. All this time she had thought he would try to adjust his legs, snare her trapped arm and head with them, and choke her out with a triangle. And if he had even tried, the first opening of his guard would’ve been met with a punishing counter. But his legs clung tight against her, never loosening on their hold even slightly. Jesse almost thought the hold she had been waiting for was finally coming when Senji pulled up on her arm, only to quickly realize just how mistaken she was.

“Shit!” she cursed under her breath as the man’s arms wrapped themselves around her head and neck, recognizing now what he was doing. But the hold was already locked in as she started trying to thrash and pull away. Jesse hadn’t encountered many D’arce Chokes before, and none of those had been from a guard. The thought of him trying this hadn’t even entered her mind before. And now that she was caught in it, she knew almost immediately she was fucked. Jesse was much too far away from the ropes to force a break, she only had one available limb to resist with, and with the tightness of the squeeze on both her neck and midsection she knew she only had seconds before she’d be out like a light. For all of one or two seconds her free hand fished for some kind of answer that wasn’t there, and then she tapped out against his side.

There we gooooo, snug and tight. Grappling managed to get Senji all matters of delighted. And Jesse, so far, was proving very fun to do it with. These types were his favorite, where it wasn't a stomp either way and they could have a nice back and forth with each other. If he had to guess, he supposed that Sophia was the overall best on paper mainly because she was absolutely phenomenal in terms of strength and technique. He had liked his debut match but again, she made him feel off to the point where he knew to be careful around her. Jesse did not give him that much pause, and so he was a bit more open with her. She didn't go for many dirty moves either, not that he could recall any aside from the cheap shot to his bandaged ribs. Then again, that was partly his fault. It's not like one was snapped though, it just was a sensitive spot.

Senji, at least, had a vague idea of how far he could push his body while injured. He just tended to rest later than most others, even if it cost him. Regardless, any drawbacks seemed to be irrelevant in regards to his current performance. He could hold her off and as stated, now they had an even score of 1-1.

When the titular tap out came, Senji straightened his arms and went to untangle them from around her neck and arm. However, he tried to keep her in his guard to do something else. Replicating her earlier gesture, Senji planted his left hand between her neck and shoulder, patting her there three times. She treated him nicely, so why shouldn't he do the same? Hell, he at least attempted to be compassionate towards his "enemies" despite the young man still having a limit to his tolerance. Being too passive was nothing more than cowardice so long as you could do something meaningful. After that, he uncrossed his ankles to release her from his closed guard. He lied back...taking a few breaths from the exertion.

"I'm alright, Jesse...I'm just waiting.---- Interesting, isn't it? How the human body is so durable and you can be so vehemently strong but if someone squeezes or pulls just right, you or I can be helpless."

It had always fascinated him, how martial arts were able to exploit their weaknesses despite the human body being far from pitifully weak in most cases. Granted, Senji wanted to keep an honorable way of fighting for various reasons. He kept a palm on his chest, feeling his beating heart and the blood rushing through his body, faintly. That adrenaline high felt so good when it happened, aside from the crash that followed. Well, that's before the lactic acid build up hit you like a train. He chose to get up after she did. There wasn't a rush and he could use this chance to get a few breaths in.

Jesse rolled off of Senji the moment he uncoiled his legs from around her. Bringing herself to sit next to him on the mat, she panted lightly while rubbing a hand against her neck. It was hard, especially for a woman as temperamental as Jesse, to not be frustrated at herself. She’d wound up in that hold because she completely misread everything her opponent did from the start of the round. And worse, he’d done it almost immediately after they had started the round. It would be humiliating to be submitted so quickly in an official match. But Jesse reminded herself it’s better for those kinds of things to happen here in the gym rather than the arena. Here she could afford to make mistakes and learn from them without it affecting her official record. Just had to make sure those lessons sank in.

“Yeah, guess so,” was all she said in response to Senji’s comment. Jesse was a pragmatic thinker, and often didn’t consider things very deeply. The only context she’d ever considered a human body’s durability versus the helplessness that came from being caught in certain holds was when planning out holds that might be particularly effective against particular opponents. Everyone needed to breathe, and no one liked having a limb twisted until it was at the point of breaking. Beyond that, it was something that hadn’t entered her mind all that much.

After a few more seconds of rest, Jesse pulled herself back to her feet with a slight groan, still rubbing at her neck. “Alright, time for round three.” Taking a deep breath, she rolled her neck for a moment before putting her fists back up, ready to go at it once again.

"Yes, I hear you clearly.", Senji said to Jesse. To be frank, he wasn't caught off-guard by quick submissions. In the past he'd seen his fair share of grapplers who could end sets in several moves. There's also some MMA fighters that could end matches before the first round was done. However as displayed by his previous matches, they could be tiring, tedious conflicts. Jesse was quite the spider herself, trying to catch him in her web and what have you. At least Senji managed to get the advantage this time.

He followed her up and stood across from her, choosing not to go for a takedown yet. That'd be too predictable against a repeating opponent. He kept his fists up, tensing his muscles to fortify them against trauma. Senji, as before, kept his left hand back while having his right fist stay on offense. He focused on defense in terms of physicality and tried to keep up with the ever-adapting variety of opponents he faces. So far, it turned out to be a good approach...just not perfect.

'Her strikes are dangerous, I need to avoid those. Bringing it to the ground has been successful so far, but I cannot risk performing the same moves again and again. Otherwise, she will receive, ensnare, or twist me.', Senji thought to himself.

Senji walked to circle Jesse. Specifically, he started off by going to the right while facing her. After a few seconds of movement, he went forward, popping his right fist forward in order to try to catch Miss Rogers in the belly. If Jesse managed to block it, then he'd fold his left arm in to show the sharp end of his elbow. Said limb moved forward to give her an attitude adjustment to the right side of her cheek. The two were fast but not impossible to avoid given that the gap between them wasn't that big overall. Obviously Senji had advantages she didn't and vice versa. A better stand up game was an example for Jesse. Despite Jesse's lecturing, he'd began to like her already through this sparring match. Perhaps she'd take him as a companion to some extent...and later on...maybe something more. The possibilities were still vast, but Senji was focused on living through the present at the current moment.

Getting choked out by the practitioner wouldn't be a bad way to end his night objectively, but his inclination towards fighting wouldn't allow him to sit there and take it so long as he could move --- unless they were doing something like specific training. Now that he thought about it, he should find someone to practice holds with, if not Rogers here. Eh, he could worry about it later on.