Post by Ari Karamzov on Nov 9, 2007 8:53:25 GMT 1
Details
Name: Ari Karamzov
Nickname: "the Blitz" (More commonly just "Blitz", this nickname is only used in fight circuits, nobody else refers to him as such)
Nationality: Armenian-American
Age: 18 (Junior, started late)
Weight: 273 lbs., all of it muscle.
Height: 6'11 standing. When in crouched stance his height drops to the still impressive 6'9.
Build: He is quite muscular, having a powerful frame that is extremely well defined. He is clearly in excellent shape, the result of a long time of conditioning. His massive size makes him very intimidating. One could say he has a bodybuilder's figure, though he would become enraged if allegations of steroid use were made towards him. He got his body the way it is today through one hundred percent hard work and dedication, and he is proud of it.
Eye colour: Dark brown
Hair: White blond, allowed to grow long because Ari is too lazy to cut it.
Habits: His most notable are his tendencies to doodle when he's bored in class and that if he's trying to think and standing at the same time he will usually start pacing. This also occurs if he is bored. If there is enough room he will pace in a circular motion, if not he will simply go back and forth, usually looking at the ground. He also has a tendency to randomly start stretching his arms, mainly to loosen the joints.
Other Information
Personality: Ari is loud, boastful, arrogant, foul mouthed, and almost always up for a fight, coupled with a stubborn demeanour and the fact that he is very easily angered, but at the same time he is completely loyal and devoted to his family. He would do anything to better their lives and protect them, even kill if he had to, though as a sane human being that is an option he prays would never come up. He is also a very hard working man, having only gotten as far as he has by working himself to the breaking point (and often past it) has left an impression on him that the only way to get anywhere in the world is through constant hard work, training, and self-improvement, and thus socialization and leisure are not things he enjoys, and in fact he looks down on them. He has a strict schedule and training diet he devoutly adheres to, and distractions from this greatly irritate him.
If someone manages to befriend Ari or otherwise grow close to him, however, his dedication to his family will also extend to that person, but he will angrily repay betrayal in full. He believes his style of MMA is superior to all other fighting styles, and is prone to insult practitioners of any style other than Mixed Martial Arts. He also seems to have a sadistic streak when fighting, carrying over to the fact that he's (to be polite about it) something of a bully to anyone who isn't a family member, his friend, or proven to be stronger than him. Believing that strength is the only thing that is important in the world, he believes anyone who is weaker than him is completely worthless, and enjoys crushing such people. He will fight literally anyone to this end, including women. To be less polite about things, Ari Karamzov is an arsehole, having gone down a path very different to that of his much more humble parents.
Appearance: If one had to sum up his appearance in one word, it would be "tough". Allowing two words would have the questioned most likely say "tough" and "distinctive". His body is built like a heavyweight boxers', heavily muscled with the occasional scar, especially on his knuckles, while standing at the massive height of 6'11. His face looks like it is chiseled out of solid diamond, rough and hard-edged. He allows his nearly white blond hair to grow almost to his face, framing his brown eyes that are nearly black, but he is by no means effeminate (and would slug you if you called him that, though to be fair that applies to just about anything). His fingers are surprisingly thin though, looking out of place compared to the rest of his muscular frame. He tends to wear a white short sleeve t-shirt and black shorts that go down to just above his knees, along with red and white sneakers. In fact, he almost always wears this outfit (and rarely washes it) because his family has little else. His teeth seem to vary between well taken of and neglected, the colour ranging from perfectly white to slightly yellow. His front and eye- teeth have a slightly elongated, fang-like appearance. Some may consider him good looking, but he definitely isn't the most attractive person out there even with all his muscle, and he is clearly designed more for raw fighting strength than beauty.
Hobbies: He likes to play the guitar (acoustic, he cannot stand electric guitars), and is actually quite good at it. Otherwise, he tends to spend his free time working out, training at the MMA gym, or schoolwork. Another favourite pass-time of his is randomly picking fights with people, often by walking up to an unsuspecting person and headbutting them. He thinks it's hilarious.
Extracurricular: To be honest, his grades aren't that great, low average in most classes, though naturally he excels in Physical Education and is surprisingly adept in Math. He trains at a local mixed martial arts gym five days a week and is a member of the school wrestling team. Nobody at the school knows about it, but he also participates in "underground" fight clubs for extra money every Friday. He also does part time jobs around the city.
Important Details
History: Ari Karamzov was born eighteen years from present day to very poor Armenian parents in the slums of San Francisco, California. Life was tough for Oleg and Katherine Karamzov, even before having Ari, especially since their being white meant the government refused to give them welfare, but they tried to give him a good life nevertheless. The poverty still affected him though, and even as an infant he knew that something was wrong with the way the Karamzovs lived. Even though the elder Karamzovs were kind, loving parents who always tried to shrug off any inquiries as to what was wrong, Ari knew all was not well. Even at an extremely young age he could see the sadness in the eyes of his mother and father. By the time he was five, he was working odd jobs around the neighbourhood for pocket money, each time depositing his meager earnings onto the Karamzov family's kitchen table with a triumphant smile, helping bit by bit. Even at that tender age, he often found himself on the streets, and saw the cruelty such environments had to offer.
Before the young Armenian boy was even nine years old, he had had many harsh fights with fellow youngsters, derogatorily and sometimes affectionately known as "runt bums", over small change. Recollecting on his past Ari was pretty sure the most he'd made at once from such fights was $20, and only after knocking out another kid to get eight of them, and scraps of food. He also found himself resorting to thievery to get what he needed. Having had no medical insurance, his family was forced to rely on Oleg's meagre medical training to help bandage him up in the instances where he'd limp through the door with a wad of cash in scuffed up fists, bloody and beaten. In terms of fighting, he learned through the well tested school of Hard Knocks, his skill increasing with experience.
He also started to physically develop over the years, as early as eight he started seeking out the heaviest things he could find and lifting them, among other workouts. He had realized that the best way to improve his and his family's lives was to increase his physical strength. To meet this end he had started to work out however and whenever possible, also increasing his physical abilities by starting to actively seek out fights with his fellow "runts". By 12, he had already gotten a reputation for his strength and newly developing muscular physique, along with the massive size that was notable even then. With that physique and strength, along with his aggression, he quickly found himself starting to become the kind of kid the others actively avoided for their own self interests. If they saw him getting money or food from donations, they left him alone and sought other ground.
He enjoyed the feeling the fact that other kids backing off at his approach gave him; after all, it was the closest thing to success the family had, and this only encouraged him. Not only did he strain himself even further (once going as far as to nearly break an arm), but he started to develop a loud, arrogant, and beligerant demeanour which was only encouraged the more he fought and won. He was soon shown to be out of control with his desire to be stronger than everyone else, his ego and need to prove himself growing wildly as he fought more and more, and worked out even more often than he fought. As his strength and sheer bulk increased, he continued to pick more fights without end, winning some and losing some, only to push himself even harder to avenge said losses, which he never failed to do. In school, on the street, it didn't matter where the fight was as long as he was fighting somebody, proving his superiority to someone by way of beating the hell out of them. People started to both fear and respect him, and the system could do little to stop him as he was.
Within days of his fourteenth birthday he had stumbled upon an underground "fight club" of sorts, and practically jumped right in, quickly earning himself a reputation as his skills improved. His parents were alarmed at his constant fighting, and the steadily increasing frequency of his coming home with injuries, but whatever it was he did put both money and food on the table so they could ill afford to protest. In truth, they did protest, rather vehemently at times, but Ari Karamzov never listened to them in that regard. Trying to vent off as much of his aggression as he could, he started to spend even more time fighting and working out.than usual, even joining the middle school wrestling team for the sole purpose of increasing his skill. It was to the point that between his working odd jobs around the city, studying at school, and training he was somewhat rarely seen by the family he tried so hard to take care of. By the end of his final year of middle school he was not only just as large as many of the adults but well known for his great strength and fighting ability. Adding that to the fact that he had very quickly become one of the stars of the school wrestling team, and he had found himself being something of a celebrity in the school, if one that was more feared than respected.
It was this new status as a "big name" in Hircine Middle School that made him start to truly care about the rumour mill, though. As such, he started to pay actual attention to the name Tiao Lei Shen for the first time. As anyone had, he had heard all about Tiao before, had even seen him occasionally in the halls, but he had never cared to know him or what people said of him. However, it was the idea that people thought Ari was "almost as good as Tiao Lei Shen" that got his attention. If Tiao was considered such a strong fighter, he reasoned, defeating him would prove that Ari Karamzov was the best in the school. A plan formed in the giant Armenian's mind just then, and the next day he told a wrestler to find Tiao and tell him Ari thought he was "a worthless loser" and to meet Ari on the rooftop during lunch if he wanted to prove him wrong. Shen did exactly that, and so did a large crowd. Ari liked this, though, as the concept of debunking the "myth of Tiao Lei Shen" in front of so many people especially pleased him. Thus the two did battle, a fight between two Titans of the school. While Ari had the size and strength advantage by a large amount, he let his confidence get in the way of the fact that he had never seen Tiao fight and was completely in the dark against the Chinese-American. For all of his brute strength, he was soundly defeated by Tiao after roughly three minutes of fighting, left crumpled in an unconscious heap on the roof.
Whether this defeat was a surprising outcome depended on who was asked, but it was devastating for Ari. While his reputation was not damaged any, and physically he was unharmed except for a few bruises, he was shaken to the core by the loss. Not only did it exponentially skyrocket Tiao's reputation for defeating an opponent so much bigger than him, it showed Ari that he was truly not the best and that his strength alone would not be enough against some opponents. He became something of a recluse for the rest of the week or so left of the year, trying to find out why he lost and unable to accept that Tiao was the better fighter. Five days into the vacation, his father would find a job in San Diego that paid well enough that backbreaking labour was no longer required on Ari's part, and the family promptly moved there. While it would be a few years before anyone in San Francisco would see him again, he never forgot his experience.
After taking some time to make sure he helped his father and mother get everything settled, the boy picked up from where he left off at San Francisco. While he no longer had to work, he did so as always not only to help out, but to get stronger. Near the end of the vacation, he came across a building only a few blocks from his new home that he had never noticed. The sign on the front of it read, "Wilson's school of Mixed Martial Arts", and he was drawn to it immediately. He just knew that the MMA school was the answer he was looking for, the way to increase his skills as he so wanted. Knowing this, he didn't hesitate to step in, find Wilson, and register. Nathan Wilson, a martial arts genius, took a quick look at Ari and then had him fight another member of the gym; by the time Ari had won the fight Wilson knew exactly how to train him, focusing on his boxing, wrestling, and takedown defense instead of the typical blend of Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Ari was already becoming skilled at the MMA style Wilson had constructed for him by the time Freshman year started, and it was just in time for him to start his rampage anew. Southridge was, like many schools across the country under the corporal punishment system, very violent, with frequent fights and even small riots. Thanks to this, Ari had no shortage of opponents to force under him in the hierarchy. It all started with a teacher who thought he was tougher than he really was and had no idea what he was getting into; in response to a smartass remark from Ari, the man belted the large student right in the face. A hard hit by any standards, the only effect it seemed to have was provoking Ari, who promptly rushed forward and laid a vicious beating down on the teacher. Once this one event provided the spark, he moved through the school with as much momentum as he could muster.
Working his way through high school, opponent after opponent fell before him as he indiscriminately fought his way through anyone who thought to stand against him. He joined tournaments and dominated them with his rapidly expanding MMA knowledge, he made random challenges and won quickly. Just like at Hircine, he joined the wrestling team and soon established a position of dominance. There were even times when he had bullied more timid teachers into giving him passing grades. Oddly enough, despite his desire to be the best and his little difficulty in fending off what assaults the system made, he showed no interest in either the Captainship or being a Pillar, possibly not wanting the leadership role of either position.
The years passed and Ari's arrogance and aggression, fueled by the successes he had in the boxing matches and MMA fights given by Wilson along with his status in Southridge, grew to a point far beyond what even seemed possible back in Hircine Middle School. He never grew complacent, though, especially as the defeat by Tiao Lei Shen was in his mind even three years later in his Junior year, striving him to improve even as his family managed to secure a comfortable position in the middle class in contrast to the poverty they had struggled so long under. It was possible that he could have stayed in San Diego to graduate from high school and start out on his own life, Hircine being but a thing of the past while his name continued to spread into prominence. In fact, he may have let exactly that happen if it weren't for the Harris fire.
An extremely destructive fire that devastated a good deal of San Diego, the Harris fire forced the Karamzovs to flee the city, one family out of many that evacuated the city during the fire. By some strange twist of fate, they had ended up back in San Francisco, though this time not in the slums, and there was an open job opportunity even better than the one Ari's father had to leave behind seemingly waiting for them. Again not attending the school for a few weeks as to get everything in order, such as finding another MMA gym, setting up the new home, and registering for Hircine High in the first place, he found himself amused at how he ended up right back where he started. Much larger and more experienced than he had been when he left the first time, Ari was eventually re-enrolled at the school.
Little did he know that Hircine had changed so much in the past few years.
Fighting Style: His "style" if it can so be called would be best described as a mixture of street fighting and Mixed Martial Arts, namely a mix between Boxing and Freestyle Wrestling with chokes, holds, and locks added to his arsenal as well. One can also spot modified moves from professional wrestling in his repertoire if they look carefully. He is a very aggressive fighter, often charging towards the opponent at the immediate start of the fight with the hope of overwhelming and barreling through the opponent, hence his nickname of "the Blitz". In fact, his fighting style revolves almost exclusively on offense. He focuses almost entirely on crushing the opponent with powerful strikes, locks, throws, holds, and chokes. Defense is rare from him because he has mostly observed that he does not need it and he knows his body is too big a target for him to have a very effective defense. If he is on the defensive other than the occasional parry, it is a clear sign that he is losing the fight. Punches and elbows are predominant in terms of striking, and he will rarely kick. The only kicks he uses are knee strikes (usually only employed from a clinch), stomps, and the occasional push kick or roundhouse to the leg. This has proven effective, as his records in MMA and amateur boxing show.
MMA record: three wins, no losses, no draws, two wins by knockout, one win by referee stoppage (Ari had broken both of the opponent's arms)
Amateur Boxing record: five wins, no losses, no draws, four KOs
It should be noted that at times where he is particularly confident, he will often start a fight off by offering his opponent a "free shot" at him, as a way of showing off his strength and outright stating that nothing the opponent can do can harm him. Whether he does this as a psychological trick or just to boast is unknown.
Strengths: As is obvious, Ari "the Blitz" Karamzov is extremely strong, literally possessing devastating power. His strikes contain such a great deal of power and mass behind them that it is quite common for an opponent to be instantly knocked out by a single punch, especially the sweeping right overhand for which he is famous in underground fight circuits. Blocking these massive blows is an almost entirely useless strategy for someone smaller, and even if one is of a similar size, strength, and mass to Ari himself they would still feel quite the impact. Smaller fighters would for the most part only be sent reeling with a great pain in their blocking appendage if they did this, though stronger ones would naturally feel less of an impact. He is a very experienced fighter, which is always a good advantage to have, and he has a monstrously high level of endurance, pain tolerance, and stamina. His grappling skill is also notable, as is the fact that for most opponents he is almost literally impossible to take down.
His reach makes it easy for him to keep opponents at bay and hard for them to get inside or to exploit their own advantages. Most notably, he has specifically trained in ways to move his body frame as quickly as possible, and he is surprisingly fast for his size. His unexpected level of speed can catch opponents off guard. Despite not being used to fighting people of similar size to himself, Ari specializes in fighting strength vs. strength brawls, which is what such a meeting would most likely end up as. He also works hard to improve his (admitted) weaknesses so that they can be harder to exploit, to the point where it is common for an opponent who defeats him to face off with him in a rematch only to find that whatever weakness they had exploited before is gone completely. One will never hear the words "I give up" from him. His size and strength both serve as a weapon of intimidation on top of it all.
Weaknesses: Though he is fast for his size, he is still slower than most people who are smaller than him and more speed oriented. His actual speed falls around average (ignoring the fact that, considering how slow people at his size usually are, this is an impressive rate of movement). If he sees any sort of opening or vulnerability, he will relentlessly attack that opening/vulnerability to take as much advantage of it as possible, one can use this to their own advantage to force him into a set pattern. He tends to use more energy than is necessary while fighting. He is susceptible to kicks to the back of the knees and trips, such moves will cause him to lose his balance for a small time. Because of his lack of defense, he will take many more shots than he has to, which can slowly wear him down, and if an opponent can evade his attempts at grappling they for the most part only have to worry about his punches, elbows, and knee strikes due to the lack of kicks. When he does use a kick, he is left off balance and often takes a few seconds to recover completely. His arrogance will obviously cause him to underestimate any opponent he meets (the first time he fights them, anyway).
OOC: Yes, I had Tyler's permission to use Tiao Lei Shen the way he is in this profile.
Name: Ari Karamzov
Nickname: "the Blitz" (More commonly just "Blitz", this nickname is only used in fight circuits, nobody else refers to him as such)
Nationality: Armenian-American
Age: 18 (Junior, started late)
Weight: 273 lbs., all of it muscle.
Height: 6'11 standing. When in crouched stance his height drops to the still impressive 6'9.
Build: He is quite muscular, having a powerful frame that is extremely well defined. He is clearly in excellent shape, the result of a long time of conditioning. His massive size makes him very intimidating. One could say he has a bodybuilder's figure, though he would become enraged if allegations of steroid use were made towards him. He got his body the way it is today through one hundred percent hard work and dedication, and he is proud of it.
Eye colour: Dark brown
Hair: White blond, allowed to grow long because Ari is too lazy to cut it.
Habits: His most notable are his tendencies to doodle when he's bored in class and that if he's trying to think and standing at the same time he will usually start pacing. This also occurs if he is bored. If there is enough room he will pace in a circular motion, if not he will simply go back and forth, usually looking at the ground. He also has a tendency to randomly start stretching his arms, mainly to loosen the joints.
Other Information
Personality: Ari is loud, boastful, arrogant, foul mouthed, and almost always up for a fight, coupled with a stubborn demeanour and the fact that he is very easily angered, but at the same time he is completely loyal and devoted to his family. He would do anything to better their lives and protect them, even kill if he had to, though as a sane human being that is an option he prays would never come up. He is also a very hard working man, having only gotten as far as he has by working himself to the breaking point (and often past it) has left an impression on him that the only way to get anywhere in the world is through constant hard work, training, and self-improvement, and thus socialization and leisure are not things he enjoys, and in fact he looks down on them. He has a strict schedule and training diet he devoutly adheres to, and distractions from this greatly irritate him.
If someone manages to befriend Ari or otherwise grow close to him, however, his dedication to his family will also extend to that person, but he will angrily repay betrayal in full. He believes his style of MMA is superior to all other fighting styles, and is prone to insult practitioners of any style other than Mixed Martial Arts. He also seems to have a sadistic streak when fighting, carrying over to the fact that he's (to be polite about it) something of a bully to anyone who isn't a family member, his friend, or proven to be stronger than him. Believing that strength is the only thing that is important in the world, he believes anyone who is weaker than him is completely worthless, and enjoys crushing such people. He will fight literally anyone to this end, including women. To be less polite about things, Ari Karamzov is an arsehole, having gone down a path very different to that of his much more humble parents.
Appearance: If one had to sum up his appearance in one word, it would be "tough". Allowing two words would have the questioned most likely say "tough" and "distinctive". His body is built like a heavyweight boxers', heavily muscled with the occasional scar, especially on his knuckles, while standing at the massive height of 6'11. His face looks like it is chiseled out of solid diamond, rough and hard-edged. He allows his nearly white blond hair to grow almost to his face, framing his brown eyes that are nearly black, but he is by no means effeminate (and would slug you if you called him that, though to be fair that applies to just about anything). His fingers are surprisingly thin though, looking out of place compared to the rest of his muscular frame. He tends to wear a white short sleeve t-shirt and black shorts that go down to just above his knees, along with red and white sneakers. In fact, he almost always wears this outfit (and rarely washes it) because his family has little else. His teeth seem to vary between well taken of and neglected, the colour ranging from perfectly white to slightly yellow. His front and eye- teeth have a slightly elongated, fang-like appearance. Some may consider him good looking, but he definitely isn't the most attractive person out there even with all his muscle, and he is clearly designed more for raw fighting strength than beauty.
Hobbies: He likes to play the guitar (acoustic, he cannot stand electric guitars), and is actually quite good at it. Otherwise, he tends to spend his free time working out, training at the MMA gym, or schoolwork. Another favourite pass-time of his is randomly picking fights with people, often by walking up to an unsuspecting person and headbutting them. He thinks it's hilarious.
Extracurricular: To be honest, his grades aren't that great, low average in most classes, though naturally he excels in Physical Education and is surprisingly adept in Math. He trains at a local mixed martial arts gym five days a week and is a member of the school wrestling team. Nobody at the school knows about it, but he also participates in "underground" fight clubs for extra money every Friday. He also does part time jobs around the city.
Important Details
History: Ari Karamzov was born eighteen years from present day to very poor Armenian parents in the slums of San Francisco, California. Life was tough for Oleg and Katherine Karamzov, even before having Ari, especially since their being white meant the government refused to give them welfare, but they tried to give him a good life nevertheless. The poverty still affected him though, and even as an infant he knew that something was wrong with the way the Karamzovs lived. Even though the elder Karamzovs were kind, loving parents who always tried to shrug off any inquiries as to what was wrong, Ari knew all was not well. Even at an extremely young age he could see the sadness in the eyes of his mother and father. By the time he was five, he was working odd jobs around the neighbourhood for pocket money, each time depositing his meager earnings onto the Karamzov family's kitchen table with a triumphant smile, helping bit by bit. Even at that tender age, he often found himself on the streets, and saw the cruelty such environments had to offer.
Before the young Armenian boy was even nine years old, he had had many harsh fights with fellow youngsters, derogatorily and sometimes affectionately known as "runt bums", over small change. Recollecting on his past Ari was pretty sure the most he'd made at once from such fights was $20, and only after knocking out another kid to get eight of them, and scraps of food. He also found himself resorting to thievery to get what he needed. Having had no medical insurance, his family was forced to rely on Oleg's meagre medical training to help bandage him up in the instances where he'd limp through the door with a wad of cash in scuffed up fists, bloody and beaten. In terms of fighting, he learned through the well tested school of Hard Knocks, his skill increasing with experience.
He also started to physically develop over the years, as early as eight he started seeking out the heaviest things he could find and lifting them, among other workouts. He had realized that the best way to improve his and his family's lives was to increase his physical strength. To meet this end he had started to work out however and whenever possible, also increasing his physical abilities by starting to actively seek out fights with his fellow "runts". By 12, he had already gotten a reputation for his strength and newly developing muscular physique, along with the massive size that was notable even then. With that physique and strength, along with his aggression, he quickly found himself starting to become the kind of kid the others actively avoided for their own self interests. If they saw him getting money or food from donations, they left him alone and sought other ground.
He enjoyed the feeling the fact that other kids backing off at his approach gave him; after all, it was the closest thing to success the family had, and this only encouraged him. Not only did he strain himself even further (once going as far as to nearly break an arm), but he started to develop a loud, arrogant, and beligerant demeanour which was only encouraged the more he fought and won. He was soon shown to be out of control with his desire to be stronger than everyone else, his ego and need to prove himself growing wildly as he fought more and more, and worked out even more often than he fought. As his strength and sheer bulk increased, he continued to pick more fights without end, winning some and losing some, only to push himself even harder to avenge said losses, which he never failed to do. In school, on the street, it didn't matter where the fight was as long as he was fighting somebody, proving his superiority to someone by way of beating the hell out of them. People started to both fear and respect him, and the system could do little to stop him as he was.
Within days of his fourteenth birthday he had stumbled upon an underground "fight club" of sorts, and practically jumped right in, quickly earning himself a reputation as his skills improved. His parents were alarmed at his constant fighting, and the steadily increasing frequency of his coming home with injuries, but whatever it was he did put both money and food on the table so they could ill afford to protest. In truth, they did protest, rather vehemently at times, but Ari Karamzov never listened to them in that regard. Trying to vent off as much of his aggression as he could, he started to spend even more time fighting and working out.than usual, even joining the middle school wrestling team for the sole purpose of increasing his skill. It was to the point that between his working odd jobs around the city, studying at school, and training he was somewhat rarely seen by the family he tried so hard to take care of. By the end of his final year of middle school he was not only just as large as many of the adults but well known for his great strength and fighting ability. Adding that to the fact that he had very quickly become one of the stars of the school wrestling team, and he had found himself being something of a celebrity in the school, if one that was more feared than respected.
It was this new status as a "big name" in Hircine Middle School that made him start to truly care about the rumour mill, though. As such, he started to pay actual attention to the name Tiao Lei Shen for the first time. As anyone had, he had heard all about Tiao before, had even seen him occasionally in the halls, but he had never cared to know him or what people said of him. However, it was the idea that people thought Ari was "almost as good as Tiao Lei Shen" that got his attention. If Tiao was considered such a strong fighter, he reasoned, defeating him would prove that Ari Karamzov was the best in the school. A plan formed in the giant Armenian's mind just then, and the next day he told a wrestler to find Tiao and tell him Ari thought he was "a worthless loser" and to meet Ari on the rooftop during lunch if he wanted to prove him wrong. Shen did exactly that, and so did a large crowd. Ari liked this, though, as the concept of debunking the "myth of Tiao Lei Shen" in front of so many people especially pleased him. Thus the two did battle, a fight between two Titans of the school. While Ari had the size and strength advantage by a large amount, he let his confidence get in the way of the fact that he had never seen Tiao fight and was completely in the dark against the Chinese-American. For all of his brute strength, he was soundly defeated by Tiao after roughly three minutes of fighting, left crumpled in an unconscious heap on the roof.
Whether this defeat was a surprising outcome depended on who was asked, but it was devastating for Ari. While his reputation was not damaged any, and physically he was unharmed except for a few bruises, he was shaken to the core by the loss. Not only did it exponentially skyrocket Tiao's reputation for defeating an opponent so much bigger than him, it showed Ari that he was truly not the best and that his strength alone would not be enough against some opponents. He became something of a recluse for the rest of the week or so left of the year, trying to find out why he lost and unable to accept that Tiao was the better fighter. Five days into the vacation, his father would find a job in San Diego that paid well enough that backbreaking labour was no longer required on Ari's part, and the family promptly moved there. While it would be a few years before anyone in San Francisco would see him again, he never forgot his experience.
After taking some time to make sure he helped his father and mother get everything settled, the boy picked up from where he left off at San Francisco. While he no longer had to work, he did so as always not only to help out, but to get stronger. Near the end of the vacation, he came across a building only a few blocks from his new home that he had never noticed. The sign on the front of it read, "Wilson's school of Mixed Martial Arts", and he was drawn to it immediately. He just knew that the MMA school was the answer he was looking for, the way to increase his skills as he so wanted. Knowing this, he didn't hesitate to step in, find Wilson, and register. Nathan Wilson, a martial arts genius, took a quick look at Ari and then had him fight another member of the gym; by the time Ari had won the fight Wilson knew exactly how to train him, focusing on his boxing, wrestling, and takedown defense instead of the typical blend of Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Ari was already becoming skilled at the MMA style Wilson had constructed for him by the time Freshman year started, and it was just in time for him to start his rampage anew. Southridge was, like many schools across the country under the corporal punishment system, very violent, with frequent fights and even small riots. Thanks to this, Ari had no shortage of opponents to force under him in the hierarchy. It all started with a teacher who thought he was tougher than he really was and had no idea what he was getting into; in response to a smartass remark from Ari, the man belted the large student right in the face. A hard hit by any standards, the only effect it seemed to have was provoking Ari, who promptly rushed forward and laid a vicious beating down on the teacher. Once this one event provided the spark, he moved through the school with as much momentum as he could muster.
Working his way through high school, opponent after opponent fell before him as he indiscriminately fought his way through anyone who thought to stand against him. He joined tournaments and dominated them with his rapidly expanding MMA knowledge, he made random challenges and won quickly. Just like at Hircine, he joined the wrestling team and soon established a position of dominance. There were even times when he had bullied more timid teachers into giving him passing grades. Oddly enough, despite his desire to be the best and his little difficulty in fending off what assaults the system made, he showed no interest in either the Captainship or being a Pillar, possibly not wanting the leadership role of either position.
The years passed and Ari's arrogance and aggression, fueled by the successes he had in the boxing matches and MMA fights given by Wilson along with his status in Southridge, grew to a point far beyond what even seemed possible back in Hircine Middle School. He never grew complacent, though, especially as the defeat by Tiao Lei Shen was in his mind even three years later in his Junior year, striving him to improve even as his family managed to secure a comfortable position in the middle class in contrast to the poverty they had struggled so long under. It was possible that he could have stayed in San Diego to graduate from high school and start out on his own life, Hircine being but a thing of the past while his name continued to spread into prominence. In fact, he may have let exactly that happen if it weren't for the Harris fire.
An extremely destructive fire that devastated a good deal of San Diego, the Harris fire forced the Karamzovs to flee the city, one family out of many that evacuated the city during the fire. By some strange twist of fate, they had ended up back in San Francisco, though this time not in the slums, and there was an open job opportunity even better than the one Ari's father had to leave behind seemingly waiting for them. Again not attending the school for a few weeks as to get everything in order, such as finding another MMA gym, setting up the new home, and registering for Hircine High in the first place, he found himself amused at how he ended up right back where he started. Much larger and more experienced than he had been when he left the first time, Ari was eventually re-enrolled at the school.
Little did he know that Hircine had changed so much in the past few years.
Fighting Style: His "style" if it can so be called would be best described as a mixture of street fighting and Mixed Martial Arts, namely a mix between Boxing and Freestyle Wrestling with chokes, holds, and locks added to his arsenal as well. One can also spot modified moves from professional wrestling in his repertoire if they look carefully. He is a very aggressive fighter, often charging towards the opponent at the immediate start of the fight with the hope of overwhelming and barreling through the opponent, hence his nickname of "the Blitz". In fact, his fighting style revolves almost exclusively on offense. He focuses almost entirely on crushing the opponent with powerful strikes, locks, throws, holds, and chokes. Defense is rare from him because he has mostly observed that he does not need it and he knows his body is too big a target for him to have a very effective defense. If he is on the defensive other than the occasional parry, it is a clear sign that he is losing the fight. Punches and elbows are predominant in terms of striking, and he will rarely kick. The only kicks he uses are knee strikes (usually only employed from a clinch), stomps, and the occasional push kick or roundhouse to the leg. This has proven effective, as his records in MMA and amateur boxing show.
MMA record: three wins, no losses, no draws, two wins by knockout, one win by referee stoppage (Ari had broken both of the opponent's arms)
Amateur Boxing record: five wins, no losses, no draws, four KOs
It should be noted that at times where he is particularly confident, he will often start a fight off by offering his opponent a "free shot" at him, as a way of showing off his strength and outright stating that nothing the opponent can do can harm him. Whether he does this as a psychological trick or just to boast is unknown.
Strengths: As is obvious, Ari "the Blitz" Karamzov is extremely strong, literally possessing devastating power. His strikes contain such a great deal of power and mass behind them that it is quite common for an opponent to be instantly knocked out by a single punch, especially the sweeping right overhand for which he is famous in underground fight circuits. Blocking these massive blows is an almost entirely useless strategy for someone smaller, and even if one is of a similar size, strength, and mass to Ari himself they would still feel quite the impact. Smaller fighters would for the most part only be sent reeling with a great pain in their blocking appendage if they did this, though stronger ones would naturally feel less of an impact. He is a very experienced fighter, which is always a good advantage to have, and he has a monstrously high level of endurance, pain tolerance, and stamina. His grappling skill is also notable, as is the fact that for most opponents he is almost literally impossible to take down.
His reach makes it easy for him to keep opponents at bay and hard for them to get inside or to exploit their own advantages. Most notably, he has specifically trained in ways to move his body frame as quickly as possible, and he is surprisingly fast for his size. His unexpected level of speed can catch opponents off guard. Despite not being used to fighting people of similar size to himself, Ari specializes in fighting strength vs. strength brawls, which is what such a meeting would most likely end up as. He also works hard to improve his (admitted) weaknesses so that they can be harder to exploit, to the point where it is common for an opponent who defeats him to face off with him in a rematch only to find that whatever weakness they had exploited before is gone completely. One will never hear the words "I give up" from him. His size and strength both serve as a weapon of intimidation on top of it all.
Weaknesses: Though he is fast for his size, he is still slower than most people who are smaller than him and more speed oriented. His actual speed falls around average (ignoring the fact that, considering how slow people at his size usually are, this is an impressive rate of movement). If he sees any sort of opening or vulnerability, he will relentlessly attack that opening/vulnerability to take as much advantage of it as possible, one can use this to their own advantage to force him into a set pattern. He tends to use more energy than is necessary while fighting. He is susceptible to kicks to the back of the knees and trips, such moves will cause him to lose his balance for a small time. Because of his lack of defense, he will take many more shots than he has to, which can slowly wear him down, and if an opponent can evade his attempts at grappling they for the most part only have to worry about his punches, elbows, and knee strikes due to the lack of kicks. When he does use a kick, he is left off balance and often takes a few seconds to recover completely. His arrogance will obviously cause him to underestimate any opponent he meets (the first time he fights them, anyway).
OOC: Yes, I had Tyler's permission to use Tiao Lei Shen the way he is in this profile.
