Odin vs. Ari

[Director Troutman]

Same as before, folks. Fights take place shortly after your first. Same ring, same rules.

[Ari Karamzov]

He wasn't sure if it had been the suplexes, the choke, or something else entirely that had done it, but Ari Karamzov had defeated Felix with ease. He'd expected the boy to prove something of a challenge, considering the rush Ari had arrived in and the small amount of time he had to prepare, but a few seconds in Felix made a mistake that lead to Ari brutally knocking him out. It was rather anticlimactic, really; one second Felix was running at him, the next Ari was being pulled off of Felix's limp body and the referee was raising his hand to signal him as the winner by KO. His anger had mostly dissipated, but at the same time the battle had been so quick he hadn't even had time to really get started.

It was fortunate, he supposed, as it meant that he would go into round two mostly fresh, while other fighters would be tired. This was especially useful, as he had been told his next match would start more or less as soon as the first round was over. Back in the old days, Ari had been in enough tournaments to know how things worked, so he simply tried to blend into the crowd as he relaxed, watching the other fights. Trying to keep his profile low, he focused on pinpointing weaknesses in the strategies of his possible opponents, finding their strengths and preferences. As he cooled down and waited for the first round to end and the second to begin, he started making plans and debating to himself who he'd want to fight.

Unfortunately for Ari, Nathan Branigan lost his fight. Considering that part of the reason he had joined the tournament was to challenge Nathan to a fight, it was an odd feeling to have outlasted him. Disappointment mixed with satisfaction, leaving a bitter taste as a small sigh escaped his lips. He couldn't afford to dwell on it though, he still had a tournament to win and a prize to claim. Deciding against watching the last one or two fights, as he was getting bored, the behemoth left his seat and went into the locker room for some last minute preps and warmup.

As the first round ended and the second got started up, though, no amount of preps or warmups could prepare him for what he saw on the bulletin board showing the round two matches. He was fighting none other than Odin Reeves. He knew the name, he knew the rumours attached to it; the man was said to have won every tournament he had been in but one, and he dominated most of his Fighters' League matches. Most people could only name one person who had beaten Odin: Taiku Akimoto. Ari himself had seen the man's League matches, and the round one fight against Magnus, and he appeared to be as good as everyone said. For a brief instant, Ari "The Blitz" Karamzov almost felt fear.

However, it was immediately replaced by excitement. He had no doubt that, win or lose, this would be an incredibly enjoyable fight, and if-when!-he won he would solidify his position near the top even more. He'd been anticipating a potential fight with Odin since he heard the man was in the League with Ari, and as he headed towards the octagon he reminded himself how he had been training to counter what he knew of Odin's tactics. He had a game plan, all he had to do was stick to it. Crush Odin, cripple his spirit, and advance to the semis.

He's got muscle, but he ain't all that big. Nowhere near as big as that Will guy or Pain Killer. It won't take too many hits.

Any fear that had been in him was gone as he approached the octagon, still clad in the clothing he had been wearing in the fight against Felix. He was long used to the noise of crowds and cheering, hollering for blood as they spectated his fights, so he was able to easily tune out their noise as he ducked into the octagon and heard the door close behind him.

First again...

Odin Reeves wasn't there when Ari Karamzov entered the octagon, but it mattered not to the giant. With a shrug of the shoulders and a dismissive grunt, he pulled off the green camo tanktop and placed it on the octagon railing, leaving his upper body exposed to the open air of the gym. This had an effect other than cooling himself down and showing off his incredible muscles, though; he had heard that while Odin was a fellow mixed martial artist, his specialty was not in grappling. It would be harder for him to grab onto Ari when there was only skin, instead of cloth that can easily be taken hold of. Once that was done, he would start to shadowbox, combos flowing together with speed and skill a beast like Ari had no right to have, belying the sheer destructive power each fist held within. These fists had saved the lives of his family and himself countless times, and it was because of his fists that he was able to pursue a normal life outside of the slums. His faith in his fists was absolute, and Odin would never shake that faith.

These fists will destroy Odin Reeves, given half the chance!

Eventually, after having been adequately warmed up, he would stop, as the only point of the exercise was to warm him up quickly and practice a few combinations. The only thing left to do was wait for Odin, and he would do that for as long as it took, never taking his eyes off the door on the other side of the octagon until he saw Odin step through.

[Odin Reeves]

[Missy] “Okay Odin, you did well in the last round. Well, actually you kicked his ass and nearly broke his arm. Not a bad win if I do say so myself. Anyways, your next opponent is even bigger.”

“M’kay, size or muscle?”

[Missy] “Both. He stands just less than seven feet tall, weighting about two-seventy-five. This guy is literally a behemoth.”

“Style?”

[Missy] “He seems to be like you, only bigger. Pretty good hands and wrestling.”

”All right. Time to go destroy the genetic copy.”

Standing up Odin threw both fists out to the side at shoulder height, flexing his back muscles as they compacted and fused together for a short moment. For a second it looked like he was getting ready to go to war, his eyes narrowed while burning a hole through the locker, neither the door opening nor Missy distracting him as he stretched. Lowering his taped fists to his waist he turned and made his way out the locker room door, Missy following a few steps behind just like in the prior round. Separating he made his way into the Octagon while she headed back into the stands.

Stepping inside he stared across the ring at his opponent, whom literally was taller then the ring he was standing in. This would be interesting, seeing as the mass of muscle before him looked intimidating, but that was more to the untrained eye. A normal person would be scared of the size and build, as they rightfully should be, but Odin didn’t feel the presence of an opponent staring at him. No, he felt the eyes of a mutt who didn’t know what else to do but look scary.

Moving away from the door he went into his ‘corner’, once again ignoring going around the ring to get a feel for it’s shape and size. Turning away from his opponent he tilted his head down, staring at the grate on the outside of the Octagon. An instant later his right fist shot up into the air, automatically getting a reaction from the crowd as cheers erupted all around him. These people knew who he was, they knew what he was like, and now they wanted nothing more then to see him fight in the classic ‘David Vs Goliath’ battle that was to ensue.

Turning back around Odin pivoted over on his right foot, stepping forward with his left as he brought his hands up into a tight guard. His hips were squared off with his shoulders, both pointing at his opponent as he fists were held in the classic peek-a-boo guard, most noticeably used by Mike Tyson. For once he was going to let his opponent start off the fight, only seeming fitting as the last one ended so abruptly by him attacking. Instead the crowd was going to get a show, a possible exchange between finesse and power. Which would win? Obviously, a combination of the two would take the big W, but what would happen in between the beginning and end? That was the question to be solved.

“C’mon slick, lets see if you can hit me.”

[Ari Karamzov]

"That's cute, the boxer knows how to raise his hand."

Ari wasn't impressed at Odin's display, a contemptuous sneer crawling across his face when the crowd erupted in applause at Odin's attempt at a taunt. Calmly stepping forward to walk towards Odin as the applause continued, he made a point of pronouncing the downward glance required for him to make eye contact with Odin as he strode across the octagon, a purposeful gait that made Ari's own confidence even clearer than Odin's. It served more purposes than merely allowing him to approach Odin's corner, however; the straight posture Ari adopted emphasized how much taller he was than Odin, while also making every bit of the hard muscle on his torso perfectly visible. He towered over Odin Reeves, and was glad for the opportunity to make that perfectly clear, every step carrying the message that if he wanted to, Ari could crush the man like a grape. He paused when the cheering stopped, now not too far from Odin himself, and definitely with Odin in his reach, and chose to make his reply in the Armenian tongue, which made his voice sound much harsher and more menacing than it already was when he spoke English, which would be added to the confusion over just what Ari said (he was sure Odin did not know the Armenian language).

However, Odin didn't seem to respond, instead immediately turning around and taking up his stance. Ari knew enough about boxing to immediately recognize Odin's stance, modeled after Mike Tyson's famous usage of the "peek-a-boo" guard if not the exact same type. It was great for infighting, allowing for a lot of power and pretty good defense, but Odin wouldn't be very manouverable while he was in the stance, and dodging any of Ari's attacks would be difficult. Letting out a quick grunt at Odin's comment, Ari simply rolled his shoulders before putting a bit of a bend in his knees so that he would move into a small crouch, his left leg just barely in front of his right position wise, and then raised his fists. His right would be a bit closer to his face and torso, while his left was a bit ahead, but otherwise there was nothing to indicate which hand would be favoured.

"Are you sure?" Ari joked, in English this time, his voice having a cheerful ring to it that made the cold look in his eyes seem all the more evil. "I would hate to kill you by accident."

With those words, Ari Karamzov started the fight, immediately firing his left fist forward in a quick jab aimed right at Odin's face and guard, Ari taking advantage of the huge reach difference in order to force Odin into a corner, pun not intended. At this location in the octagon, Odin wouldn't be able to attack Ari until he had moved forward quite a bit, but anywhere he moved Ari would be able to attack with-at most-a small adjustment in direction. The reason the jab was aimed right at Odin's guard was simple; Odin wouldn't expect it. Therefore, the aim was to either catch Odin off guard and do some damage, or break through Odin's guard entirely, taking advantage of Odin's stance being one specialized for infighting along with one of his own strengths; the fact that he was so strong that he could easily smash right through almost anyone's attempt to block. The peek-a-boo guard wasn't one meant for quick parries and dodges, it was one supposed to allow the fighter to block the opponent's shots, avoid attacks with a simple bob/weave motion, and move in for the attack. Until he moved in, Odin wouldn't be able to do anything more than try to shrug off Ari's hammering at his block, until enough broke through and struck a decisive blow, or his fists merely shattered Odin's forearms or wrists.

In short? Offering the giant the first move was Odin Reeves' first mistake, and Ari was determined to make him pay for it as often as he could.

[Odin Reeves]

There was one mistake that Odin’s opponent made; it didn’t have to do with trying to lip him off or act touch, it didn’t even have to do with trying to intimidate the obviously smaller combatant. No, the one mistake Ari made was to stay in the ring and attack rather then leave once finding out whom his opponent was. Now, there was nothing to hold Odin back, and even more so his opponent attacked first, giving Odin a chance to dissect him thoroughly and without repercussion. This all being due to his speed advantage over his opponent. No matter how hard Ari trained to get faster, with a build like that he was going to be slower then Odin, who pushed himself just as hard – if not harder – to excel in all areas of fighting: Whether it be standing or ground, offensive or defensive, or strength and speed.

Ari’s large brick like fist seemed as though it was moving in slow motion compared to Taiku’s lightning fast snaps, and while the destructive force behind it was so much greater the probability that it would hit was decreasing as the punch continued to extend from it’s starting position. Automatically going on a counter attack Odin dipped down with his entire body, hunching his shoulders more and leaning forward as his legs were loaded like springs. Pushing off with his right foot he stepped forward, switching his stance as he brought his right arm slightly out to the side.

Twisting his hips over Odin pushed off of his still chambered left leg and torque’d his entire body over while throwing out his left fist in a compact – yet full body swing – at the extremely close target of his opponents body. More precisely, Odin’s target was the softest part of his opponent’s stomach, better known as the intestinal track. Basically, Odin was punching at top speed with all his weight just above Ari’s crotch – the hardest part of the abdominal to strength, seeing as there are literally few if any ways to truly strengthen that area alone. Given Ari’s size that made Odin’s target all the bigger.

Ari might’ve been use to boxing down at opponents, but that’s when he kept them at bay. His massive reach was a disadvantage up close, and if he didn’t already know it he did now. Odin’s step and punch would easily strike before any repercussion could be met, and depending on the outcome Odin would either attack again or move to a safer area. Not necessarily away, just to a different spot.

[Ari Karamzov]

Faster than he looks, but he made another mistake!

As Ari's jab extended forwards, Odin started to step forward with his right, ducking under the arm while it moved out. It was clear he had fought much faster people under similar circumstances before, but Ari wasn't daunted. Ari wasn't able to retract his arm quickly enough to keep him from moving in at all, but Odin was either very confident, very stupid, or simply expected Ari to be totally unable to react because of where Odin was. In truth, Ari was far more comfortable when he was in close proximity with his opponents, with attempts to use his reach to his advantage typically reserved for softening up tougher opponents. He was able to fight either way equally well, and due to years of fighting on the streets and in combat sports was very used to attempts by smaller fighters to get in close and negate his reach. Ironically, such fighters were safer on the outside, as his blows had much more power when they didn't have to go out very far.

Whether from overconfidence, or just sheer folly, Odin appeared to have failed to notice one simple aspect of his plan of attack; by ducking under Ari's arm and throwing a punch from there, Odin left himself in a position where he was still literally under Ari's arm. Because of this, he didn't even have to retract his arm to make an effective counter, which was good due to their positioning. Instead, he raised his arm vertically once Odin ducked in and started to prepare for the punch-as a blow with so much weight put in it would take a second or two to prepare-so that the tip of the elbow was facing down at the top of Odin's skull. What he did next was simple and obvious, he brought the elbow down with the goal of smashing it into Odin's skull and rattling around whatever brains were in there. Unless Odin had eyes on top of his head, he wouldn't be able to see the elbow on its way down, indeed would have no way to know it was there until it was too late, and even if he did have eyes on top of his head, he had put too much weight into his attack to actually get away without having to abort the attack and really screw up his balance.

Of course, despite the relatively simultaneous timing of the two blows, Odin was technically the faster of the two, and therefore his shot hit first. Ari felt for himself that nobody could say Odin Reeves didn't hit hard, and for the first time in a long time he was struck with a blow that actually hurt. The pain wasn't too great, and he knew there was no permanent damage, but it still hurt, which was testament to how hard Odin could hit, as a punch from most people would literally go unnoticed by the behemoth. With a hiss, a good bit of air would fly out from Ari's lungs, but there was a beneficial effect to Ari getting punched; he lurched forward from the sudden hit. This meant the elbow was suddenly brought down much faster than it was originally going to be, and the window of opportunity was slammed closed. If Odin's punch hadn't landed first, there still would've been time enough for him to notice the elbow and get out of the way, but the chance was squandered now. Odin was fast, and he was strong, but that meant he wasn't as strong as a very strong person and not as fast as a very fast person and was therefore not fast enough to have not set himself up to get hit by a person much stronger than himself.

The elbow and left hook wouldn't hit literally at the same time due to the speed difference, as Ari would not delude himself by claiming he was faster than Odin, but due to the distance already covered by the elbow, coupled with the increase in speed from the lurch, meant that the elbow would hit immediately after the left hook. It would be a matter of milliseconds, and the elbow would strike much harder than the punch. Odin had put his entire body into the blow, which is why it hit Ari as hard as it did, but that also meant that he had no way to react to the incoming attack until it had already landed, especially since he couldn't have known it was even there, and he would have invested too much into the punch to quickly move away without unbalancing himself and possibly falling flat on his arse. Odin's eyes were on Ari's abdomen, not his shoulders, so there would have been no way to notice the shift in arm position. Regardless, much like you couldn't do too much to strengthen the intestinal area above your crotch, you couldn't really do anything to strengthen the very top of your skull, the location where your soft spot was as a baby. As many of Ari's opponents, Felix the most recent of them not counting Odin, had discovered, this was what made strikes to the very top of the head-especially with the elbow-so effective, and why they were dangerous enough to not be allowed in most mixed martial arts competitions. Ari was hoping the hit would knock Odin out completely, but he acknowledged the possibility that he wouldn't be laid out entirely.

Ari was never the type to trust just one hit to do the job though, so whether or not Odin was knocked out by the elbow attack Ari would bring his arms back and quickly place his huge hands on the back of Odin's head, pulling it downward while firing his left knee up at Odin's face. This would take advantage of any dazed state Odin was put in by the elbow to force an opening in Odin's defense, however brief, and try to seal a knockout or put Odin in even more pain. Odin Reeves had gotten too close to Ari, and now he was fighting the giant's fight.

[Odin Reeves]

[No offence Ari, but your literally taking the 24 hour maximum to reply, so I’m not going to bother with PM’s. I’m just going to reply with my understanding of my prior move, and your current one.]

Ari failed to realize a few things: One, Odin was proficient at striking – to say the least. He was a extremely dominant striker, and of his opponents could tell you that. Two, he’s had a lot of experience while fighting, no matter the size of build of an opponent. He knows his own strengths, and knows what to do. Three, he doesn’t calculate in the process a punch that would take more then a half a second to throw would take, so why would he use one? That was Ari’s biggest mistake, thinking he could catch Odin on one of his signature punches. The large man thought Odin needed to prepare to strike the body, but that’s a mistake in itself. Usually, Odin’s Sunday punch would be a left blow to the right kidney, but in this case he was striking more to the center. That didn’t mean he was using an entirely different punch. It was still compact, not needing to be drawn back from his body to deliver a full powered punch. So, the actions Odin took made it needless to say that Ari’s prior experiences fighting shorter men were null and void when it came to Odin, as he was above all of them.

Odin defence tactics were all too simple, as they were basic motions that allowed for more power. Odin didn’t just open the guard on his right side for no reason, when he put his full body into the swing he literally leaned to his right, his head dipping out from underneath Ari as his punch was to be delivered. It hit, just as expected, and the response from his opponent’s body was just as he thought it would be. For all experienced fighters there’s one strategy that they use when fighting larger opponents: Get inside their guard and hit their weak spot. Odin did this, and now it left his opponent completely open for a combination.

After digging his fist into his adversaries lower intestines Odin brought his left hand out and placed it palm down on the back of his opponent, doing the same with his right. Pushing off his opponents back he twisted his hips over and shot his left leg up so his knee would dig deep into his opponents lower stomach, better known as Odin’s prior target: the lower intestines. But Odin wasn’t done there; he knew a simple knee wasn’t going to make up for the difference in strength, so he unconsciously decided to use his opponent’s strategy – unknown to Odin – against him. After his knee struck, presumably, Odin would bring it down with a quick step out to his left, already pivoting over his hips as he does so. As his left foot came down toward the canvas Odin’s right fist would be following the path of a gentle arch before it would sail in a downward position a hit Ari in the back of the head. His target wasn’t the spinal cord, but just above where tender area of the head meets skull.

With this being Odin’s second giant in a row he was contempt at trying to end this as fast as possible, so he wasn’t playing in any sense of the word. Everything he did he did with as much speed and power as he could possibly muster. If Ari wanted to try and get back up after receiving two well placed stomach blows and a shot straight to the back of the skull, well then Odin wouldn’t waste any time in mounting his back and continuing to knock his block around from an unseen angle with his own brick-sized-fists.

[Ari Karamzov]

OOC: Rewrote post due to compromise.
IC:

Ari may have hunched over a bit from Odin's punch, but that didn't mean he was paralyzed. As Odin tried to get his arms around Ari to deliver a knee strike, Ari brought his left arm up from where he tried to drop his elbow as he used his right to knock away Odin's left hand. Going over Odin as Ari took a quick step back, the left arm would return to its position in Ari's guard near his own shoulder just before his right hand was placed on Odin's chest, with the arm being bent slightly. As Odin started to raise the knee, Ari gathered his incredible strength and pushed his hand forward, shoving Odin back with a huge amount of force. This would fuck over Odin's balance, sending him sprawling back and giving Ari time to straighten himself. He would make Odin pay for that punch.

Once the giant was back to his full height, Odin's punch nothing more than a small pain in his gut, he would take a large step forward to get in range of the stumbling Odin before he could stabilize. Most people, when pushed, brought their hands up out of reflex, so Ari would use this to his advantage, bringing his left arm down as he bent his knees a little and twisted his hips to the left. Surging upwards, he sent the left up and to his right in a thundering shovel hook aimed directly at Odin's unguarded liver. With Ari's size and strength into account, this would probably do much more damage than Odin's simple punch to the gut did, ample revenge on its own.

However, Ari was banking on the fact that Odin would most likely react to the punch similarly to how Ari did to Odin's own; namely that he would hunch forward briefly as the heavy shot stopped him, preferably dropping his hands. Once this happened, Ari would step forward as his left was drawn back, stopping only to bend down as he had with the shovel hook and send a massive right uppercut towards Odin's exposed face. With his hands down and the move coming so soon after the previous hit, it would be difficult to defend the uppercut if at all possible. The consequences for failure to defend would be dire, as Ari's cinder block-like fist would impact directly into Odin's face, hitting him directly on the bridge of the nose. If Odin were lucky said nose would be unbroken somehow when the force of the blow sent his head back upwards. When this happened, Odin's head would be greeted by another left hook, another part of a combo that Ari had long since memorized, and used countless times. Once the initial shovel hook left them stunned, most people couldn't react once the second and third punch came their way. Ari hoped Odin would make it more interesting than that, though he still wanted this fight over as soon as possible.


Of course, that wouldn't be an option if Odin's hands stayed up, so if that were the case Ari's step forwards at the stricken Odin Reeves wouldn't be stopped by him bending down to power an uppercut, but to step to his left a bit and then raise his arm and twist it over into an elbow, bringing it down at the back of Odin's unprotected head. With Odin hunched over from the shovel hook it was wide open, and with his hands in front of his head in a guard he would not only be unable to see the elbow, but unable to defend it. Ari didn't know what would happen from there, but as he pulled the arm back he wondered how things would develop. The cheers outside the octagon started to sound uncertain.

[Odin Reeves]

As Odin went in for the knee strike he found his center of gravity forced back as Ari forced him to step back a few times. Precisely, he stepped back twice, once with his already raised left leg, then another step back with his right. During the step back it was instinctual to return to his fighting stance, only it wasn’t the fighting stance he started off with, it was actually his more original fighting stance that seemed to slowly make it’s way from his arsenal in more recent matches. Odin’s left fist remained positioned out in front of him as his right moved up to guard his torso, basically the classic boxers stance only with his feet more elongated then usual.

Reacting to his sense he saw Ari step forward and drop his left arm, and to Odin it was a classic and clear sign of a body blow. He could go for an uppercut, but it would be to exaggerated and wide to actually connect with a seasoned fighter. As the body blow came in Odin tightened his right arm, tensing it as he brought his forearm up into his bicep. Dropping his hips by bending at the knees he lowered his body and took the hard blow in the meat of his bicep and forearm, a painful blow, but one he had taken time and time again… Only, not from such a heavy competitor. Nevertheless, nothing was broken and the pain was nullified along with Ari’s dominant strength by the simple space left in between Odin’s arm and his body. That little air cushion actually helped a lot in preventing major damage as his arm was pushed into his torso.

Reeling from the blow Odin’s body did shift to his right, another way of absorbing power shots. However, despite Odin’s grunt of pain he didn’t take his eyes off his opponent. He knew better, and planned on seeing Ari’s next movements rather then giving him a free shot. Odin watched, waited, and then reacted. He saw Ari step out to his left, and then bring his massive right arm up for the decisive blow, but this is when Odin reacted. He knew what Ari was going to throw, thinking it was Odin’s major weakness to need to protect the top of his head. No, he didn’t need to cover it he just needed to move.

As Ari brought down his right elbow Odin avoided it by stepping out to his right – following Ari’s path. He did step forward a bit, but not enough to make it classified as a step forward. Odin’s hips turned over along with his shoulders, bringing his right side forward as he raised and pushed his left arm to the side in order to parry/delay the right elbow from making a correct return to guard. During Odin’s parry he threw his right fist up along Ari’s body toward his jaw in a classic short uppercut. And while he needed it to go further then usual, it was still a close bodied punch.

[Ari Karamzov]

Odin managed to lower his arm for a block in time, but Ari grinned as the punch sent the smaller man reeling, grunting in pain. Nothing broke, he could tell that, but the monstrous punch would definitely ensure that Odin's arm would be sore as hell for quite some time. His punch had impacted right in the muscle, so while it would cushion the blow a little it would also be more painful, and it'd hurt to flex. Ari stored that bit of information in his head for future reference. Odin stepped to his right as he reeled from the punch, though odd as this was Ari didn't break eye contact as he brought his arm back and adjusted accordingly. The stern look to his face now had bits of confidence in it once more; now Ari knew Odin could be hurt. If he could be hurt, he could be beaten.

Take this!

Having already adjusted for the fact that Odin was standing at his left, Ari took a huge step forward and brought his elbow up, bringing it crashing down towards Odin's unprotected head. However, as the elbow was coming down, Odin stepped to Ari's left again, prompting Ari to immediately bring the elbow back into his guard from its position. As he was pulling it back though, he felt Odin's arm knock against it to try to push it outwards, and reflexively stepped back and to his left. This turned out to be fortunate, as Odin's uppercut just missed him, leaving Ari in a position where he was facing forward, with Odin right in front of him with his side turned to Ari. Put simply, Ari was facing Odin's side, a place where, at the current time frame, the only more dangerous spot Ari could be would be behind Odin. He had the champ where he wanted him now; Odin was fast for a heavyweight, but at this distance, with Ari's strength, with all the openings Odin had, his speed wouldn't save him. He knew Odin could react very quickly, so he made his reactions instant. He didn't know when the window of opportunity would slam shut, so he went for it the second it opened.

His first blow was aimed more or less directly at the side of Odin's head, which tempted Ari so much. Even in Odin's peripheral vision, there would be no unusual movements to give the attack away, no noticeable dip or even a roll. His left, right at face level in Ari's guard, would fire outwards into Odin's temple right in front of Ari. The target was close, and wide open, the attack possessing surprising quickness and going in a straight line along that small distance. It would be as if someone threw a big rock at Odin's head, the goal being to hit Odin quick and hard while leaving him just about no time to act. The shot would be painful, and it would stun Odin if not outright knocking him out, most importantly enabling the right hand to snap out and grab the uppercutting hand by the wrist, followed by a sharp jerk to Ari's right. Using his brute strength to overpower Odin, the idea was to literally pull Odin along and make him stumble forward, off balance and thusly vulnerable to attacks. Attacks such as the right knee that would then fire upwards into Odin's gut in almost the exact place Ari had been hit earlier, except more to the right. Counting on the fact that once he started to move around again Odin would try to use the knee to take him down, Ari snapped the foot back down right after firing it out, letting go of Odin's arm to let the lack of balance do whatever it would.

That wasn't the end though. As the right arm returned to its state as a guard for Ari's body, Ari would take a quick step around Odin, so that he was at the man's back. Like with Felix, his massive right arm would move around Odin's throat as his left placed itself on the back of Odin's head. Taking a tight grip on the upper part of his left arm with his right hand, flexing the bicep muscle that would be pressing into Odin's throat, and bending slightly back, finishing the package by briefly lifting his right foot and pushing it out to kick into the back of Odin's knee before bringing it back down, Ari would establish a tight rear naked choke that would constrict Odin's airflow until he tapped, broke out, or fell unconscious. With how tightly the RNC was in Ari estimated that Odin would have a few seconds at most to either tap or break out.

Now, Ari Karamzov, you wait.

[Director Troutman]

Odin's taken more hits, Ari's also showing no signs of slowing down....I've read this several times and consulted a third party, but I gotta say, Ari has this match, and if it continued, it seems he'd maintain the advantage...

Good match, guys. Ari wins.