7. The Final Grand Prix Arrives! <1>
The high from the victory didn’t last long.
Changgong went straight back into training the next day.
He would have to rest the day before the match, so there were only 12 more days left.
The rest of the fighters knew he was a striker now. His opponent would come prepared. Changgong would have to come up with a backup plan.
That backup plan was defensive techniques on the ground.
“No! That’s not it! Don’t think.”
Changgong’s jiu jitsu coach, Hyukchan Kwon, chastised him.
Changgong let out a big sigh as he lied down.
“There’s no formula. You did ssireum, you should know this.”
“I understand in my head……but my body’s not used to it.”
“Sigh…… let’s take a short break.”
“Thank you.”
Changgong shoulders slumped as he drank from the water fountain. Hyukchan sat on the floor to recover his strength.
Dongsub approached Hyukchan.
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s following along a lot better than I thought he would, but it’s just impossible to prepare anything in 2 weeks.”
Jiu jitsu is not a martial arts that can be mastered in 1 or 2 years. It was normal to train for 5 years before barely getting the brown belt and being able to effectively use the jiu jitsu skills in the octagon.
Anyone would get overwhelmed trying to cram all that in 2 weeks.
But Changgong had to do it. He would at least have to scratch the surface and learn a few defensive skills.
Unfortunately for Changgong, the rest of the 3 qualifying fighters had a foundation in grappling.
“He can defend some since he has a sense for it, but he doesn’t know what to do when there’s even a little bit of a variation in grip or something.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think he gets hung up on theory when he’s in a pinch. Like, when his left hand is caught, he has to do this. Or if it’s his right hand, he does this.”
“……habitually?”
“It’s not a full habit yet. I’m pushing him to break it completely.”
Dongsub nodded.
It was good for most things, but it was bad to have habits in jiu jitsu. Technology was too advanced for bad habits. In the current martial arts world, fights could easily be analyzed and bad habits would quickly become weak points.
“Push him as hard as you can. But don’t break his confidence.”
“Okay, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Keep up the good work.”
Dongsub kicked Hyukchan on the butt and smirked before leaving.
“Changgong! If you drank water you should be back training!”
Hyukchan yelled out.
“Yessir!”
He was pumped.
How could anyone break that guy’s confidence.
It would be great if his skills would match up to his confidence, though.
***
By the time everyone else was starting to go home, Changgong was wandering around the gym, still in his workout clothes.
“Sigh……”
A sigh leaked out of Changgong’s lips.
He was frustrated.
Jiu jitsu.
He didn’t know there was a martial arts this difficult.
He was pushing himself to his limits, yet his technique wasn’t getting any better.
Hwanseong was a striker like him, but his grappling skills were as good as a grappler’s. Just what did he do to be that good?
At that moment, Hwanseong came out of the office.
Both Changgong and Hwanseong faltered when their eyes made contact.
“……”
There was an awkward silence.
‘Speak of the devil.’
Why did they have to meet when there was no one else around? Because their eyes met, Changgong couldn’t even pretend he hadn’t noticed him.
“Aren’t you going to go home?”
Hwanseong, being the elder of the two, decided to greet Changgong first.
“Soon.”
“I saw your match. You hit well.”
“Oh. Thank……Huh? You were watching? I don’t think it was shown on TV.”
Hwanseong flinched.
“……”
“……”
“My father told me to go, so I did.”
“Oh, okay.”
There was another awkward silence.
‘This is so awkward!’
It felt as if time and space were shriveling up. If he didn’t have anything to say, he should just go away.
“I’m sorry about before.”
“What? Oh that? It’s fine. I learned a lot that day.”
“Yeah, keep up the good work.”
“Take care.”
Hwanseong left the gym in silence.
Changgong called to Hwanseong with a sudden thought.
“Hey, Hwanseong.”
“What?”
“I want to ask you something. About jiu jitsu.”
“I’m a striker.”
“But you know so much more than me.”
“……Go on.”
“All of the qualifiers in the grand prix are grapplers.”
“I know.”
“Huh? How do you know?”
“……Just get on with your question.”
“Oh, okay. So anyways, I’m trying to learn some defensive techniques in a hurry, but it’s just not working out. When I ask Hyukchan, he just tells me that I need to form muscle memory.”
“Just get to the point.”
“Hyukchan says that I have a formula stuck in my head. Do this in this situation and that in another.”
“So you move predictably.”
“Yes.”
Hwanseong thought for a moment before putting his bag down.
“Come at me.”
“What?”
“You won’t understand even if I explain in words, so I’ll just show you. Come on.”
Changgong quickly got into his striking stance.
“……You asked me to teach you about grappling.”
“Oh, I thought we were just going to have at it. Hehe.”
“Try a move on me. Anything.”
Changgong got into a grappling stance and carefully tried to grapple Hwanseong.
He wasn’t able to succeed even once.
Changgong sat on the floor after trying everything he could for 5 minutes.
“What’s my problem?”
“What do you think?”
“Because I’m inexperienced?”
“……”
Hwanseong was stunned by Changgong’s obvious answer.
“You being inexperienced is a given.”
“Can’t you just tell me?”
“The point is that jiu jitsu skills come in pairs.”
“Pairs?”
“Defend. I’ll attack.”
Hwanseong grappled Changgong this time.
The arm triangle, strangling the opponent with his shoulder, the rear naked choke, and the keylock/americana, twisting the opponent’s arm over his shoulder with both hands.
“These techniques all require both hands.”
“……You could have just told me that using words.”
“The triangle and the armbar require the whole body. You won’t be able to pull it off with one arm or one leg.”
Suddenly, something clicked in Changgong’s head.
He felt like he understood why Hwanseong could easily escape his grapples even with such a passive defense.
Hwanseong would push away the arm and leg forming the axis for the technique, thereby creating an opening in the move to escape.
“If it was a jiu jitsu match, you’d lose by points. But we’re MMA fighters. It doesn’t matter how many points you give your opponent as long as you knock him out.”
“……”
“Do you only guard when a punch comes at you? You can dodge to the right or to the left. You can counter. Get rid of the stereotypes in your head. You can make many choices. If you take control of the arm and leg that form the axis, you can block the technique.”
“……”
“That’s why, although I respect jiujiteiro (a practitioner of jiu jitsu), I prefer striking.”
“……”
“For you to stop a few grapples, this should be enough for now. Of course, you’re screwed if you’re up against a skilled grappler.”
Changgong smiled widely, as if he had just discovered something big.
“Thank you, Hwanseong. I’ll buy you dinner if I win.”
“……Dinner?”
“Sheesh, one dinner should be enough. Were you going to milk me for this?”
Changgong smiled slyly as he poked Hwanseong in the side.
Hwanseong had nothing to say.
‘Buy me dinner? Does this guy not know how much fight money I get?’
Changgong just smiled. Hwanseong smirked as he turned his back to Changgong.
“Have a good night!”
“You too, Changgong.”
***
“That’s right! Good!”
Hyukchan enthusiastically complimented Changgong during their sparring.
Of course, he was scolding Changgong for most of the time, but it was important to note that he could compliment him now and then.
“Did you get hit by lightning or something last night? You’ve gotten a lot better.”
Hyukchan was honestly impressed.
Of course it wasn’t huge progress, but it felt like Changgong now understood the basics of defending against grapples. Since he had so much energy and a good sense for fighting, Changgong should be able to at least keep his opponents at bay now.
“I think I’m a genius.”
“……”
Press.
“Agh! I tap out!”
***
Now that he had the basics of the basics out of the way, Changgong could sharpen his techniques without problem.
He was even able to overcome his tendency to react predictably.
Thanks to that, the nickname Hyukchan gave to Changgong evolved from ‘retard’ to ‘noob’.
Changgong didn’t stop training his striking either. Hitting was Changgong’s bread and butter. If he had to choose, it would only make sense for him to sacrifice grappling for striking.
Changgong’s guard improved, too.
The guard was lower in MMA compared to boxing because of the need to defend from attacks to the lower body and tackles. Changgong’s guard was a bit too high because of his background in boxing, but he had finally achieved the MMA style guard.
The training went smoothly, and there were only five days left until the tournament.
***
“Hello!”
Changgong gave an energetic greeting as he entered the gym.
The athletes and the coaches snickered at the sight of Changgong.
“Changgong, you must be happy.”
“Why?”
“Go to the office.”
“What? What’s this about?”
“Just go in already.”
Changgong knocked on the door before going into the office. Dongsub and Hyukchan were discussing something.
“Hello, hehe.”
“Seeing your expression, you must have heard something, huh?”
Hyukchan spoke.
“I would be stupid not to notice anything when everyone is snickering at me. What’s going on?”
“The fight money was increased.”
Changgong’s eyes sparkled.
“How much?”
“Base five hundred thousand, victory eight hundred thousand, first place two mil.”
“Wow!”
“There’s more.”
“It’s going to be broadcast.”
Changgong flinched.
“Broadcast……as in on TV?”
“Online.”
Of course. Changgong clicked his tongue.
“Don’t look down on online broadcasting. At least 30, 50 thousand people will be watching. That’s way more people watching you than before. It’s a good chance for you to spread your name.”
“5-50 thousand?”
“Don’t be too surprised yet.”
“Why? There’s more?”
“You got an offer for a sponsorship.”
Changgong flinched again.
“Isn’t that only for famous fighters?”
“It doesn’t matter. You got the offer. They offered a max of 2 mil.”
“……You sure it’s millions?”
“You think it’d be in the thousands or the billions?”
“That’s crazy! It’s more than the fight money!”
“MMA fighters usually survive on advertisements. It’s pretty early for a sponsorship to come in, but you were lucky. Anyways, you know the money will be distributed throughout the gym, right?”
“Of course.”
Ads didn’t come in on their own.
A sponsor came in for a rookie like Changgong only because the gym had aggressively publicized and made deals for him. Changgong may be a bit eccentric, but he knew how the world worked.
“But since you have no name value, it’s a one time conditional contract. If you lose in the first match, you’ll get 1 million won. 1.5 million won if you lose in the finals, and 2 million if you win.”
A one time sponsorship. And conditional at that. This wasn’t much of a sponsorship at all. They were just trying to publicize their brand on the cheap.
Still, there was no reason to reject the money.
“Okay.”
“You’ll see it in the contract, but the gym gets 25 percent of the profit. Health insurance and a withholding tax are included, too.”
That was good to hear.
“So, where’s the sponsor from?”
Hyukchan and Dongsub laughed.
‘Why’re these people laughing so suspiciously?’
“……What is this?”
“What do you mean? It’s your sponsor.”
Grandma Kim’s Bossam.
Those words were printed in large letters front and back on a black t-shirt.
Changgong would have understood if it was just the shirt.
There was a large print of Grandma Kim’s Bossam right on the butt of his trunks. Whether he was pounding his opponent or rounding the octagon, whatever he did, 50 thousand people would see Grandma Kim’s Bossam on his butt.
“This is fucking embarrassing!”
Changgong yelled sharply.
Money was always good, but bossam was too much for a fighter.
And why was the logo so big, anyways. Changgong would rather wear a Grandma Kim costume. At least his face would be covered then.
This was trolling disguised as a sponsorship.
“You don’t have to do it. Just tell me if you’re not up for it.”
Dongsub spoke.
Changgong had to do it. He’d be missing out on almost 1.4 million if he rejected the offer.
“I’ll do it, but……”
“You just do it if you’re going to do it. You complain too much.”
“Sigh, I’ll do it. I have to.”
Changgong wasn’t going to let the money slip out of his hands.
“Then we should show it to the rest of the gym family, right?”
“……Right now?”
7. The Final Grand Prix Arrives! <1>
The high from the victory didn’t last long.
Changgong went straight back into training the next day.
He would have to rest the day before the match, so there were only 12 more days left.
The rest of the fighters knew he was a striker now. His opponent would come prepared. Changgong would have to come up with a backup plan.
That backup plan was defensive techniques on the ground.
“No! That’s not it! Don’t think.”
Changgong’s jiu jitsu coach, Hyukchan Kwon, chastised him.
Changgong let out a big sigh as he lied down.
“There’s no formula. You did ssireum, you should know this.”
“I understand in my head……but my body’s not used to it.”
“Sigh…… let’s take a short break.”
“Thank you.”
Changgong shoulders slumped as he drank from the water fountain. Hyukchan sat on the floor to recover his strength.
Dongsub approached Hyukchan.
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s following along a lot better than I thought he would, but it’s just impossible to prepare anything in 2 weeks.”
Jiu jitsu is not a martial arts that can be mastered in 1 or 2 years. It was normal to train for 5 years before barely getting the brown belt and being able to effectively use the jiu jitsu skills in the octagon.
Anyone would get overwhelmed trying to cram all that in 2 weeks.
But Changgong had to do it. He would at least have to scratch the surface and learn a few defensive skills.
Unfortunately for Changgong, the rest of the 3 qualifying fighters had a foundation in grappling.
“He can defend some since he has a sense for it, but he doesn’t know what to do when there’s even a little bit of a variation in grip or something.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think he gets hung up on theory when he’s in a pinch. Like, when his left hand is caught, he has to do this. Or if it’s his right hand, he does this.”
“……habitually?”
“It’s not a full habit yet. I’m pushing him to break it completely.”
Dongsub nodded.
It was good for most things, but it was bad to have habits in jiu jitsu. Technology was too advanced for bad habits. In the current martial arts world, fights could easily be analyzed and bad habits would quickly become weak points.
“Push him as hard as you can. But don’t break his confidence.”
“Okay, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Keep up the good work.”
Dongsub kicked Hyukchan on the butt and smirked before leaving.
“Changgong! If you drank water you should be back training!”
Hyukchan yelled out.
“Yessir!”
He was pumped.
How could anyone break that guy’s confidence.
It would be great if his skills would match up to his confidence, though.
***
By the time everyone else was starting to go home, Changgong was wandering around the gym, still in his workout clothes.
“Sigh……”
A sigh leaked out of Changgong’s lips.
He was frustrated.
Jiu jitsu.
He didn’t know there was a martial arts this difficult.
He was pushing himself to his limits, yet his technique wasn’t getting any better.
Hwanseong was a striker like him, but his grappling skills were as good as a grappler’s. Just what did he do to be that good?
At that moment, Hwanseong came out of the office.
Both Changgong and Hwanseong faltered when their eyes made contact.
“……”
There was an awkward silence.
‘Speak of the devil.’
Why did they have to meet when there was no one else around? Because their eyes met, Changgong couldn’t even pretend he hadn’t noticed him.
“Aren’t you going to go home?”
Hwanseong, being the elder of the two, decided to greet Changgong first.
“Soon.”
“I saw your match. You hit well.”
“Oh. Thank……Huh? You were watching? I don’t think it was shown on TV.”
Hwanseong flinched.
“……”
“……”
“My father told me to go, so I did.”
“Oh, okay.”
There was another awkward silence.
‘This is so awkward!’
It felt as if time and space were shriveling up. If he didn’t have anything to say, he should just go away.
“I’m sorry about before.”
“What? Oh that? It’s fine. I learned a lot that day.”
“Yeah, keep up the good work.”
“Take care.”
Hwanseong left the gym in silence.
Changgong called to Hwanseong with a sudden thought.
“Hey, Hwanseong.”
“What?”
“I want to ask you something. About jiu jitsu.”
“I’m a striker.”
“But you know so much more than me.”
“……Go on.”
“All of the qualifiers in the grand prix are grapplers.”
“I know.”
“Huh? How do you know?”
“……Just get on with your question.”
“Oh, okay. So anyways, I’m trying to learn some defensive techniques in a hurry, but it’s just not working out. When I ask Hyukchan, he just tells me that I need to form muscle memory.”
“Just get to the point.”
“Hyukchan says that I have a formula stuck in my head. Do this in this situation and that in another.”
“So you move predictably.”
“Yes.”
Hwanseong thought for a moment before putting his bag down.
“Come at me.”
“What?”
“You won’t understand even if I explain in words, so I’ll just show you. Come on.”
Changgong quickly got into his striking stance.
“……You asked me to teach you about grappling.”
“Oh, I thought we were just going to have at it. Hehe.”
“Try a move on me. Anything.”
Changgong got into a grappling stance and carefully tried to grapple Hwanseong.
He wasn’t able to succeed even once.
Changgong sat on the floor after trying everything he could for 5 minutes.
“What’s my problem?”
“What do you think?”
“Because I’m inexperienced?”
“……”
Hwanseong was stunned by Changgong’s obvious answer.
“You being inexperienced is a given.”
“Can’t you just tell me?”
“The point is that jiu jitsu skills come in pairs.”
“Pairs?”
“Defend. I’ll attack.”
Hwanseong grappled Changgong this time.
The arm triangle, strangling the opponent with his shoulder, the rear naked choke, and the keylock/americana, twisting the opponent’s arm over his shoulder with both hands.
“These techniques all require both hands.”
“……You could have just told me that using words.”
“The triangle and the armbar require the whole body. You won’t be able to pull it off with one arm or one leg.”
Suddenly, something clicked in Changgong’s head.
He felt like he understood why Hwanseong could easily escape his grapples even with such a passive defense.
Hwanseong would push away the arm and leg forming the axis for the technique, thereby creating an opening in the move to escape.
“If it was a jiu jitsu match, you’d lose by points. But we’re MMA fighters. It doesn’t matter how many points you give your opponent as long as you knock him out.”
“……”
“Do you only guard when a punch comes at you? You can dodge to the right or to the left. You can counter. Get rid of the stereotypes in your head. You can make many choices. If you take control of the arm and leg that form the axis, you can block the technique.”
“……”
“That’s why, although I respect jiujiteiro (a practitioner of jiu jitsu), I prefer striking.”
“……”
“For you to stop a few grapples, this should be enough for now. Of course, you’re screwed if you’re up against a skilled grappler.”
Changgong smiled widely, as if he had just discovered something big.
“Thank you, Hwanseong. I’ll buy you dinner if I win.”
“……Dinner?”
“Sheesh, one dinner should be enough. Were you going to milk me for this?”
Changgong smiled slyly as he poked Hwanseong in the side.
Hwanseong had nothing to say.
‘Buy me dinner? Does this guy not know how much fight money I get?’
Changgong just smiled. Hwanseong smirked as he turned his back to Changgong.
“Have a good night!”
“You too, Changgong.”
***
“That’s right! Good!”
Hyukchan enthusiastically complimented Changgong during their sparring.
Of course, he was scolding Changgong for most of the time, but it was important to note that he could compliment him now and then.
“Did you get hit by lightning or something last night? You’ve gotten a lot better.”
Hyukchan was honestly impressed.
Of course it wasn’t huge progress, but it felt like Changgong now understood the basics of defending against grapples. Since he had so much energy and a good sense for fighting, Changgong should be able to at least keep his opponents at bay now.
“I think I’m a genius.”
“……”
Press.
“Agh! I tap out!”
***
Now that he had the basics of the basics out of the way, Changgong could sharpen his techniques without problem.
He was even able to overcome his tendency to react predictably.
Thanks to that, the nickname Hyukchan gave to Changgong evolved from ‘retard’ to ‘noob’.
Changgong didn’t stop training his striking either. Hitting was Changgong’s bread and butter. If he had to choose, it would only make sense for him to sacrifice grappling for striking.
Changgong’s guard improved, too.
The guard was lower in MMA compared to boxing because of the need to defend from attacks to the lower body and tackles. Changgong’s guard was a bit too high because of his background in boxing, but he had finally achieved the MMA style guard.
The training went smoothly, and there were only five days left until the tournament.
***
“Hello!”
Changgong gave an energetic greeting as he entered the gym.
The athletes and the coaches snickered at the sight of Changgong.
“Changgong, you must be happy.”
“Why?”
“Go to the office.”
“What? What’s this about?”
“Just go in already.”
Changgong knocked on the door before going into the office. Dongsub and Hyukchan were discussing something.
“Hello, hehe.”
“Seeing your expression, you must have heard something, huh?”
Hyukchan spoke.
“I would be stupid not to notice anything when everyone is snickering at me. What’s going on?”
“The fight money was increased.”
Changgong’s eyes sparkled.
“How much?”
“Base five hundred thousand, victory eight hundred thousand, first place two mil.”
“Wow!”
“There’s more.”
“It’s going to be broadcast.”
Changgong flinched.
“Broadcast……as in on TV?”
“Online.”
Of course. Changgong clicked his tongue.
“Don’t look down on online broadcasting. At least 30, 50 thousand people will be watching. That’s way more people watching you than before. It’s a good chance for you to spread your name.”
“5-50 thousand?”
“Don’t be too surprised yet.”
“Why? There’s more?”
“You got an offer for a sponsorship.”
Changgong flinched again.
“Isn’t that only for famous fighters?”
“It doesn’t matter. You got the offer. They offered a max of 2 mil.”
“……You sure it’s millions?”
“You think it’d be in the thousands or the billions?”
“That’s crazy! It’s more than the fight money!”
“MMA fighters usually survive on advertisements. It’s pretty early for a sponsorship to come in, but you were lucky. Anyways, you know the money will be distributed throughout the gym, right?”
“Of course.”
Ads didn’t come in on their own.
A sponsor came in for a rookie like Changgong only because the gym had aggressively publicized and made deals for him. Changgong may be a bit eccentric, but he knew how the world worked.
“But since you have no name value, it’s a one time conditional contract. If you lose in the first match, you’ll get 1 million won. 1.5 million won if you lose in the finals, and 2 million if you win.”
A one time sponsorship. And conditional at that. This wasn’t much of a sponsorship at all. They were just trying to publicize their brand on the cheap.
Still, there was no reason to reject the money.
“Okay.”
“You’ll see it in the contract, but the gym gets 25 percent of the profit. Health insurance and a withholding tax are included, too.”
That was good to hear.
“So, where’s the sponsor from?”
Hyukchan and Dongsub laughed.
‘Why’re these people laughing so suspiciously?’
“……What is this?”
“What do you mean? It’s your sponsor.”
Grandma Kim’s Bossam.
Those words were printed in large letters front and back on a black t-shirt.
Changgong would have understood if it was just the shirt.
There was a large print of Grandma Kim’s Bossam right on the butt of his trunks. Whether he was pounding his opponent or rounding the octagon, whatever he did, 50 thousand people would see Grandma Kim’s Bossam on his butt.
“This is fucking embarrassing!”
Changgong yelled sharply.
Money was always good, but bossam was too much for a fighter.
And why was the logo so big, anyways. Changgong would rather wear a Grandma Kim costume. At least his face would be covered then.
This was trolling disguised as a sponsorship.
“You don’t have to do it. Just tell me if you’re not up for it.”
Dongsub spoke.
Changgong had to do it. He’d be missing out on almost 1.4 million if he rejected the offer.
“I’ll do it, but……”
“You just do it if you’re going to do it. You complain too much.”
“Sigh, I’ll do it. I have to.”
Changgong wasn’t going to let the money slip out of his hands.
“Then we should show it to the rest of the gym family, right?”
“……Right now?”
