FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

The next fight of the night was about to commence as the audience waited impatiently for the officials and staff to set everything up. Whoever started the Interspecies Fighting Organization, or IFO, must've planned everything surrounding the quick teardown and setup if a change in the fight circle was necessary. After the ropes from the boxing ring were unclipped and stored below the ring, the floor below it slowly opened in half. As the two halves opened and the canvas and posts slowly descended into it, it was clear the shape of this opening was octagonal and just big enough for the former boxing ring to be swallowed up by it.

Once the canvas and posts were a few inches below the top part of the opening, the two halves began to close. However, as they did so, two halves of what appeared to be another canvas converged with them. Around the edges of this octagonal opening, a chain-linked cage slowly ascended as well. As the two halves were almost sealed together, the staff around the outside quickly went around to check the integrity of the cage.

*CLUNK* *CLUNK* *CLUNK*

The two halves were locked together again by three, large sliding mechanisms below the floor. The two halves of the canvas were now pressed against each other as well, enough so that the seam was barely visible but still laid flush. These too were locked in place by similar mechanisms, though much smaller and had five of them evenly spaced along their widths.

When the fighting ring of choice was set up and ready to go, Kolya, a large, 350 pound bear opened the cage door and entered, microphone swallowed in his large paw. He still donned his attire from the last fight: a simple, black suit coat and dress pants, a red, button-down shirt, and a white bowtie.

However, joining him wasn't the small weasel referee from last time. Rather, it was a large, female black horse with a noticeable white, diamond-shaped marking on her forehead. She was also just as tall as Kolya, though appeared to be not as heavy and more muscular. Unlike Christina, who looked irritated at all times, Hanna appeared more than pleased to be the referee for this fight.

"Alright everyone!" Kolya began, booming into the microphone with his slight, Russian accent, "I know you all are anxious to see this next fight we have for you coming up, especially after such an intense championship fight!"

He paused for a moment, letting the crowd whoop and holler for a bit until they settled down.

"This next fight, however, will be much different," he said, walking around the inside of the cage as he spoke. "Rather than two veterans of the IFO duking it out, you'll get to see two newcomers to our organization going at it! Also, this next fight will be an MMA bout between a rookie MMA and Jiu-Jitsu fighter and a highly experienced boxer. As you can see where I'm standing in, they've agreed to duke it out in the caaaaaage!" The last bit he unintentionally let out a growl, though it only made the crowd go more crazy and wanting to see this next fight.

He gave the crowd a chance to settle down again, then pulled out the fight card to announce the combatants. "Our first fighter will be our rookie for the night, weighing at 180 pounds with no record in the IFO, please welcome our wolf fighter, Veze!"

From behind the curtain, a large, muscular, blue and grey wolf made his way down to the cage. He wore tight, black trunks with a yellow trim around the waistline and two yellow stripes down the front of each leg, along with a small, yellow star on the front of the left leg. He also donned a pair of simple, black MMA gloves.

As he opened the cage door to step in, it was clear how built he was; despite his weight, he had a thick, bodybuilder-like build.

Kolya let Veze make his entrance and go to his side of the ring before announcing his opponent. "And our boxer for the night, weighing in at 170 pounds, also with no record in the IFO, please welcome our scaly fighter for the evening, Itami!"

The light green Komodo dragon stepped out from behind the same curtain as Veze. He too, wore similar MMA gear, though his compression shorts were black with two brown stripes on each side, and his MMA gloves were white with black cuffs and a black, oval-shaped logo on each that read "KO" on them. He also wore black ankle braces.

When Itami entered the cage, it was obvious he wasn't as built as Veze, but still looked strong regardless. But what really stood out was his tattoos on his shoulders and left forearm. On his left shoulder was a simple star tattoo and three different bands on his forearm, with the kanji "ita" tattooed on his right shoulder.

Once both fighters were on their respective sides of the ring, both of whom were bouncing on their toes ready to go at it, Kolya continued reading off the fight card. "Seems you two are anxious as well," he chuckled as he noticed the wolf's and the lizard's enthusiasm. "Alright! So this fight will be a straight MMA fight set for ten minutes. Punches, kicks, elbows, knees, headbutts, throws, grapples, submissions are all allowed, and the winner will be determined by KO or SUB. Fighters..." He then beckoned the wolf and lizard to meet in the middle, while the black horse referee stood in front of him. Unlike Christina, who was dwarfed by the bear, Hanna just stood in front of him as he held the microphone up to her muzzle.

Despite her being slightly taller than them and just as muscular, her voice was gentle and enthusiastic, but still serious. "Alight boys," she began, looking at each of them. "I understand neither of you are completely new to this, but I'm saying this anyway for legal reasons: keep it clean, no going below the belt, no scratching, biting, maiming, tail pulling, or tearing each other's clothes, and don't bullshit around. Keep your mouth guards in at all times. Good luck to both of you. Touch gloves."

And with that, Kolya stepped back and exited the cage, which was much easier for him to get in and out of than the ring.

Both fighters and Hanna got ready in the center of the cage. Veze was in a standard fight stance, though looked more like he was ready to grapple, and Itami kept to his orthodox boxer stance. Hanna leaned forward, sticking out a hand between the two, looking at each fighter once more before dropping it.

"FIGHT!"

*DING*

The two of them shuffled closer right when the bell rang, though Itami was quickly gaining control of the ring, as Veze didn't want to get too close right away. The wolf shuffled around the perimeter as his opponent inched closer, remembering to keep his guard up but seeing if the lizard would strike first.

Getting a bit cocky and not wanting to play around the whole fight, Itami shuffled quickly towards Veze and fired a couple jabs at the wolf.

Veze's arms took one of those punches, but it was enough to wake him up to dodge the other coming at him. He took advantage of the opening and shot in low for a single-leg takedown. Despite the lizard slamming his fist against his more muscular back, he got Itami flat on the canvas and pinned him down in a side mount position.

Itami groaned as the slightly heavier wolf laid across him, with most of his weight pressing against his chest. He then felt his left arm getting twisted and locked, putting more pressure and strain on that shoulder.

Even though Veze had half of the lizard pinned under him, those strong, green legs flailed and kicked about as Itami tried to buck him off. He let out a few grunts when his opponent began punching at his side.

"Good...least he's not going down without a fight..."

Thinking fast, Veze quickly shifted to a full mount position on top of Itami, digging his knees into the lizard's armpits. However, trying to control those white and green fists flying at him was a different story.

Already panting hard from his opponent pressing down on him, Itami tried to keep his guard up, flashing a few punches at Veze. But this proved difficult, as his primary weapons kept getting grabbed and pinned, either against the wolf himself or on the mat. This left him open to a number of inconsistent punches to his exposed face which immediately made him taste his own blood in his mouth.

Of course, Veze got his own share of punches from the lizard, though they were few and far compared to what he wailed down on Itami. Still, even from that short range and without Itami's full power behind them, those strikes still stung.

By this point, however, Veze was going for a full knockout, even if this fight may appear short or boring to the crowd watching them pummel each other's faces.

Itami kept trying to strike at the wolf, even if it wasn't much use. He also tried bucking him off or at least get his legs out from underneath, but even that was no use. He knew Veze was trying to knock him out cold right then and there, and he sure was getting close to accomplishing that. His head already felt woozy from being knocked back against the hard canvas, one of his eyes began to twitch, he wasn't sure if he got a cut on his eye already, and he could hardly get a breath of air in from the heavy, furred muscle sitting on him.

Veze was about to slam more fists into Itami's beaten face when he suddenly felt a pair of hands gripping him tight, ripping him off the poor lizard, who let out an audible gasp.

"Alright! Alright!" Yelled the referee, shoving him back far from his opponent. She jammed a finger in his chest and snorted, looking down at him so closely that her long muzzle almost touched his. "Any longer and you would've gotten a penalty, okay?" Even if she meant to serve that as a gentle reminder, it still came off as stern.

Itami laid there for a moment as she began the knockout count.

"One...Two...Three...Four..."

He felt stunned a bit, but sucked in a breath and barely managed to get back on his feet before she reached the ten-count. Even though his legs were built like tree trunks, they wobbled under him as he tried to catch his breath.

"Jesus..." she murmured as she checked him over. "You think you're able to continue?"

He gave a slow nod, smacking his fist in his palm.

"Alright..." She said, with no hint of assurance in her voice as she reeled back between them. Once she was in position again, she gave the signal for them to continue.

"FIGHT!"

Itami was the first to approach, slowly creeping towards the wolf with his arms raised.

Veze did the same, though was much quicker and still fresh. Once he got close enough, he threw two quick low kicks at the lizard's thigh, instantly making him stumble onto a knee. He then followed that up by charging a knee right under Itami's chin, making him fall on his back again.

And, once again, they were in the same position as before as Veze jumped on his opponent in a full mount.

This time, however, Itami managed to get a few strikes in from his position as soon as he got jumped on, though was quickly subdued by the wolf. His opponent didn't throw as many strikes this time and focused more on keeping his arms and wrists pinned.

But once he was able to subdue the lizard so he couldn't strike back, Veze rained down all hell, making his opponent's head knock against the canvas over and over.

By this point, most of his face felt numb, though his head throbbed even more. He tried punching back but couldn't, whether it was because his arm was pinned or he didn't have as much power behind them as usual.

Then, to his surprise, the punches stopped coming.

Veze kept one of Itami's wrists pinned against the canvas, and the other tight against his body. Both of them panted hard as they looked at each other for a moment, though Itami could barely see Veze's face blocking the bright, white lights above. They both knew by now, one, hard punch was all it took to finish the job.

He grinned as he looked down at Itami's messed up face and chuckled. "Shoulda stuck to boxing, lizard boy."

*WHAP*

Veze immediately got off after delivering the final blow and stepped back, allowing the referee to give the count out. As she did so, he simply leaned back against the cage with his arm crossed and waited.

Itami just laid there, barely hearing the referee or seeing her face block the brightness above him. His whole head felt numb, yet also like it was going to explode. He quietly breathed as the rest of the world went on.

"KNOCKOUT!"

*DING* *DING* *DING*

There was a mix of cheering and booing from the crowd as Veze sprung off the cage and pumped a fist in the air as he ran around the perimeter, howling as he did so. He was more than excited for winning his first, official fight, so much so that Hanna had to ask him to settle down after a while.

Kolya entered the cage again, followed by the medical team, stretcher in tow. He began to speak into the microphone as the stunned lizard was being hoisted and carried away. Veze stood off to the side, grinning and wagging his tail as the adrenaline rush flowed through him.

"Wow! That was a quick one, huh!" Kolya said, trying to sound excited, though he did give off a hint of sarcasm. He faked checked a wristwatch. "That only lasted...Wow, just barely five minutes..."

He addressed the crowd again, "Well, you saw it here, folks! Seems like we have a promising newcomer to our ranks, should he choose to continue with us!" With that, Hanna lifted Veze's wrist as the crowd erupted again, though this time there was more cheering than booing.

As Hanna walked Veze out of the cage, tail still wagging behind him, Kolya began to announce the next fight to take place after a brief intermission.

But he never paid attention to what kind of fight it was nor who will be competing. All that mattered to him now was that he won his first fight. He never noticed Hanna walking away from him as he continued on back up the ramp and backstage to the lockers, nor did he notice himself passing by Itami getting cared for in the medical area.

He won.

And that's all that mattered right now.