TOURNAMENT FINAL: Paul vs. Darnell

[Slayer†]

OOC: I'm sorry for the delay everyone, Chad and I will proceed to kick each other's asses for the next week, though he'll be posting first since I really haven't been feeling it. I'm sorry.

[Buko]

Perhaps some back story on Paul's fighting career and the fact that according to the populace at Shooters he had absolutely no experience and that the current betting pool mirrored an earlier fight (the one between him and Troy) almost exactly. Paul absolutely detested fighting, he was good at it, perhaps exceedingly so, but it was not something he looked forward to. Darnell Butler? He was a different story, no matter how many touchdown passes you helped score there was nothing that could change you from being the raging berserker beast of destruction you where before.

His nickname held true even now.

Though as Paul waited at the bar he noticed Montezzo walk up to him slowly, cautiously and felt a presence overwhelm him; he had never ever seen Montezzo slightly nervous about anything, he thought for a second that someone Paul had loved had died in a car crash, but as Montezzo reached him and spoke loudly and clearly Paul's shoulders relaxed.

"The popular bets are you going down in thirty seconds Mr. Smith, I hope you can see -especially after the semi-finals- why this will bad for the both of us," he paused slightly, "Hundreds of kids are here with the intention seeing you being destroyed Darnell Butler, some say you're the luckiest one and only got paired up with easy opponents; We're about to see if it is luck. Before I send you to what I can only assume is to your death, I'll just have to ask if you've ever fought an actual trained man before?"

Paul simply shook his head, that was true, Paul had no martial arts training. Only instinct, skill, and the occasional move picked up by watching other fights, he was perhaps the luckiest person in the tournament, but as Montezzo solemnly wished him luck and headed towards the "ring" -a circle of people at the moment- to announce the finals Paul could only see images of Darnell's fights in his mind, he knew how the kid worked. He knew what to expect. He knew what to protect. Montezzo left the circle and Paul walked in calmly, his body loose and ready to respond at any moment, he looked forward with a small smile on his face.

Darnell Butler had not even seen Paul fight yet.

Luck can get you a lot farther than a lot of people think.

[Slayer†]

OOC: This post is continued from the Fight Night topic, I had Meg's permission to have Darnell be in both at once since the topic has stalled.
IC:

Take three parts anticipation, two parts nervousness, and five parts fury, and you would have the ingredients to replicate the air in the Shooters basement. The night of fights was almost over, with one final match to decide to whom the two hundred dollars would go. Darnell Butler, football star, excellent wrestler, and favourite of many of the betters, would be facing Paul Smith. A slacker, a rockstar, overall not one many had seen fight anybody at all. Among that "not many" was Darnell himself, he realized as he started his way down the stairs, ignoring the sounds of the crowd below and the sheer humidity that set in as soon as he walked through the door to the basement. Just one more fight, one more brawl and the money would be his, and he could give it to Lance. His knee was bothering him just a little, causing him to worry that maybe he had injured something on landing, but he tried to ignore it.

Just one more, and I don't have to fight anymore.

Darnell Butler no longer liked to fight all that much, in fact he usually only threw a punch when strictly necessary these days, but just like with Lance he couldn't hold back against Paul Smith, even if he did have no idea what to expect. When he first arrived at the tournament he had been confused, with no idea of why he was there, but now he had something to fight for. A reason to go all out.

It's up to me now...Lance, I won't let you down!

The crowd had detected his approach when he reached the bottom of the stairwell, and they were now clearing out of his way, making a path to the designated fighting area-it did not feel right to call it a "ring"-where his showdown with Smith would take place. He paid them no attention though, trying to focus on the upcoming match and summoning up all his willpower. He was at a great disadvantage, he knew nothing about what Paul could do, while on the other hand Paul himself knew Darnell's style almost like the back of his hand. That, coupled with the knowledge that Kallie Majors would be somewhere in the crowd watching him battle the cyclops of a rock star, made Darnell incredibly nervous as he finally made his way through the crowd and into the circle that now closed behind him. Seeing Paul in front of him and Montezzo between them, he nodded but was interrupted by Montezzo speaking before he could do anything.

"Alright, you two," he said, with a barely detectable bit of nervousness that felt jarring to Darnell, who knew him so well, "we have had some very disappointing fights tonight, and I am sure you can sense how agitated the crowd is, so make this match a good one. Be careful though, I don't want to have to see either one of you leave in a body bag."

Not paying attention to Paul's reaction, and resisting the temptation to look around the crowd hoping to find Keith and/or Kallie amidst the faces at the front, Darnell nodded and raised his guard in a manner he used to use quite often, his left side leaning forward as he adjusted himself to be at something of an angle with Paul. His right arm came to the side of his face and forward, while his left formed a horizontal bar in front of his lower ribs and upper hip. Finally, he bent at his knees in a sharp degree as the stance usually required. However, he seemed to think better of it, as he swung his right side forward, completely switching feet in his stance. His left hand remained where it was positioned, ending with its hand facing toward Paul now. His left leg pointed to Darnell's left, offering a steady brace. His right foot was pointed at Paul, only the front of his foot touching as his heel was in the air slightly. His right knee was bent, ready to move, but still held back somewhat, lining up with the part of his sole still touching the ground. His right hand showed the greatest change, his palm facing up with the back of his hand facing Paul. The elbow was bent downward directly toward the knee. A solid stance that would give him an even more solid defense, at the least it would buy him time, as he was sure Paul had never seen him use it. It had been quite some time.


"Well, who would've thought that the final match would be between a rock star who never fights and a football player? Care to skip the small talk and get to the interesting part?"

[Buko]

"Not really," Paul said calmly as he brought his arms down to his side and a wide grin on his face as he slid into a an odd stance his hands up and at his sides to help him maintain balance in case Darnell Butler tried to knock him off balance -the fight with Lance had taught Paul a valuable lesson about how valuable balance can be-, Darnell's current stance protected the body and face well enough and that meant that Darnell would most likely latch onto any appendage that was given to him. This fights outcome would be determined depending on Whether this fight remained in the standing or in the ground game and to Paul it only made sense to keep this thing resoundingly standing.

"But, I suppose this crowd isn't giving us much of a choice, let's make this exciting Butler."

And with that Paul Smith stepped forward making it clear that with this cordial distance closed the fight could begin. Planting himself on the ground Paul sent out an extremely fast left kick to the slightly raised right foot, what made this blow surprising was that it was aimed directly at Darnell's right ankle which was already having all of it's weight placed upon the front of the foot. Due to the fact that the point of this was to simply bring Darnell to his knees rather than hurt it sacrificed some power, but due to the minimal hip movement made it was a move that was quick and discrete.

Regardless of whether the blow landed or not Paul would immediately retract his left leg and get back into his defensive stance, blocking itself was not really a concern and instead Paul promised to himself to focus more upon dodging and countering rather than playing very defensively. A conservative game was Darnell's game. And Darnell's game could only end with him on the receiving end of a ground and pound or an attempt to pluck out his last remaining eye.

Of course tournament fighters where beyond that sort of thing.

[Slayer†]

Fuck! He's fast!

Darnell had heard the rumours, but he was still slightly surprised as Paul's foot shot out at his ankle with unerring speed and accuracy. His stance defended the upper body extremely well, to the point where it would be stupid to attack there, but it was weakest against low attacks. In retrospect, that meant he should have expected a kick to the foot. Still, he was nothing if not quick to react, and he would do exactly that once all the options of a possible counter ran through his head in about a split second. It may not have looked like it with his hands at his sides, but Paul's stance provided just as good a defense as Darnell's, if not better. It was a surprise, Darnell had not expected the rock star to be this good.

Nothing I can't handle.

Darnell's defense was almost as quick as Paul's initial attack, it had to be for Darnell to avoid going down. Not pausing for any of his thoughts, he brought the right foot back down and slid it directly back at the same time as he stepped backwards with his left leg and brought his left arm up from the stance. The kick had missed completely, and all Darnell had needed to do was step back, wasting some of Paul's energy. Darnell now realized that he would have to wait until Paul started to slow down, both literally and figuratively. Paul was very quick, but if Darnell was careful he would eventually make a mistake that Darnell could capitalize on. For now he had changed his stance entirely, his left leg in front of his right with a small bend to both knees while his right hand rested against the side of his face and his left was positioned somewhat vertically just in front of it and below his eye, while pointed just a bit at Paul.

While Paul's leg retracted, Darnell would use his left to fire off an almost identical kick, but with more power behind it, designed to hit the one eyed man's ankle/shin area almost as soon as the leg touched the ground. Whether or not this hit, the leg would be returned to the previous stance and with a twist of the hips and small turn of the arm a hard right straight would be fired at the spot between Paul's nose and upper lip. Relying on the fact that Paul would still be off balance and the hope that his right could move forward and back quicker than Paul's could go up, Darnell figured the punch would at least stun Paul. It would be both fast and strong, and Darnell would still be able to keep his balance.

Heh, and here I thought this would be boring.

[Buko]

Paul almost was surprised to see Darnell replicate his move completely, but Darnell made the mistake of thinking that the same move that Paul had used on him moments before would be a viable strategy, Paul knew the flaws said move had, but really two could play at the mimicking game and Paul simply took a step back, almost smiling as he felt Darnell's kick whiz by him and as he prepared to counter he found himself being greeted with the straight right and if Paul had a second to spare he would've seen his life pass before his very eye.

Around the time he was exiting from the birth canal Paul rose his left hand and intercepted Darnell's right, grasping it with all of his might and maintaining a tight grip, he would then simultaneously pull his opponent forward and hook his right arm under the arm in his grasp as he pivoted and threw his right leg ahead of his left. Now his back was fully facing his opponent, and his opponent's arm was across his right shoulder; his hip was also dipped a bit lower to press against his opponent's. With a violent forward jerk of his arms, an upwards thrust of his hips, and a lean forward, Paul would propel the smaller boy over his shoulder and slam him to the floor with a surprising amount of force.

"Get up." he would say loudly and clearly as he brought his hands back down to his sides and awaited Darnell's next move.

[Slayer†]

The instant Darnell saw his hand being grabbed, he knew he was in trouble. As Paul's left seized the hand by the wrist and his right hooked around the arm, Darnell was made all too aware that he would have to do something fast. It did not take long to remember the position of his left hand, however. He just barely stopped himself from grinning maliciously at Paul as he sprung into action before the boy could turn around to complete the throw. Opening the hand and facing the palm towards Paul, he lashed out with his left as quickly as possible, aided by the close proximity of Paul's face and his hand and the pull forward on his arm. He also stepped forward slightly to go along with the pull, lessening his own loss of balance. At first it would almost appear to be a poorly formed palm strike, with the fingers spread apart and bent towards Paul as if to grab onto something. However, looking closer would prove that assumption wrong, and looking closer would be just what Paul would do one way or another. The upwardly hooking position the thumb had taken would be explained as the other fingers pressed down on the top of Paul Smith's head and the thumb itself plunged into the bottom of Paul's one eye. With the speed of the attack and Paul's arms grabbing Darnell's own at the time, there would be almost no way to stop the painful gouge until it was too late.

I'm not gonna lose, Paul, and this is a perfectly legal move!

The initial gouge would hurt enough, but Darnell would keep pushing the thumb forward and upward, using the five fingers to maintain a grip on Paul's head-helped by the four not in Paul's eye clamping onto his hair- as he bent his arm a bit downward at the elbow to raise the hand and allow the thumb to push even more upward. This was intended to stop the throw and force Paul to let go of Darnell's right arm while at the same time hurting him, and Darnell would not withdraw his hand until either Paul did so or Darnell heard Paul's right eye pop. Not trusting this to work entirely on its own, Darnell swiftly fired his right knee up during this, hoping to strike Paul's lower ribs with a powerful strike, the kneecap tightened by Darnell's foot pointing downward. After repeating the knee strike twice more the foot would return to the ground as quickly as it left though, as even with a near guarantee of success he would not get so careless as to leave himself unbalanced for long.

I can't let you down, Lance. I won't. Besides, I have friends in that audience I've got to impress.

[Buko]

The throw was supposed to be a near complete success and Paul had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised at the way things where going at the moment and as Darnell's hand entered his eye socket he felt a shock of pain go through his mind that could only be accentuated by the fact that Darnell also maintained a hold on his hair, his hand still at his sides he tried to focus on breaking the hold, but instead had his entire side awakened by a rising knee, with this Paul grunted loudly as he stared down to look at the perpetrator.

This would prove to be advantageous.

And Paul immediately looped his arm around Darnell's second rising knee and smiled wildly as he now had his opponent completely under control, the smile remained on his face as Paul lowered himself and his shoulder and then pretty much rammed into the tall and muscular wall that was Darnell's chest, all before letting go of the hold. Not only was this filled with power, but the force of being pushed back with such a large amount of force would cause Darnell to stumble several steps back before landing on his back (due to the low stance Paul had) and when he landed on the floor he would find Paul's military issued steel toed boots stomping viciously at the most sensitive part of Darnell's body.

The testicles.

Dirty fighters only get dirty fighting in return.

[Slayer†]

The gouge and initial knee strike worked perfectly, to Darnell's great satisfaction. In the couple of seconds between the thumb going in and the knee strike landing just after Paul let go of Darnell's right hand, Darnell had worked the finger in a fair amount, and coupled with a quick push upward before jerking it back-subsequently releasing the grip on Paul's hair-to pull the finger from Paul's eye and the hand from the boy's head he was sure that the eye would have been at least moderately damaged and Paul Smith's sight badly hindered. This wouldn't be enough for him though, as after drawing the hand back a short distance he formed it in a genuine palm heel and, while using his free right arm to reach around Paul and grab the back of his jacket at the neck in order to stabilize himself for a second knee, sent the palm heel forward again at Paul's eye. It would be a quick strike, painful more for the speed and its impact against an already damaged part of Paul's body than for any real amount of power in it, but it would help exaggerate the problem Darnell had caused by gouging the eye to begin with and maybe even stun the taller man. However, Paul complicated this by tilting his head down after the initial knee hit, leaving Darnell to place his stock in what damage it could do anyway and the second knee.

The second knee was a total failure, however. Almost too quick for Darnell to notice before it was too late, Paul's arms seized his leg and he felt more than heard the air knocked out of his lungs as Paul used a powerful shoulder strike to force him back. He had grown too confident during his quick barrage, and during the brief period where he stumbled backwards in a desperate attempt to regain balance-ironically all too similar to what had happened to Lance in the round before-he realized this all too well. Still, he couldn't lose here, there was too much riding on it. He didn't know what it was like until now to have a life almost literally in his hands, but remembering the fact caused him to continue summoning up his willpower despite the painful protests of his right knee becoming evident even through the adrenaline of the fight. He did not know why Paul Smith was fighting, and he did not care. No matter what, he would have to defeat Paul.

The first step to defeating Paul would be stopping the sprawl backwards. After only a couple of seconds' worth of stumbling, Darnell stomped his raised right leg down on the ground and bent both of his knees slightly, dragging his left back a bit and leaning his torso just barely forward. This effectively stopped his movement backwards, and he found himself once again stable, to the amazement of the crowd who had expected him to eat concrete. Positioning his legs so they were parallel to his shoulders, he moved once again into a typical boxing guard, fixing Paul with a glare as he sized the man up, trying to find weaknesses. He hadn't expected Paul to be this good, and it cost him. The man was extremely fast, and had a good bit of power, but Darnell had to find a way.

Come on, Darnell, think! There's got to be some trick to bringing this guy down!

"Heh," he chuckled in a slightly dismissive manner, "that all you got, Smith?"

[Buko]

Rubbing his eye calmly Paul couldn't help but notice the fogginess that had entered his visage, it made things difficult to see, the gouge and the strike had both been overtly successful, but it was Paul's pain tolerance that made sure the minor swelling and tearing up didn't do much. He heard Darnell speak he put his hand down and smiled a bit shaking his head, looking up at Darnell with a smile on his face.

"Nope, but in a few seconds you'll wish it was."

It was then that he noted that he and Darnell where still in range for close range combat, it was strange how only five or so seconds had passed since the fight began and they where already probing each other for how to break each other, Darnell of course looked more surprised, but Paul? No, this fight had been all he had expected and more, but while Darnell was here to win something for Lance...Paul was here to guarantee his own victory. Berkley was an expensive university and while Paul was sure his compositions could get him in, he knew his GPA would manage to inhibit him from getting a scholarship.

Two hundred dollars going to food and such would help him a lot more than Darnell could ever fathom.

The only sound made was the sound of squeaking rubber on the cement as Paul bolted forwards with an inhuman force. He came directly at Darnell, his back arched and low to the floor in a near crouching state. He only had a few steps distance between him and Darnell, so hopefully surprise was on his side. Paul's right hand shot out in palm form towards Darnell's inner thigh, Paul's left hand up near his chest, palm facing himself. His feet were quick, ready to spring from side to side. The point of this move was simple, to probe Darnell for any bodily weakness, but also it was a way to guarantee movement to occur.

With Darnell's hands up to his face, a blow sent to the inner thigh could only be taken or cause movement, movement was important since it was only common sense that with the more movement happening in a fight the less likely grappling could occur and if he kept Darnell on the defensive the only grappling that would occur would be sloppy and poorly planned. Not meant to defeat Paul, but to stop him. Of course the blow had a bit of power behind it as well, but it's main goal -simply due to the location it was aimed at- was not to knock Darnell out.

Paul just hoped it worked.

[Slayer†]

Darnell didn't react as Paul rubbed his eye, simply staying in his stance as he waited to see what the rock star would do next. Part of him hoped that he didn't hurt Paul's eye too badly, but he suppressed that for now. There would be time to worry about Paul after the fight, but for now he could only afford to keep his mind on winning. For now he would play defensively, but he knew he would have to turn the tables sometime in order to have a chance. He wouldn't have to wait long for Paul's reaction though, as the man looked up shortly after Darnell spoke and offered both a smile and a response. After saying Darnell would wish Paul had given everything he had in a few seconds, Paul rushed forward.

A charge, huh? You've got guts, Smith.

He didn't let on to the fact, but Darnell had been hoping Paul would charge forward at him, had prepared specifically for that eventuality. Paul's movement speed was fast, but much more manageable than his attack speed, and as Darnell also moved forward slightly to meet Paul he was confident he could deal with whatever the man had to dish out. Paul had crouched down so his face was roughly elbow level with Darnell, and Darnell's response to the palm lashing out was simple. Continuing to step forward, he shuffled to his left, cleanly avoided the initial charge and attack with a sidestep. After that he brought his right foot around in a clockwise, semi-circular motion to turn to the right so that he was now facing Smith.

There is no escape.

Moving as quickly as possible to give Paul as little time to react as possible, preferably no time at all, Darnell quickly lashed out with his right to seize Paul's arm by the wrist. At the same time as he sharply pulled the captured arm to his right and then down, he snapped his left knee upwards toward Paul's elbow joint. Though the sound of the bone cracking would be drowned out by the cheering crowd, the joint being forced upward while the outstretched arm was brought down would cleanly fracture said arm, rendering it useless and essentially snapping it like a twig. There would be time for remorse later, but for now he had to focus on winning. As if that were not enough, Darnell simultaneously brought the leg back down and released Paul's arm, before bringing his right up and around in a thunderous hook aimed at the bridge of Paul's nose, the power aided by bringing his left leg around in a counterclockwise pivot in order to turn his whole body in the direction of the punch.

Game over, Paul Smith.

[Buko]

The crowd itself was in awe as these two speed demons went blow for blow, counters abound and even Montezzo, a good fighter in his own right looked down at his watch and noted that barely one minute had passed by and this was reason enough for the crowd cheering extra loud, louder than any fight they had seen in this entire tournament. The finesse. The brutality. All of it pumped up by two skilled fighters doing anything they could to win. Of course the sound of tons of gamblers heading towards the betting post to change their bets after almost blow was only a testament to how close this fight was and overall while people where happy Darnell "The Bull" Butler hadn't disappointed, the one who had a good percentage of the crowd cheering on was the newly crowned underdog Paul Smith.

The crowd itself found themselves oohing extremely loud as Paul's blow missed and the next second that passed by seemed to go by as Paul retracted his hand quickly as he saw his opponent reach out for the first opening Paul had allowed him all night and for a moment Paul actually had fear overwhelm him. This of course exited quickly as he managed to barely avoid the blow (he could've sworn the air that passed him as he retracted his hand had Darnell's grip) and it was then that Paul Smith turned his hip a bit and sent his left hand towards Darnell's right cheek in a vicious hook.

Almost with the extreme skill of a boxer Paul would find himself retracting his left and then sending out a right kick once again towards Darnell's left ankle, this was done partially to confuse, but also because he was anticipating Darnell blocking the left and that meant obviously that Darnell's right guard would go up. By switching up the sides this would either guarantee a hit landing or the quick shift in defense would cause an opening for Paul to exploit.

Of course, he at least hoped so.

[Slayer†]

Hmph.

The plan didn't work, with Paul retracting his hand just before Darnell grabbed it, again with surprised cries from the audience. No matter, things almost never went as planned in a fight. Retracting his own hand and stepping back when the grab attempt missed, he saw Paul start to turn around slightly with a left hook. In response Darnell's left shot upwards, not sideways, so Paul would have less time to see it. It would grip Paul's wrist tight enough for manipulation, but not enough to stop his force. So Darnell grabbed it, jerked his head to the side, while jerking Paul's hand towards his left, keeping the flow of Paul's movements, tricking his brain into thinking he was somewhat successful. That was when the fatal blow would come.

While Darnell's left guided Paul away from Darnell, jerking it violently to Paul's right and throwing him off balance, especially with his half turned around position, a square shot to Paul's temple from Darnell's right would render him unconscious quickly. The crowd would be disappointed to see the fight over already, but Darnell was not there for them. Their entertainment was a side effect, a perk, Darnell and Paul were both fighting to win and nothing more. He had let this go on long enough, and Paul would pay for the mistake he had made in using his newest move.

Montezzo had taught Darnell the move two years ago, though he didn't use it often. Still, he knew Paul wouldn't expect such a move from him, as he knew Darnell to be a football player and wrestler, not one for quick Aikido-esque strikes like the one he had just performed. With Paul's reaction being his ultimate downfall, upon waking Paul would probably be angry with himself, even if the crowd wouldn't be. There was just no way to stop the flow of your own force, especially guided by someone else's gentle hand.

OOC: I apologize for the shortness of this post, I had to write something quickly to make up for going over the deadline. It will not happen again.

[Buko]

Paul felt his wrist being grabbed lightly and immediately stopped with the punch and instead found himself twisting said wrist lightly to wrap around Darnell's left wrist, this caused the hold on them to be mutual. Paul wouldn't have much time to be glorious that he shared a hold with Darnell as he saw a vicious right hand go for his temple and while Paul reached for his right temple, he was quick enough to grasp the wrist, but he wasn't quick enough to stop the punch.

The audience got quiet as a loud thud was heard as Darnell's fist connected, just the noise and Paul Smith simply stood standing, like it never even phased him as he laughed lightly, of course if you had paid attention you would note a very visible wince. The laugh itself was deafening as Paul rapidly lowered Darnell's hand to remove it from it's closeness to his face, Paul would maintain most of is strength in keeping Darnell's arms away from his face. At this point the fight seemed to slow down in tempo as the two fighters flexed their biceps (even through his jacket Paul's where seen) in attempt to escape the grip of the other fighter all the while maintaining their own.

Then this light pause was proven to be ever so short as Paul cocked back his neck and sent his head speeding towards Darnell's.

OoC- Got Kyle's permission for the slight control part of the post.

[Slayer†]

OOC: Likewise.

Having a move work, but at the same time not work, could be a confusing sensation. Despite the four arms of the combatants-Paul's two and Darnell's two-becoming tangled together awkwardly, the punch connected with Paul's temple. However, as both Darnell and the crowd noticed, it seemed to have no effect. What looked to Darnell like a failed attempt at a block had actually absorbed most of the impact of the punch, turning a surefire knockout into a largely ineffective blow. It was a very clever move, and if Darnell had any time to do so he may have been impressed. Regardless, while Paul spared himself time for a quick chuckle, Darnell did not do the same as the focus of both fighters shifted to positioning themselves in a grappling contest that resembled a sort of twisted waltz. His muscles flexed and strained as he tried to move to break Paul's hold at the same time as keeping his own.

With the fight having briefly slowed down for the time being, Darnell could hear the crowd at last. Regardless of how long it was going on, they clearly loved it, and the opinions of the audience seemed split right down the middle, with half cheering for Darnell and the other half for Paul. The cheers, shouts of encouragement, and excited fans chanting the names of both fighters reached a point where it was almost too loud for Darnell to think. For a short time it continued like this, the two levying for position and quickly shifting their weight constantly, easily recovering from attempts to unbalance and/or throw them from the other, and the crowd loved it. For almost a minute they continually pushed and shifted, each all too wary of the consequences of being thrown off balance. It had gone from the quick and visceral battle from before to a cold and calculating one, each looking for the opening they needed. Darnell tried to raise a knee for a strike into Paul's side or groin a few times, but each time he tried he was greeted with a push from Paul, and forced to return the foot to the ground.

Okay, I get it, he's good.

Soon enough though, Darnell would get his opening. As Paul cocked his head back, Darnell's right leg swiftly moved between Paul's legs and hooked behind his left. At the same time as Paul's head would shoot forward, Darnell would suddenly throw his weight forward in a hard push that would unbalance Paul and send him tripping over Darnell's leg in a topple to the ground. At the last second before Paul's headbutt hit, Darnell lowered his own head so it would strike the bone near the top of the head while Paul fell back, reducing the damage to merely a small bit of pain. While the backtrip did make a useful slam on Darnell's part, Darnell hoped Paul would release his hands in order to try to break the fall. Either way, Paul was playing Darnell's game now, and the crowd roared on.

You're good, but you can't beat me. I WON'T LET YOU!