CHAPTER 97: NOT GOING TO LET IT SLIDE

Adam stands in his corner and watches as Lamai helps Kevin back to his feet and tells him to get his act together.

Though the gym is a little loud and he is standing a little further away from them, Adam can hear everything Lamai said to Kevin.

He also sees the frustration on Kevin’s face for getting dropped by a newbie like him. Well, Adam doesn’t care how Kevin feels. Who told him to take it easy just because he has two years of experience under his belt?

"Okay, let’s go again. Kevin, are you ready?" Lamai asks. Kevin nods his head. "Adam, are you ready?" She asks, looking at Adam. Adam gives a thumbs-up. "Okay, you may begin," she says and starts the next round.

This time, Kevin bursts out of his corner and immediately takes control of the ring’s center while also making sure not to mess up his footwork. Adam, on the other hand, approaches with a casual demeanor, with his hands a little low, hoping to see how Kevin would react.

And like before, Kevin starts throwing jabs, this time with more technique and precision behind them. Now with his footwork in sync, he manages to get the gauge of this distance between him and Adam, so he starts getting aggressive.

He already feels humiliated getting knocked down like someone with little to no skill, but a noob like Adam, and that too in front of Lamai, whom he has had a crush on for over two years now.

The reason he joined this gym was to get close to Lamai, and then, seeing how dedicated she is to MMA, he decided to make a profession out of it to get even closer to her.

After two years of hard work, he finally got the go-ahead from the head coach to participate in a minor amateur event being held in the city.

He has been hoping to make an impact in his very first professional fight and leave a good impression on Lamai.

So when Adam dropped him like some no-experience chum and got scolded by Lamai for being complacent, he got embarrassed.

Now he wants to show Lamai that Adam is nothing.

Adam moves his head just like he was taught during his movement practice drills, and he has to admit, Kevin is fast. He has very fast hands, but Amon is a beast. He sees those punches coming at him before Kevin can even throw them.

Adam is able to see and predict every little muscle twitch from Kevin. Whether his punches are just fake or real, Adam knows them before they are even thrown.

The more Adam puts himself in these scenarios, the more he begins to uncover the lengths his body can go, and till now, he still hasn’t found any limit.

Kevin increases the volume of his punches, trying to land at least one on Adam, but with his superior speed and agility and his ability to see and predict every punch from Kevin, Adam becomes an evading monster.

Lamai, who is watching from outside, is shocked seeing Adam’s display of speed a agility. His movements might not be as perfect as some of the world-class fighters, but his speed and agility are so high that he doesn’t need to be perfect with his technique.

She could only imagine just how good Adam’s defense would be once he masters his striking defense.

Seeing that punches are not working, Kevin steps in and tries to strike Adam’s stomach with his knee. Adam sees it coming and blocks it with both his hands.

But this leaves his head defenseless and very vulnerable for Kevin to land a strike. Kevin sees this chance and goes for an elbow strike. A very vicious move to use in just a sparing match.

As Lamai sees this, she tries to warn Adam, but before she can even open her mouth and warn Adam, Adam, with his hands holding onto Kevin’s leg, he sweeps Kevin’s other leg and trips him to the canvas once again.

Kevin’s back hits hard against the canvas, and he feels the air get knocked out of him.

Lamai rushes into the ring to check on Adam and sighs, seeing that Adam’s okay. She then looks down at Kevin, who is struggling to get up while trying to breathe.

He gasps and finally gets back to his feet.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Lamai asks, frowning at Kevin.

"What?" Kevin asks, confused, as he sees Lamai being angry at him. It was he who got tripped, so why is she angry at him?

"You tried to throw an elbow. Did you forget that this is a sparing match? Have you lost your mind?" Lamai says angrily.

Kevin feels embarrassed again. Yes, he threw an elbow, but it was just the heat of the moment and him getting annoyed by Adam’s ability to constantly evade all his punches.

And yes, it was reckless of him to throw it, but Lamai doesn’t need to call him out like this in front of everyone. He notices how so many people are looking at him, judging him for playing dirty against a newbie.

"I am sorry..." Kevin says even though he doesn’t want to apologize, being watched by so many people, he can’t be acting like an asshole now, can he?"

Lamai is not happy even with his apology, but she doesn’t want to make a scene. She is willing to look past it this one time.

She then looks at Adam. "Do you want to continue?" Lamai asks.

"Sure, I don’t mind," Adam says.

Lamai looks back at Kevin with a frown before exiting the ring. She asks both of them to step back, and once they are ready, she begins the fight again.

Adam and Kevin approach each other again, but this time Kevin comes at Adam with even more fury. He has been put down twice by Adam now, and this level of disrespect won’t be tolerated.

He throws a powerful jab followed by a very fast right hook, but Adam’s defence is strong, so instead he tries to take out Adam’s legs by clicking his thigh. Leg kicks are brutal, especially over time, as they start to take effect in the later rounds.

Adam takes the first leg kick as he wanted to test his leg’s durability. He doesn’t feel it at all. No pain, just the sensation of getting kicked.

Kevin throws another kick, but this time Adam checks him with his shin. Shin on shin contact happens, and Kevin ends up feeling hurt instead.

He clenches his teeth and decides to stop with the leg kicks for now. Instead, he increases the volume of his punches, putting pressure on Adam and pushing him back into a corner.

Adam lets him do it while he blocks and evades most of the punches thrown at him.

Lamai watches closely from the outside and is impressed by Adam’s ability to observe this barrage of punches. It shows that it’s not just strength, endurance, and speed; Adam also has great defense.

There is no box that Adam doesn’t tick when it comes to MMA. As Lamai watches, she notices someone standing beside her and watching Adam fight.

She turns her head and sees that it’s her father, who has his eyes glued on Adam.

"How many days has it been since he started?" Her father asks.

"It’s not even been a week," Lamai says.

"He’s a monster... I have never seen someone who is alert and so aware of everything that’s happening inside the ring," Lamai’s father says.

His experienced eyes see much more than Lamai’s. He sees how Adam is reacting, how his eyes always seem to lock onto Kevin’s shoulders before a punch is thrown.

Rangsan, in his 40 years of fighting experience, has never seen a monster like Adam. In fact, he can’t think of any fighter in the illustrious history of this sport that did what Adam is doing right now.

"Just a few days of basic training and he is already much better than someone with two years of training. Instead of Kevin, we should send Adam to fight," Rangsan says.

Lamai’s eyes widen, hearing her father’s proposal.

"Have you talked to him about pursuing a career in MMA?" Rangsan asks.

"No, I haven’t," Lamai says.

"Ask him. If he is interested. Tell me. I will take over as his head coach," Rangsan says and decides to leave.

"Aren’t you going to watch the rest of the fight?" Lamai asks.

"What’s there to watch? That Kevin kid is going to get knocked out in a few seconds," Rangsan says and walks away.

Lamai turns her head to look back at Kevin, who is throwing a flurry of punches at Adam, when suddenly Adam slips and counters with a straight right.

Kevin immediately ragdolls and hits the canvas.

Lamai rushes in and checks on Kevin. She sighs, seeing he is okay. Just dazed from getting knocked out.

She then looks up at Adam and sees him smiling victoriously.

Adam had no intention to knock out Kevin and embarrass him, as he respected Lamai a little. She said it’s just sparring, so to Adam, it was just sparring.

But then Kevin tried to pull that elbow strike on him last round, trying to hurt him. Adam could, of course, not let that slide.

So this round, he baited Kevin by turtling up in the corner, and when he saw the chance, he dropped him.

Of course, he only put very little power behind his punch. Suppose he did put all his power into it, he doesn’t know what he would do to a normal human being.