章 48: Comeback Match (4)
["Yu Jung-ak is managing the fight cautiously, even though he's already scored a knockdown."]
["He's a completely different fighter compared to when he was in an all-out brawl with Jang Sung-hyun."]
["You could say he's being cautious in a positive sense, or a bit passive in a negative sense. But didn't Yu Jung-ak manage to knock down Lee Il-su while fighting this way? So we should consider it cautious."]
["Ah! Lee Il-su is charging in again."]
["Though he's young, Lee Il-su has grit and character. He's not the type to be intimidated after getting knocked down."]
Lee Il-su approached with his guard up high. He threw an inside low kick while staring directly at Yu Jung-ak.
Yu Jung-ak defended by lifting his front leg, maintaining a relaxed expression. His eyes were also locked with Lee Il-su's.
Close-range exchange.
This was the battleground Lee Il-su wanted. However, Yu Jung-ak had no intention of fighting at that distance. He was trying to leverage his advantageous physical specs. Yu Jung-ak stepped back half a step more than the range of Lee Il-su's low kick.
This is why being tall with long reach is so formidable. Even in a close exchange, the taller fighter's attacks land while the shorter fighter's don't. The shorter fighter had to take a step to make their attacks successful.
One step might seem instantaneous, but it's still a beat. Whether it's a full beat or half a beat, it's always a disadvantage.
It was unavoidable if he wanted to secure victory. Yu Jung-ak was a fighter who knew exactly where his advantages lay.
He also knew that using simple patterns would make him easy to analyze. So he didn't stick to just one pattern strategy.
He used long-range outfighting, and when necessary, he didn't shy away from close-range exchanges and dirty fighting. This made him difficult to counter.
That was the kind of fighter Yu Jung-ak was.
A problem that no one had yet found a perfect solution to.
Jang Sung-hyun had come closest to an answer, but even he couldn't solve it completely. Jang Sung-hyun's solution was to shake Yu Jung-ak with high-level combinations. Indeed, Yu Jung-ak had been shaken and learned a lot from that.
And now, he was even more adept at fighting than when he fought Jang Sung-hyun. During the match, Yu Jung-ak had become colder than before.
He was very coldly dragging Lee Il-su into a swamp to devour him.
Tick!
As Lee Il-su feinted an inside leg kick and quickly moved in, Yu Jung-ak leisurely threw a front kick.
It wasn't a powerful kick.
It was just meant to push the opponent away. This kind of strike didn't cause damage, but it was excellent for breaking the flow.
Lee Il-su was pushed back momentarily.
As soon as he was pushed back, he charged in again. He looked ready to tear out Yu Jung-ak's throat at any moment. However, to Yu Jung-ak, Lee Il-su looked like a beast rushing in without realizing it was sinking into a swamp. As Lee Il-su charged, Yu Jung-ak raised his guard high and took a side step.
Bang! Bang!
Lee Il-su's attacks hit Yu Jung-ak's guard hard. Yu Jung-ak didn't mind and created distance.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, Lee Il-su charged at Yu Jung-ak again. At that moment, Yu Jung-ak took advantage of the distance, rotated his body, and launched a kick.
A 540-degree kick.
It was a powerful kick, but the motion was big. There was no way Lee Il-su would get hit. The kick struck hard above Lee Il-su's guard.
Of course, it was powerful, being a spinning kick. A 540-degree spinning back kick landing with the heel was inherently powerful. However, few fighters used this kick in actual fights.
The reason was that it was difficult to land. A weapon that couldn't be controlled was meaningless no matter how powerful it was.
It was extremely difficult to accurately land a 540-degree kick on a moving target. It was the kind of kick you'd expect to see in a breaking demonstration.
Yu Jung-ak knew Lee Il-su wouldn't get hit by such a kick.
Yet, there was a reason he used this attack. It was to further provoke Lee Il-su. Yu Jung-ak's 540-degree kick was crude.
He had practiced, but not being a professional Taekwondo athlete, his form wasn't proper. Above all, he couldn't maintain his balance properly and fell to the ground after the kick.
In mixed martial arts, doing something like this would be suicidal, essentially lying down voluntarily.
However, this was a stand-up fight.
You couldn't attack a fallen opponent. Yu Jung-ak, who had thrown the kick, got up from the ground very slowly. The referee stepped between the two fighters to pause the match briefly. Once the two fighters had sufficient distance between them, he resumed the match.
As soon as the match resumed, the gong sounded. It was the signal for the end of the first round.
["Was that a 540-degree kick?"]
["Yes, it was a 540-degree kick."]
["It's rare to see such a kick in a stand-up match, isn't it?"]
["I've seen many back kicks and turn kicks, but this is the first time I've seen a 540-degree kick in an actual match."]
["Anyway, it's an interesting scene. I suppose it would be difficult to land that kind of technique?"]
["That's right. A 540-degree kick means spinning one and a half times before striking, which is too big a motion. Didn't you see Lee Il-su immediately react and raise his guard? As I always feel, Yu Jung-ak is smart. He's crafty. This kind of kick can only be used in stand-up matches."]
["Because you can't attack after a fall?"]
"Don't get worked up, take it slow. We still have two rounds left."
"I almost got caught."
"Lee Il-su! I said take it slow. Got it?"
Lee Il-su nodded at his coach's words, but his eyes remained fixed on Yu Jung-ak. He looked ready to rush out and unleash attacks at any moment.
On the other hand, Yu Jung-ak was relaxed. He was calmly sitting and listening to his second's instructions.
"Jung-ak. Well done. Do the same in the second round. You've already succeeded halfway. If it goes to decision, Yu Jung-ak will definitely win."
Rumsak Noi came close to Yu Jung-ak and said.
"And if you see an opportunity, you know what to do, right?"
"Yes."
"How's your condition?"
"It's the best today."
Yoon Chang-seon chimed in. Yu Jung-ak nodded and stood up.
It was the start of the second round.
He extended his hand for a touch of gloves, but Lee Il-su didn't reciprocate. It showed how heated he was.
Yu Jung-ak withdrew his front hand and simultaneously launched a powerful outside low kick. A strong low kick with the back leg, not the front leg.
Lee Il-su reflexively stepped back to avoid the low kick. But Yu Jung-ak's attack didn't end there.
Using the momentum from the low kick, Yu Jung-ak threw a powerful spinning back kick. It was a kick with his full weight behind it, and Yu Jung-ak fell to the ground again.
It wasn't that he lost his balance; he fell intentionally. Lee Il-su raised his guard to defend again, and this time his face shook more noticeably than before.
'This bastard!'
Lee Il-su's face hardened as if he had bitten into something foul. Doing this repeatedly was clearly a provocation.
Lee Il-su thought Yu Jung-ak was toying with him. Yu Jung-ak, who got up slowly again, resumed his fighting stance.
And then he started blatantly running away. Not turning his back and fleeing, but keeping a proper distance while watching and avoiding Lee Il-su's attacks.
["Is Yu Jung-ak looking for a counter? He's not attacking at all."]
["Even though he scored a knockdown, this could lead to a point deduction. I wonder if he's injured somewhere. Usually, Yu Jung-ak is a fighter who precisely measures distance and unleashes strong long-range attacks. Especially his jab and straight are excellent. But today, he's barely using his jab."]
["Yu Jung-ak is cornered now. Will we see another counter? Ah, Lee Il-su is being cautious. He's throwing short combinations. He's determined not to make a mistake this time."]
Lee Il-su cornered Yu Jung-ak and threw combinations. An outfighter would eventually get caught by an infighter. It wasn't a matter of speed, but spatial efficiency. A fighter circling the outside had to move more than one occupying the center, and space was limited.
On the other hand, the pursuing fighter could move more efficiently to corner the opponent. Cornering an opponent was also a skill.
Lee Il-su cornered Yu Jung-ak and didn't rashly throw big attacks. He mixed jabs, straights, and body shots, unleashing attacks from all directions.
A clear crisis for Yu Jung-ak.
But something surprising happened. Yu Jung-ak was avoiding all of Lee Il-su's multi-directional attacks using only upper body movements.
["Oh! Yu Jung-ak is avoiding all of Lee Il-su's strikes in the corner just with body movement!"]
["Ha ha. It's amazing. It's like watching Pernell Whitaker."]
Even commentator Seo Dong-gi laughed in surprise. That's how impressive Yu Jung-ak's movement was.
After avoiding a total of four strikes with short upper body movements, Yu Jung-ak pre-emptively blocked Lee Il-su's knee kick with his guard. Then he threw a sharp jab at Lee Il-su's face and quickly escaped. Lee Il-su threw a straight, but Yu Jung-ak's side step was faster.
The arena was heating up due to Yu Jung-ak's amazing defense. Some spectators were standing up and cheering.
Yu Jung-ak didn't get carried away by the cheers. Lee Il-su approached Yu Jung-ak again. Despite unleashing so many attacks, Lee Il-su showed no signs of fatigue. He seemed to have innate stamina. Moreover, stand-up matches were shorter than MMA fights.
And there weren't many moments of clinching and using strength, so stamina consumption wasn't as severe as one might think.
In fact, anyone who has trained in MMA knows that standing wrestling and ground fighting consume more energy than striking. While there might be individual differences, this was generally the case.
As soon as Lee Il-su saw Yu Jung-ak, he occupied the center and charged forward. He planned to chase if Yu Jung-ak escaped.
Pung
But this time, Yu Jung-ak changed his tactics. He was throwing long jabs from a distance, just like when he first started fighting.
A jab with considerable power behind it.
Lee Il-su hesitated for a moment. Then, circling to the right, he kept measuring the distance and throwing jabs. After blocking with his guard a few times, Lee Il-su started to sway his upper body.
He had begun to defend against the jabs.
As time passed, Lee Il-su started to get impatient. Biting his lip hard, Lee Il-su threw a powerful middle kick.
As he threw the middle kick, he looked into Yu Jung-ak's eyes, who was preparing to throw a jab. That's when Lee Il-su realized.
That he had fallen into Yu Jung-ak's trap.
He tried to retract the middle kick, but it was already too late, and time seemed to slow down for a moment. Yu Jung-ak wasn't just a fighter with jabs.
As Lee Il-su threw the middle kick, Yu Jung-ak, who was in a jabbing position, immediately lowered his upper body and threw a lightning-fast straight punch.
It was like a bullet being fired from a loaded revolver.
Puk
Lee Il-su took Yu Jung-ak's straight punch in the position of throwing a middle kick. The straight punch landed accurately on his nose.
Lee Il-su fell backwards. The roar of the crowd could be heard.
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