CHAPTER 765: CHAPTER 765: CONTROLLED CHAOS

Damon stood at the edge of the cage, arms folded, eyes sharp.

Zulu was chaos, no doubt. But chaos wasn’t always bad.

Damon had studied plenty of fighters who leaned on awkward timing and unpredictable movements.

Fighters who broke rhythm, who used their "wrongness" as a weapon. It worked when it was calculated.

PDD was one of those. He looked messy, but there was structure buried deep in that wildness.

A rhythm to the madness. He moved like he didn’t know what he was doing, but everything landed where it needed to.

Zulu wasn’t PDD.

At first glance, it was the same brand of pressure and power. Wild angles, switch stance flurries, head movement that didn’t belong to any textbook. But the more Damon watched, the more cracks he saw.

Zulu wanted to be chaos. But he wasn’t in control of it.

He moved with confidence, sure, but confidence didn’t mean correctness.

Damon muttered under his breath, eyes never leaving the cage. "He knows what he’s doing... but he’s doing it wrong."

There were tells. Big ones. Every time Zulu missed, his posture dipped too low. Every time he feinted, his shoulders telegraphed it seconds in advance.

He loaded up on strikes before they came, swinging with his hips first instead of his hands. It made him dangerous, but also readable.

And Elias was reading him.

Inside the cage, Elias had begun to pick up the rhythm beneath the noise.

He stayed composed, making micro-adjustments between each exchange. He wasn’t trying to match Zulu’s energy; he was working around it.

Zulu crashed forward again with another blitz, throwing a looping right hand into a leaping elbow.

Elias ducked under both, stepped off at an angle, and tapped him with a clean calf kick that chopped into Zulu’s lead leg.

Zulu grunted, but didn’t break stride. He spun with a backfist that went wide, then jumped for a front kick that clanged off Elias’s guard.

Still no clean hit.

Zulu’s corner yelled for more pressure. Damon could hear the panic in their tone. They were afraid of what Zulu was doing to himself.

Because Zulu was burning fast.

His style was sprinting in a five-round race.

Elias kept his breathing low. Clean. Focused.

He snapped a jab. Then another. He was staying just far enough to avoid the real damage but close enough to make Zulu work.

Every missed strike took more out of Zulu’s arms. Every sprint added heat to the engine. And Elias just waited.

Waited, watched, and punished.

Zulu charged again, tried to clinch, threw knees without balance. Elias posted with an underhook, circled out, and hit him with a stiff straight that finally made the crowd gasp.

Damon smirked.

He could see it. The fight was slowly shifting.

Zulu still had fire, but it wasn’t refined.

Zulu exploded forward again, eyes wide, mouth slightly open as he launched a leaping right hook.

Elias ducked under it, but Zulu was already spinning. A sharp left elbow clipped Elias behind the ear.

Elias stumbled.

Zulu closed in without pause.

He rammed Elias into the fence and let his hands go, hooks, uppercuts, elbows from every direction.

Damon shouted from the corner, but Elias had no time to respond. He covered up, rolled with the strikes, looking for space.

A body shot slipped through. Elias grunted. A looping right cracked off the side of his head, followed by a knee that slammed into his midsection.

He ducked into the clinch.

Zulu twisted and drove forward, slamming him into the wall again. He framed Elias’s chin with a forearm and hammered an uppercut into his jaw.

Elias answered with a knee to the ribs, then another one, heavier. Zulu absorbed them and shoved off to reset.

They returned to open space.

Zulu moved light on his feet despite his breathing. He bounced once, twice, then lunged with a jab-cross-hook combination that forced Elias backward.

But Elias didn’t stay defensive.

He planted his foot and fired a straight left that landed clean. Zulu’s head snapped back. Elias followed with a hard kick to the body, then stepped forward with a jab.

Zulu reset quickly, shaking his head with a crooked grin.

Then he rushed again.

He switched stances in motion, faked high, and threw a flying knee. Elias shifted just in time to avoid it, but Zulu spun through with a back kick that hammered into Elias’s guard.

It landed solid.

Elias responded with a leg kick. Then a jab to the nose. Zulu flinched, but came back with a short shovel hook to the liver. Elias tried to answer, but Zulu dipped low and grabbed a single-leg.

Elias sprawled too late.

Zulu lifted and drove forward, slamming him down near the fence.

Top position.

Zulu postured up and immediately dropped elbows. The first hit Elias’s guard.

The second grazed his forehead. The third smashed into his forearm. Zulu kept pressing.

Elias planted a foot on the cage and twisted hard.

He reversed the position, rolling Zulu onto his back.

Victor shouted approval as Elias scrambled to his feet. Zulu tried to follow, but Elias kneed his thigh, circled out, and landed a sharp hook to the ribs before separating fully.

They stood again.

Breathing heavy.

Zulu slapped his chest once.

Elias wiped his brow and adjusted his stance.

No hesitation from either side.

Zulu jabbed high, faked low, and came over the top with a right that skimmed Elias’s head. Elias stepped in and caught him with a tight elbow that snapped into the cheek.

Zulu threw a head kick. Elias blocked it.

Then a spinning elbow. It missed.

Elias ducked and slammed a body shot into Zulu’s ribs. Zulu groaned, but answered immediately with a hook across the jaw.

Back and forth.

Zulu circled with short, measured steps, trying to trap Elias near the cage again.

He faked a low kick, then exploded with a looping right hand that Elias slipped by inches. Elias fired back with a stiff jab, then angled off, refusing to be cornered.

Zulu cut the angle and stepped in fast. He launched a wide left hook, then changed levels, shooting for the hips.

Elias sprawled early this time, chest heavy on Zulu’s back, stuffing the takedown. He wrapped an underhook and forced Zulu back to his feet.