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Righting the Ship; Divine Title: Cass (c) v. BAD ASS
Topic Started: Jun 25 2018, 08:00:10 PM (33 Views)
Sam

NARRATOR: It’s been an up and down year for the woman once called, indisputably, the best mixed martial artist on the planet--Cassandra Madrigal’s claim came very much into dispute at the beginning of the year, when the newly christened CGFC Divine Champion found herself on the losing end of a split decision to Tom Pendergrass, and relinquished her throne to “Mr. 502.”

We open to the very last piece of footage of CGFC 23’s main event: the look of bewilderment on Cass Madrigal’s face as the decision is read aloud, and the title--her title, in “Madness’s” eyes--was wrapped around Tom Pendergrass’s waist. It takes more than a couple seconds for the bewilderment to give way, and when it does, it’s to a momentary snarl, even as she gives Tom a nod of respect, pivoting on her heel and walking out of the cage, with one camera trained on the departing Madrigal, for the first time in two years leaving without the title she entered with.

NARRATOR: That disappointment only lasted a couple months, however, when a rematch with Tom yielded yet another title change, and the “dethroned queen” regained her title, her throne, and potentially, her claim to being the best in the world.

The footage abruptly cuts to CGFC 25’s main event, and the finish to the fight; Cass, wrapped around Tom’s back, her arms around his neck, trying desperately to choke the big man out and regain her title. Tom drops himself backwards, but the impact only pushes Cass’s arms further into the choke, and eventually, Pendergrass goes unconscious.

Before she can even get out from underneath her opponent, the relief on Madrigal’s face is palpable--as the footage shows her title being wrapped around her waist again, though, Cass’s shoulders slump, her head falls backward, and the relief becomes physical--she falls to her knees, tears coming down her face.

However, she’s only able to savor the victory for moments, before Carter Shields introduces her next opponent--Glory Champion, Niko Holst. Tears running down her face, fatigued, battered, and bruised, Cass finds the energy to curl a smirk on her face as she squares off with Niko, in the first of several photo opportunities that would follow.


NARRATOR: But one mistake is all it takes in MMA; a missed punch, a failed takedown, a slipped kick...in a game of inches, these are the things that change the outcome of a fight. And when Champion fights Champion...one mistake can be the difference between solidifying a claim, and forfeiting it.

Highlights of the first round of CGFC 27’s main event are brief--Cass’s offense in the first round, including the hammerfist that bloodied the Hitman, as well as the heel hook that nearly finished the fight in the first round, but it’s the second round that gets the spotlight: Niko’s elbow that took Cass’s legs out from underneath her, and Cass’s desperation to get the takedown that the elbow had eluded her, is spotlighted--and, ultimately, the failure to secure it, and Niko’s ability to capitalize, leading to the second round finish of the Superfight.

NARRATOR: If you asked her, going in, Cassandra Madrigal would’ve told you this fight was the one she needed--a fight with, pound for pound, the best fighter Caged Glory has produced. Had she come away victorious, there would’ve been no question she was everything she says she is.

NARRATOR: Instead, MMA fans were left to reflect on one thing: Tom Pendergrass may have put a question mark on Cassandra’s claim to being the best in the world--but Niko Holst may very well have put an end to the debate, for now.

While Niko gives his short post-fight interview, doctors tend to the fallen Divine Champion--anger stews on Cass’s face once she’s made aware of what happened, but more than anything, there’s disappointment; eventually, she’s helped to her feet, and as she’s led out of the cage, she turns a glance to one of the cameras...eyes squinted, the rage boiling over in the mind of the Divine Champion only barely concealed.

NARRATOR: And with a title defense coming up against the fighter known as BAD ASS, would the up and down trend of Cassandra Madrigal’s 2018 continue? Or could the mad ride that Madness has been on finally stabilize?

=====================

“Cass? Are you okay?”

I don’t know what was worse--the loss itself, or the fact that it meant that for the next...forever, it meant Dani would be worried about me; that’s the danger of an MMA fight, one mistake, one slip up, and you can eat leather, you can get your arm broken, you can get choked out...I mean, fuck, how many people had I put to sleep in my career already? I can think of four off-hand. I guess it’s a lot more real when it happens to someone you care about; watching it happen to total strangers must be easy, because it’s not something you need to worry about, but watching it happen to your fiance...

I guess I should be a little more sympathetic--god knows how I treated her after something happened at her job. Then again...getting knocked out in a fight is one thing, getting stabbed trying to stop a robbery is something altogether different. I couldn’t stomach the idea that someone would do it again, I did everything in my power to try to get her not to go back...I didn’t really have the right to, and ultimately, it was her decision, but...it still doesn’t sit well, I get nervous every time she heads in.

She gets actually seriously hurt, I get hospitalized for a fucking sports injury...perspective counts for a lot, huh?

I guess the feeling's the same, really; it’s the lack of control you have over the situation. If I knew it wouldn’t happen again, I wouldn’t worry about it--just like, if she knew I wouldn’t get knocked out, she wouldn’t worry every time I head into training. But on the sidelines, watching...whether it be a sport, a job, or a life-or-death situation, when you’re powerless to stop what you want to stop?


“Cass?”

It’s the dread that makes things worse.

It’s funny...how the moment I let myself be happy, things start to go crazy. I spent a long time hiding--from my brother’s memory, from my past, from my responsibilities, everything. I could get away with saying I shouldn’t be trusted with...whatever, because I drank too much, I made a scene, I did this and that and the other. I buried myself in fighting so I didn’t have to think about LA, so I didn’t have to think about real shit, I could devote myself entirely to a sport that...for some reason, people pay to see.

But then I reach the point I think I want...and things go south; buried in fighting, the company I’ve all but taken over folds. Go to a new one, and flop immediately. I open up to someone, to the point of actually dating, to the point of where Cassandra fucking Madrigal is engaged to be married...and the world just doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. Things go fucking haywire, and I’m left trying to figure out what the fuck to do to right the ship.

I’m actually happy...for the first time in a decade, I’m really, honestly, truly happy...and I don’t know what to do with it. I’ve never been happy before--not really. I've been content, but not the kind of happy I am now, with someone that actually cares about me, and at least some degree of success--even if it’s not, exactly, how I want it--out of my career...and I worry I’m going to fuck it up. Whether it’s, somehow, fucking up with D--I was worried I was going to push too hard, trying to get her not to go back to work, but...I think she gets it at least--or fucking up my career--which, I seem increasingly liable to do.


“CASS!”

I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know why, now, after years feeling like I was in total control of my life...it feels like it’s slipping out of my grasp.

“Mm?”

“You okay? You look like you’ve got something on your mind.”

I tried my best to smile in a way that wiped that fear out of her mind--I knew she didn’t believe it, but she at least let me kiss her and tell her what she wanted to hear.

“Todo bien, bonita.”

Fake it til you make it? Who knows.

What I do know? Is with or without the chaos surrounding our respective careers, whether I felt like I was in control of anything or not, whether my career was spiralling down the drain, or I was about to be back on the upswing again?

At least I was happy.

And despite what I’d say on camera, I care about that more than I care about anything.


=====================

I have no problem eating humble pie when it’s put on my plate.

I said, a year or so ago at this point, that I didn’t see the merit in someone like BAD ASS competing in MMA--that it felt like a publicity stunt, as much as anything else. Yet another professional wrestler that thinks MMA looks like a fun, easy way to make a living off the skills they get braining each other with chairs, and wants to give it a shot. The nonsense at the press conferences, between spraying piss out of a super soaker or dropping roaches on people, didn’t help--some people call it entertaining, most people have grown out of their teenage years and call it disgusting.

That being said...I’ve watched as he actually started to take MMA seriously, as a career; from moving to the Hawaiian branch of the Slaughterhouse, to turning his attention to people who treat this like a serious career--I’ll give him credit where it’s due, he’s made me eat my words. I know Jason wouldn’t allow him to take a fight with me if he didn’t think he could hang, so maybe I underestimated him when I was breaking MLC 10 down. He’s come to CGFC, and claimed a few decent wins for himself--after a rough start against Elena Nguyen, who...quien sabe, if he didn’t take her lightly and pretend she wasn’t a threat, he might have been able to actually get that win.

But...that’s the thing that gets me--I appreciate being confident in yourself, but this is a guy who thinks a blue belt and some standup training is going to be able to hang with someone who’s been in this sport her entire adult life. Like I’m supposed to be afraid because he put Megan Treamon on her ass, or caught one good armbar. I’ve spent the past ten years preparing to fight anyone and everyone, and the past five years fighting the best in the world. I’ve been in there with Olympic caliber athletes--and, far more often than not? Dominating them, at what they do best. I’ve fought elite wrestlers, in wrestling; I’ve outstruck some of the best strikers; I’ve submitted people who called themselves jiu-jitsu aces.

“Why?” I’ve heard that question more than a few times, since taking the fight so soon after the fight with Niko. “Why not wait a minute?” Honest truth? Because I’m ready. I was always going to be ready. Whether I won or lost that fight, I was going to be ready. Whether I won or lost that fight, I was going to be ready to defend my title, to do what I should’ve done in the first place, and establish myself as the one to beat in this fucking company.

It didn't work out the way I wanted the first time...Maybe I got complacent, maybe I got lazy, maybe I got content at the top--and Tom Pendergrass reminded me that I can’t do that. Niko Holst reminded me that there’s always something new to learn, always something new to focus on...I knew he was going to, I knew he was going to be a hell of a challenge either way. But even going in, whatever happened between Niko and I, I was going to be ready to defend this title, against whoever came out of that fight with a contender’s spot.

I don’t expect a walk-through fight, whatever anyone else might think...and whatever I may have said about him in the past, I’ve seen the changes in BAD ASS’s game. I’ve seen him evolve as a fighter. I’ve seen him get better, both under Jason Jackson, and even before then. And I've seen him get hungrier, I've seen him get more ambitious, I've seen him start to want this more.

I don't expect this is going to be easy.

But...I expect to walk into this fight, throw him to the ground, and choke him out. I expect to walk out with my title still around my waist, I expect to have another finish added to my record, I expect to be the first to defend the Divine Championship.

Because the truth is?

No matter how much he wants that title? I want it more.

No matter how much he’s focused on this fight? I’ve focused on it more.

No matter how much he thinks it means to his career? It means more to mine.

This is what I’ve spent my life working towards--not to be some recognized name on Twitter, or some personality that could be talked about, not to be happy being talked about...but to be the best fucking fighter on the planet.

And that belt? That belt that you want, means more to my career than you could possibly understand.

I'm glad you're taking this more seriously. I'm glad you're busting your ass now. I'm glad you've made a nice little career for yourself. But there's a big fucking difference between what you've done in this sport...and what I have.

This belt is a trophy to you, and that’s great--it’s an accomplishment that, if you manage it, you should be proud of. But it’s a hell of a lot more than just a trophy to me. It’s years of blood, sweat, and tears. It’s years of busting my ass, years of grinding, years of work, years of pressure.

If you think you’re getting a dejected Cass Madrigal? If you think I’m going to be on the decline after that loss to Niko--who might be the only person on the planet that can contend with me for “best in the world?” If you think I’m going to be anything...but laser focused on keeping my title? You’ve got another thing coming.

Keeping this belt...keeping my belt? Is the only thing I care about right now.

I don't care about a non-title loss. I don't care about all the”what-ifs,” I don't care about the speculation. I care about walking in that cage, doing whatever I have to do, getting my hand raised, and walking out with my title.

There’s nothing that motivates a fighter quite like that bitter taste of defeat.

So I want you to keep that in mind, amigo. I want you to remember...that everything you’re trying to do in your career? I’ve already done. Everything you’re learning? I’ve mastered. Every weapon you think you have to beat me? I know ways around.

Size doesn’t scare me, I’ve beaten size.

Reach doesn’t scare me, I’ve beaten reach.

Power doesn’t scare me, I’ve beaten power.

Speed doesn’t scare me, I’ve beaten speed.

I’ve heard it all before, from people...I’ll be honest, a lot more dangerous. People that were trying to take my head off fore more than just sport, and people that were able to do so. Some of the best in the world have stepped in there and tried to find the solution to Cass Madrigal, and only the best of the best ever find it--Marissa Kane couldn’t, and Marissa Kane was one of the best to ever step foot in a cage. Tom Pendergrass scraped by with a decision, and even he doesn’t know how.

Here’s the real kicker, though: the people that train you?

Learned from me.

The people that are making you better? They learned their shit, from me...and I didn’t even scratch the surface of what I know.

Coming off a win...or coming off a loss...doesn't matter. I’ve sacrificed more, I’ve worked harder, I’ve spent more time in gyms busting my ass for this fucking sport than BAD ASS has. That’s not to take away from what he’s done with his career, that’s just a fact, I've put more into becoming the best than he has.

Anything he can do? I can do better.

There is nowhere he’s worked harder than me at.

There is nowhere he’s better than me at.

There is nowhere he’s more prepared than I am.

This fight goes where I want it to go, when I want it to go there. It plays out how I want it to, and it ends when I choose to end it.

Not because it’s easy--but because I’ve worked too goddamn hard for the result to be anything less. I’ve put too much into this sport, into this career, into this life, to let someone come in, talk himself up like he’s on my level, and take what I earned away from me.

So, if he wants that trophy? If he wants to hang my title up in Oahu? He better start praying that he can get that good, clean, lucky shot--he better hope he can find that one sweet spot that puts me out, because if he doesn’t? This isn’t a nice, even fight, between opponents on the same level; this is one of the best in the world, against someone trying to crack Top 15 in this company.

We are light years apart...and when we get in there, I'm going to prove that.,

Like I said--I can respect the work. I can respect the drive, the proof that he’s evolving as a fighter.

But June 29th, in Croatia?

That night--and that title--belong to me.

ooc
 
Okay, so, I intended to have this up a lot earlier, but...jesus this past week has been haywire. >_< Hopefully it's a decent read at least!

CASS MADRIGAL
1x MLC World Champion (last, longest reigning)
1x MLC Undisputed Champion (first, last)
2x CGFC Divine Champion (first, current)

ELENA NGUYEN

EMMA SINCLAIR

KENZIE ROWE
1x SSWA Trios Champion [with Holly Chainsaw and Izzy Anders, as the Canadian Chainsaw Massacre] (longest reigning)
1x WCS International Champion
2017 SSWA Royal Battle Winner
2017 SSWA Titans of Trios Winner [with Holly Chainsaw and Izzy Anders, as the Canadian Chainsaw Massacre]
1x REBELLION Pro European Champion

MICHIKO YAMADA
2x Reina del HELL
1x WCS World Champion
3x GFP Junior Tag Team Champion

PAIGE HOLLOWAY
1x CGFC Imperial Champion (current)
MLC: On the Rise Season 1 Winner

SUZUME MITSUYOSHI
1x CCP Television Champion (last, unified with North American and Women's Championships)
1x CCP North American Heavyweight Champion (first following unification, current)

TEGAN BLACKWELL
2x AIR Velocidad Champion
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