When the fighters weren't competing, the spectator stand was the place they would rest. Usually, one or two would be with the bags to keep an eye on it but rarely anything happened.
Almost no sane person would try to steal something whilst surrounded by other martial artists. Leo warmed up as he was one of the first to fight.
His fight had been announced and he was already heading towards the area as he thought about this upcoming fight. There weren't many rules he needed to remember. Just no groin shots or attacking from the back and they would get points for hits, blocks, and dodges.
This wasn't a Lethwei tournament after all. Any martial art goes here. They had sparred with these rules anyway, so there was basically no adjustment.
Leo by now was already getting some looks. Many first thought that he was a younger brother of somebody or competing in the age division ranging from 8 to 10, but it increasingly became clear that he was heading towards the older division's fighting rings.
Someone even came up to him and asked him if he needed a guide. After he revealed that he knew where to go, the other boy wished him luck before going on his way. Leo then went into his fighting area and waited with the referee for his opponent.
Leo didn't have to wait for long until his opponent arrived. His opponent seemed like a normal kid just fitter than average. Most of the children participating looked athletic with only a few exceptions.
The referee told them to follow the rules and his instructions. They fist bumped and went back to their corner before the start of the fight was announced.
They touched gloves in the middle of their ring before taking a step back to stand in their stance. Leo was nervous as he wasn't sure what he could expect from his opponent. Lenny hadn't introduced him, so he went into this fight blind.
'At least, from the stance I can assume that he is a taekwondo practitioner. Maybe I should close in as quickly as possible to prevent his kicks to-'
His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the kick that was sent flying towards his head. Leo lowered his hand while leaning slightly backwards. The kick missed his target and Leo's opponent tried to use the momentum to turn a full circle, so he would face Leo as quickly as possible.
Leo recognized the opportunity and did a side kick towards his opponent's leg on which he stood and pivoted on. His opponent bent at his knee as he fell. Leo didn't hesitate and roundhouse kicked his kneeling opponent in the face.
Although, the children in this tournament all wore headgear, a kick full force to the head was too much for Leo's opponent. He was sent flying and sprawled on the ground.
Leo wanted to pounce on his downed opponent but was held off by the referee, who announced the end of the fight.
Just like that Leo won his first fight with a knockout. His opponent's corner men and the other members of that school looked shocked, but quickly regained their composure and attended to their downed fighter.
It wasn't every day that children just knocked each other out even if it was a tournament. They would either be too scared to engage full force or won't have enough power to do it in the first place. Additionally, Leo was even younger than they were and still showed no hesitation.
It was only after realizing under who he trained did their confusion clear up. The Lethwei fighters had a reputation for being exceptionally tough, so his decisiveness to kick his opponent in the face didn't surprise them too much.
Leo went back to the spectator stand. His father picked him up and celebrated with shouts of "That's my boy!". His mother smiled gently as she petted his head.
"Wow! You like bent like this and then pow pow and he was like urgh. And then you were like hahaha." Rosy imitated Leo's fight. At least, Leo thought it was his fight, it sounded like a completely different one, but he just gave her a thumbs up after she looked at him for approval.
"Good fight. You didn't hesitate to exploit his flaw but beware of feints. Not everyone here will be so amateurish like he was. Still good job at staying calm." His mentor, Mang Tou praised.
Leo nodded and fist bumped Lenny and Shunlei as he tried to suppress the smile forming on his face. As he waited for the other two's fight to begin, he thought his first real fight he just had. He was so nervous, and it ended only in a few seconds, in the first exchange to be exact.
Now that he thought about it, he was a bit too much in his own head. If he had observed his opponent, he would have noticed that his opponent was probably at least thrice as nervous. He was a bit out of breath when he stepped into their ring.
When they bumped their fists next to the referee, he seemed a bit more relieved. Probably because he realized that Leo was smaller than he was. In the beginning, he was extremely nervous and was then relieved after seeing Leo's size.
Maybe that relief made him overconfident as he quickly attacked. Leo could have recognized it instantly if he watched his opponent more intently, but Leo didn't think it was a mistake.
Leo always thought that he just had to focus on doing his best and adapt as good as he can. He wouldn't be able to predict his opponent's next move 100 percent accurately.
Another thing Leo noticed was his opponent's attack. It was decent but not otherworldly. In fact, it would probably only be an exceptional level in their age bracket in his past life. Here however, he was only decent.
Additionally, his kick was slow. Leo was able to leisurely dodge his opponent's kick without worry. Retrospectively, he should have drawn the fight out a bit more to see his opponent's full capabilities. He might not be able to do so in the future fights. As he advances his opponents would only be tougher.
Shunlei was up next against a girl from the same school that Leo just beat. The procedure before the fight was the same as everywhere else and the fight soon started. Leo could instantly tell that Shunlei outmatched her opponent by far.
The distance in skill was probably the same as Leo's and his opponent's skill. Shunlei didn't take initiative and chose to observe her opponent but every attentive observer would notice that the other girl was a bit jittery on her feet.
At one point, she couldn't stand it anymore and sent out a roundhouse kick towards Shunlei who easily dodged. It was like a mirror match of Leo's but instead of trying to return to her stance like her friend did, she used the momentum to transition into a tornado kick.
Unfortunately, Shunlei easily leaned away from the second kick. At the same time Shunlei's leg shot out and accurately kicked the airborne girl in the stomach. She was folded before flying on her back outside of the ring. She tried to stand up, but she couldn't as the pain was too much for her.
The referee called the match. Shunlei quickly went back to the spectator stand and was welcomed by her family. She had a big smile on her face, and it was clear that she wasn't satisfied with only one fight. It seemed now that she had an appetizer, she was even more excited to fight again.
Next Lenny's turn came up and he calmly went to his ring. He seemed even more composed than Leo was. It was quite surprising as Leo already had fought in his past which could be seen by his decisiveness, but Lenny was a first timer and still appeared to be the epitome of calm.
He obviously surpassed the other children, who should have a few years more experience than they had.
If Leo didn't know better, he would have never guessed that this was Lenny's first official match. They sparred of course but this was something else. He appeared even calmer than some experienced UFC fighter.
Obviously, a good amount of nervousness was always there even for professionals. After all, this nervousness was key in making the body ready for action, but Lenny appeared a bit too indifferent.
His fight soon started and just like always he displayed his exceptional head movement. If the other fighters didn't know that he was a student of Mang Tou, they would have guessed him to be a boxer.
The first minute, Lenny just dodged. Leo quickly figured out that Lenny was already doing what he planned to do in the next fight. He was using his opponent to gain experience and to get his head into the game.
After the first round was called, they went back to their corner for a rest. In the beginning Mang Tou had said that he would only coach them in the difficult fights, so while the other kid was being coached Lenny just relaxed.
The second round was very similar to the first. His opponent however targeted Lenny's legs. He dodged those as well but would block one or two as well. Frustration started to build up in his opponent as he almost went full attack mode in the third round.
Leo could have sworn that he heard a towel whip as Lenny jabbed through his opponent's guard. He had accurately hit his opponent's jaw, knocking him out instantly. His opponent fell like a potato sack and the referee called the match.
He didn't expect any less of Lenny. The main reason why Leo thought Lenny was the more skilled fighter was his sense of angles, distance, balance, and his ability to find the weak point in a guard. Leo had the edge in terms of physical prowess and his ability to efficiently transfer his strength into devastating attacks.
In other words, Leo was stronger, faster, and could hit harder and longer while Lenny knew how to exploit weaknesses and knew to keep the upper hand in distance, timing, and angles.
He came back to be celebrated by everyone. His brother, Dave, had a big smile as he put Lenny in a headlock while he ruffled through his hair. Lenny seemed embarrassed but he went along with it as he tried to do the same to Dave, who quickly escaped.
The first fights slowly finished. They had all brought some food with them, so they had an impromptu picknick on the spectator stand like many others.
As they ate, they watched the other children's fights. Mang Tou would comment on some of them and what to take notice of.
They had to wait for a few hours until the next fights were announced. They would have two fights this day and two days the next. The last fight if they made it to the finals would be at noon on Monday.
Unfortunately, Leo and his parents had previously agreed that Leo would have to go to school even if he managed to get to the finals. He first wanted to argue but his mother quickly shut him down.
"So, does the greatest fighter has the need to think about his upcoming fight for half a day in order to win?" She had asked with a raised eyebrow. He obviously couldn't retort that logic, so he just agreed.
The fights went on and there were some that were obviously superior to their peers. One or two knockouts occurred here and there, some even won by only dodging. The fighter had obviously played with his opponent or used his opponent as a warmup tool like Lenny had and Leo wanted to.