The Fight

Kick her ass, okay?

Nine years later...

         

I look at the clock on the wall of my dressing room; seven thirty the red neon letters read. Thirty minutes until I'm face to face with my number one opponent in the ring.

The girl who stood by my side through everything with Lewis. The one who told me that I was strong and could make it through anything. The girl who was my best friend, is now my enemy. My biggest rival since she decided to change the rules and break the promise.

I hate her.

Nothing's changed between us. The hatred is still there; what first started as a small flame is now a blazing fire. Nathalie Rogers, number two in the world for Women's UFC fighting, is the bane of my existence.

Nathalie's the reason I'm number one in the world for Women's UFC lightweights and the reason I've continued to keep that title for over nine months now. She's pushed me to limit's that no girl should be pushed to, and honestly... I can't thank her enough.

I should introduce myself before I go any further. I'm Jessalyn Roberts. 21 years old from Salford, Great Manchester. I've been fighting in the ring since the young, pre-teen age of twelve.

Before you go on assuming that I'm 5'9 and I have bigger guns than most of the men who work out at your local neighborhood gym, please, just hear me out. I'm 5'5 and my muscles are lean. Only when I flex can you see the muscles but otherwise that, most people think I'm pretty weak when they first see me. I weigh 135 pounds but all of it is pure muscle with very little fat.

I'm in pretty sick shape - I mean I have to be. I am the worlds best UFC women's fighter. My goal one day is to be the next Rhonda Rousey... but isn't that everyone's goal?

I toy with the tape on my hands while my 'pump up' playlist blasts in my ears through my headphones. A tap on my shoulder makes me jump and spin around and tighten my fists.

"Whoa, calm down there, Jess," My trainer, Mark Jarvis says.

Mark has been with me since I first started fighting back in my hometown gym in Salford. He's been like a second dad to me since my real one, (who I only address as Lewis) hasn't been a part of my life for over nine years. Since then, the only person I've let into my life and cared about has been Mark. Well, Mark, Macy, my mother, and my baby brother, Nicholas. He's not really a baby anymore, he's sixteen and working his way up in the underground fighting world. Just like his big sister.

I pull my headphones off of my ears and rest them around my neck.

"Sorry. Just a little-"

"Out of it? Wound up?" Mark says, cutting me off.

I nod, not giving him any emotion. My nerves are starting to eat me alive. He senses it and sits down next to me, throwing a comforting arm around my shoulders.

"Listen, Jess. She's a loser, a psychotic-"

"Egotistical maniac who only wants to see the one's she's up against hurt," I say, returning his cut off.

Mark nods and rubs my arm soothingly like he always does.

"Exactly. I've taught you so well and I'm not worried about tonight at all, and you shouldn't be either. Nathalie doesn't know what's coming at her."

Nathalie and I were friends in grade school. We were put in the same class from year two to year six. We stopped being friends going into year seven when she went behind my back and broke my trust. She had been my best friend and knew about all of the family issues back at my home, I trusted her.