[Standard Match] Astrid Arvidsson vs Miranda Tomi - When size doesn't matter (Apex Qualifier Match)

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Match type: standard
Victory conditions: pinfall, submission, knockout, disqualification

"I expected complaints," Victoria said, adjusting her glasses.

Astrid turned over her shoulder to look at the manager and grinned. Taking a deep breath, she sent a left hook into the punching bag, thereby finishing her warm-up. Clenching and unclenching her fists several times, she went to her locker to put on her wristbands.

"Maybe a couple of months ago you would have actually received a few complaints from me about this, huh," she said honestly. "You know, weight categories exist for a reason, in combat sports, weight decides a lot, and although many believe that a light fighter can jump around a heavy fighter until the end of time, in fact, this is far from reality."

"So why don't I hear complaints from you?" Victoria still wanted to get an answer to the question.

"Pro wrestling is not MMA," Astrid said, then shrugged and closed the locker. "I used to think that mature women had no place in the ring, but Kanata and Aurora very clearly explained to me that this is not true." The blonde grinned, remembering how difficult the matches against these women were. "And now I think about weight the same way, without prejudice, besides, we have seen that sometimes real miracles happen, right?" There was a twinkle in her lavender eyes. "Without any logic, but still miracles."

When an ironic smile appeared on Victoria's face, Astrid nodded with satisfaction and left the locker room. The blonde headed down a long corridor. Usually she wasn't interested in any information about the opponent, but this time was an exception. Therefore, the Golden Dragon checked the track record of the girl with whom she had to fight today. Without remorse, Astrid could say that she was impressed, because Miranda had several very intense matches behind her.

Astrid entered the waiting room and stopped in front of the curtains. Her qualification stage was coming to an end. Whatever the outcome of this match, after that she will be able to take part in the Apex match. And she already knew who she wanted to meet in the match for the right to become a contender for the world title. Some time ago, this woman literally tried to bury the descendant of the great Vikings. But, as you might guess, Astrid is still here. The blonde struck her left palm with her right fist.

"To the last drop of sweat!" she said to herself.

Entrance Music

Attire

A few seconds of increasing tempo, and then her dynamic music filled the arena. Accompanied by shouts and applause, the Golden Dragon came out from behind the curtains. Looking around at the audience who greeted her, the blonde smiled broadly, and then raised her hands above her head, folding her palms in the manner of a crown.

As she started down the ramp, Astrid caught herself thinking that this might be the last time she would use this entrance. Victoria was preparing something new for her, and according to the Englishwoman, it will be much more vivid than it is now. Well, Astrid didn't mind. The Norwegian woman stopped several times to sign autographs and make selfies with the most devoted fans.

When she reached the ring, she rolled under the bottom rope. Jumping to her feet, she immediately headed to the center of the ring with a confident step. And when Astrid stopped, she raised her right hand, pointing at herself with her thumb. There was a confident smile on her face. Once in the ring, she immediately felt better. This feeling was familiar to every fighter for whom the ring is a second home.

Her music ended and Astrid received the last applause from the audience. After greeting the referee, she headed to her corner. Leaning back, she folded her arms under her breasts in anticipation. Her rival should arrive soon. Until today, Astrid had never had to fight against an opponent so different in size from her. But something told her that it would be a very good experience.

[Fairy Dragon]

Apex had never been so demanding, Miranda's match with her fellow dancer told her how much she needed to get out more if she wanted to win. As a Lightweight she knew the goal would be a tough one to cross, even if she won the event everyone coming for whoever became the Openweight champion, and if Miranda wanted to be a credible champion she couldn't be afraid to fight any of them. More importantly she had to be able to beat them, so she put up an offer that was snatched up by a heavyweight that seemed to be catching eveyone's attention with her golden run through LAW. Astrid was someone who would have intimidated Miranda a year ago, she was 5'11 while Miranda only stood to 5'5, had enough muscle to bend iron and was smart enough to use all the tricks that Mira could think of. She was the perfect person to try and take on to see if the cruiserweights she could watch on tv were actually good enough to topple giants or if they should have cruiserwaited afterall. The training Miranda had gone through since this time told her not to fear the tough challenges, and the times that anyone could hurt her without getting a black eye themselves were over, now she was going to prove it.

Spoiler

Miranda came out twirling but once she was full on the ramp she would stomp the floor and stop, as much as she wanted to put on a show this match was a big deal for her, she was going after Astrid with her 100% effort and wasn't going to look back. She marched down to the ring while giving fans some high fives and would roll right in, unsure of what Astrid thought of her the entire time but still hoping for a respectful match. "Pleasure to meet you Astrid." Miranda said bringing out a hand for the Golden Dragon to shake.

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When the unfamiliar music started, Astrid turned her head to the side. The corners of her lips lifted slightly when she saw her rival's confidence. The American woman began to approach the ring with a confident step, accompanied by greetings and support from the audience.

Astrid was definitely not someone who was good at looking straight into the soul of a person. But life experience has taught her that body language in most cases speaks much better than words. And she could read in Miranda's gaze that she was serious. A good sign. Because if you doubt your abilities, then you have already lost.

When her opponent got into the ring, the blonde pushed off from her corner and headed to the center to greet Miranda. And when they were face to face, the audience filled the arena with noise. The reason for this was that the difference in their sizes was now clearly visible. Astrid was at least twenty centimeters taller and at least twenty kilograms heavier. But even so, standing in front of each other, it was impossible to say that this difference had any significance for them.

Miranda was the first to break the silence between them. The Golden Dragon once again ran her gaze over her opponent from head to toe. This woman had a great athletic physique, which was complemented by an outstanding appearance, especially just below the collarbone. Astrid's gaze returned to the brown-haired woman's eyes.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miranda," she said, after which she gave her rival a smile. "Let's have a good match."

With that, she extended her right hand forward, accepting the handshake. She had no reason to underestimate Miranda, so she was sincere in her words. She wanted a good match. And if Miranda wanted the same thing, then that's exactly how it's going to be. Feeling a strong and confident grip, Astrid's smile became even wider, and her heart began to beat a little faster in anticipation.

Having finished with the greetings, the Golden Dragon intended to take a few steps back in order to take a fighting stance. Clenching her fist, she would raise them to chin level. She would have moved her left hand a little forward, and her right leg would have taken a step back. With a brief glance at the referee, she made it clear that she was ready. After that, she would have nodded to her opponent, because now only the ringing of the bell separated them from the start of the match.

[Fairy Dragon]

Astrid was the most imposing person she had been in the ring with, even some of her bigger and meaner opponents didn't match up with the gravitas the Golden dragon seemed to casually carry. Of all the fights Miranda had been in this was going to be the toughest one, and she seemed to like it. She was done being afraid that LAW would throw a curveball at her and she would end up being humiliated, this was an opponent she wanted to fight and she would give Astrid something to remember from it all.

"You won't regret taking this match." Miranda said. As they shook hands she could feel that Astrid was sincere in her respect towards her, which was a good feeling to have since she knew how easy it was for Astrid to assume this match would be an easy win. She wanted to prove her confidence right, to show Astrid and everyone that she could pull this off, she was prepared to do anything to get it done. Once they could separate Mira would prepare herself in the corner remaining sharp and thinking about what to do first. The obvious first target was Astrid's legs, but if she could surprise her with a dropkick maybe that would be the best early start, or she could go high and try to bring Astrid down that way, it would certainly hurt, and wind her. All her thoughts were focused on the first move she should take and how it would impact the match, the matches tone hung on the opening gambit.

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"Never intended to," Astrid replied to Miranda's words.

The greeting stage was over and both women prepared to start the match. The blonde could not help but notice the gambling spark that was in the eyes of her rival. She had seen it before and she knew what it meant. Miranda wanted to show everything she was capable of, no matter what. And this, in turn, meant only that the Golden Dragon had to prepare for a difficult match. Because when the opponent looks at you like that, the match will never be easy.

And finally, the moment that everyone was waiting for came. The striped shirt asked first Astrid, then Miranda if she was ready. And when she got the affirmative answers, she raised her hand above her head. A second of absolute silence, and then the referee threw her hand down, marking the start of the match.

Ding-Ding-Ding.

The arena was filled with the joyful hum of the audience, who tried to guess how exactly events would develop. And Astrid wasn't going to keep them waiting. Therefore, together with the ringing of the bell, she rushed forward, approaching the American woman. And although she was definitely not the standard of speed, but for a woman of her size, she moved pretty easily and freely.

Offering Miranda a strength test in this case would be about the same as offering a blind man to play darts. Therefore, the Golden Dragon acted differently. She wasn't an idiot and she was well aware that Miranda was much faster than she was. But she needed to know how exactly faster Miranda was and, equally importantly, she wanted to test her opponent's fighting style.

Therefore, as soon as she was at a close enough distance, the Norwegian woman immediately threw her left fist at the American girl's chin, wanting to test her reaction to the classic, but fast left jab. And in order not to give Miranda a reason to relax, she intended to send a right cross to the brown-haired girl's left cheek. A classic 1-2 combination that was best suited to learn some basic things about Miranda's style.

[Fairy Dragon]

Miranda loved that Astrid held nothing against her for her size, she knew many in her position who would gloat in confidence that their size could carry them to anything. As fun as knocking the smirk off their faces was, dealing with it was never her idea of how a match should be. She could go to her corner confident that she would have a good clean match all the way to the opening bell signaling for them to start. They both rushed to the center of the ring and Astrid started them off with a few punches for her face, a quick jab that Mira moved out of the way of and a right cross that Miranda would turn away from before spinning on her foot to get to Astrid's side.

She couldn't waste time, every strike had to count and Miranda would start by going for a kick to the back of Astrid's leg. She would stay close and go for another kick to the same leg before she backed off, knowing that she could only get so many hits like that without Astrid being able to stop it or hit back. Her thigh was straight muscle with only slight hints of fat, nothing she was going to break with a few kicks, meaning her best bet was to target joints and hope those clipped the dragons wingspan.

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It was hard to expect anything else, but Astrid had to make sure of it. The blonde sent her left fist into her opponent's chin, but Miranda easily dodged the punch. There was a hope that the American woman would not have the agility to dodge the second punch, but she managed to do it, completely avoiding any damage. As expected, her compact sizes and speed advantage deprived Astrid of most options for such direct attacks.

Besides, Miranda wasn't going to stay on the defensive after the Golden Dragon's unsuccessful attack. Dodging the second punch, she shifted to the side and immediately swung her leg. Her foot hit the back of the blonde's thigh, causing Astrid to make a short hissing sound. Of course, one such kick wasn't enough for her, since her body was mostly made up of muscles, but it still hurt.

By the time the Norwegian woman turned to her opponent, Miranda swung her leg a second time, aiming at the same spot. But Astrid wasn't going to just stand there and take every kick like that. She lifted her left leg, bending it at the knee, so that her muscles became as tense as possible. And when Miranda's foot crashed into her thigh, she felt almost nothing because in a tense state her muscles were like metal.

Astrid wanted to take advantage of the fact that her opponent's second kick was not very successful. But Miranda seemed to anticipate this and immediately stepped back, creating a space between them. The Golden Dragon smiled slightly, as if praising Miranda and her abilities.

The audience was clearly pleased with this start of the match. And Astrid, in turn, began to understand how Miranda might have wanted to build her tactics. Dodge, make a short attack, move back. Acting according to such a scheme, it would take her some time to deprive Astrid of her strength and cause her significant damage, but this scheme was very safe for Miranda herself. Before LAW, the blonde had been fighting inside the octagon for a long time and she knew what numerous low kicks could do to her leg. The Golden Dragon clenched her fists and braced herself.

"Let's try something else," she thought.

Rushing to her opponent, Astrid changed the position of her fists several times, trying to confuse Miranda and make it harder for her to understand where the first punch would come from. However, this time the Golden Dragon wasn't going to use her fists. And when the distance was suitable for the punch, she intended to accelerate sharply and push off from the mat, at the same time raising her left knee. She wanted to try to catch Miranda by surprise with a sharp change of tactics and ram her bare stomach with a jumping knee strike.

[Fairy Dragon]

Mira knew where she needed to hit, with an opponent of Astrid's size and strength everything she did had to count. She couldn't just hit her anywhere and she couldn't be careless no matter how much ground she thought she made with her hits. Her target was the best place to start, aiming for those thighs and hurting Astrid's ability to be mobile and move wherever she wanted to go. Best of all was the chance to see if she could get her to stagger, and test her speed when she tried to strike back only to find Miranda well out of range before those punches connected. Still it was a close call and it was obvious she wasn't going to send Astrid down with a few simple kicks but she was willing to work on it. It did give her confidence that her plan could work but once Astrid charged at her she realized that she would need to act a little faster. Nothing about Astrid's strategy gave away her intentions, she changed things up too much for Miranda to think of what would actually come and where, and it wasn't until she was jumping that Mira realized it wasn't a punch coming at all, it was a knee strike that was coming right for her.

"Uggghh!" Mira screamed. Feeling the big knee crash into her stomach, working her muscles as hard as they could and bringing Miranda backwards until she hit the ropes. Her hands went to her stomach as Mira groaned, looking up at Astrid the entire time in case she came after her again. Those were the kind of hits she could expect through the match, or against anyone in that division. It rammed her and forced her back but she could still stay on her feet and her stomach wasn't calling it quits on her, Astrid would learn that Miranda wouldn't be taken down with one kick either.

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Astrid has never considered herself to be someone who breaks stereotypes. However, there are facts that don't require any evidence. One of these facts was that the Golden Dragon moved with amazing ease and speed for a woman of her size. Yes, of course, she was still slower than most middleweights and it is unlikely that she would ever be able to match the speed of any lightweight. And yet she wasn't a hulking carcass that even a turtle could outrun.

But despite this, the blonde was fully aware that her speed would not be enough to catch Miranda off guard. Therefore, Astrid made a bet on her boxing skills, trying to confuse her opponent. And it fully paid off. She saw that the American woman's gaze was fixed on her fists, which allowed the Golden Dragon to do what she had planned.

Pushing off from the mat, she gained extra speed, bursting into Miranda's space. Bypassing the lightweight's defense, Astrid rammed her opponent's bare stomach with her. When Miranda screamed, some of the audience winced. The brown-haired woman was literally thrown back, as a result of which she pressed her back against the ropes.

Leaning forward, Miranda covered her stomach with her hands. But even so, she earned the cheers of the crowd and a slight smile on Astrid's face. Such a sharp knee strike may not have been the Norwegian woman's signature, but more than once the power of this strike sent her rivals down. Miranda remained on her feet, showing her fortitude.

"That's what I like..." Astrid said in a barely audible voice.

Yes, one strike wasn't enough to send Miranda down. Therefore, the Golden Dragon hurried to take a step forward and throw both hands to the American woman's head. She intended to close Miranda in a simple but still effective front facelock hold in order not only to limit her ability to move, but also to prepare her for something much heavier.

[Fairy Dragon]

Miranda took that kick and while it hurt more than most hits she had taken, she had still been through more painful moments and refused to let herself fall from one. Astrid was strong and she was faster than she looked, this would be harder than she thought but she still had to try. She didn't care how impossible it looked right now she would find a way to beat girls like her and prove people like her could do it, even if it meant she had to take 100 kicks like it. Astrid was impressed, and after a moment ran right back at Mira as she was recovering, throwing herself back at her to force her head in between her arms and pulling her into a facelock.

Mira found Astrid's rapidly approaching figure to be giving her no time to think and if she grabbed her head she would be in trouble. Thankfully she was just as fast as anyone else and quick enough on her feet to put up a fight when she needed to, moving low and going for a drop toe hold just as Astrid got close, to force the bigger blonde down to the mat and get behind her.