Baller: An Interracial MMA Stepbrother Romance by Simone Scarlet MMA Read Free Book Online Page A

round, the two girls lunged at each other and the fight quickly went down to the canvas.
    The two women scrapped and brawled. One of them had a breast yanked out of her sports bra, and the crowd went wild – cheering and hollering. The wardrobe malfunction didn’t prevent her from getting the upper hand in the grounding and pounding – and before the clock ran down, she’d managed to get her opponent to tap out by way of a brutally executed triangle choke hold.
    “Dayum!” Red raised his beer. “Now that was some fightin’!” He turned to Hannibal. “I expected that to go into the third round, no?”
    Hannibal said nothing. He was just thinking about how brutal these fights were. He’d been convinced that first fight was staged – but after seeing the blood and teeth on the canvas in the fights which followed, even he’d begun to question himself.
    But none of that mattered now – because the next fight of the evening was the one he’d come to see:
    His little brother, up against another Spanish-looking guy called Manny ‘Cannibal’ Mendoza.
     
     

Chapter Fifteen
     
    Hannibal
     
    The uneasy feeling returned to Hannibal’s stomach the moment Jules and his opponent entered the octagon.
    The previous two fights have convinced him that this dirty, underground fighting league was real. Real enough for him to be worried about his brother’s safety.
    But the man Jules would be fighting against didn’t look like an MMA champion. Despite the ‘Cannibal’ nickname, Manny Mendoza was a slender, unremarkable Mexican guy who looked like he’d be more comfortable mowing lawns or pumping gas than fighting in the cage.
    He plodded on stage like he was heading to a court hearing. Behind him, punching the air and whooping like a jackass, came Jules.
    “And in this corner,” announced the ref, “we have Julius Tiberius Alexander. 155lbs, 1-0 undefeated and younger brother of the MMA legend Hannibal ‘Baller’ Alexander himself!”
    The crowd went wild, and spotlights blinded Hannibal again. He raised his arm to cover his eyes, and ignored the crowd as they started baying ‘Baller! Baller! Baller!”
    They then started screaming in support of Jules, as Hannibal’s brother swaggered into the cage punching the air and dancing lightly on his feet.
    Mendoza got a less enthusiastic welcome – and it was clear from the crowd who the favorite was. Hannibal actually caught himself smiling with pride as he saw the assembled throng calling out his brother’s name.
    But something still didn’t sit right with him – and it just got worse when the air horn blew and the fight began.
    Jules and Mendoza circled each other warily, and right from the get-go it was clear Jules was the aggressor. He bobbed and weaved, and held his dukes up ready for action.
    Mendoza swayed from side to side, looking almost bored .
    After a brief hesitation, Jules came in swinging – and this was when Hannibal saw how clumsy and amateurish his brother was.
    He threw his gangly arms wide. He didn’t power through them with his bodyweight. When Jules’ fists did impact with the elbows that Mendoza threw up, the blows were light and easily deflected.
    By rights, Mendoza should have pummeled him.
    But he didn’t , and that just added to Hannibal’s suspicions.
    The big MMA fighter turned to Red, who was slurping on another can of Miller Lite.
    “Yo,” Hannibal demanded. “What’s the deal?” He jerked his thumb towards the octagon. “Is this staged, or what?”
    Red raised his arms in a mockery of innocence.
    “C’mon, pal,” he grinned. “You saw those last two fights? Ain’t nuttin’ staged here. This is the real deal.”
    But then, in the cage, Jules managed to take down Mendoza with what must have been the clumsiest body lock in the history of mixed martial arts – and then proceeded to sprawl on the slender Mexican fighter like he was a bass out of water.
    “Dayum,” Hannibal winced, watching as the two men writhed on the