Amery slipped on her shoes and fussed with his hair before they left the Crow’s Nest.
He didn’t hold her hand as they headed down the short hallway. He felt Amery’s questioning look as he retreated into his Sensei Black persona, but she didn’t comment.
“Before we go in, do I need to know who teaches what in the MMA classes?”
“Deacon is the kickboxing leader. He studied Muay Thai for a few years. Fisher, who you’ve never met, is from a boxing family, and he was nationally ranked champion. He didn’t start training in jujitsu until two years ago, and he’s on the fence about MMA fighting. But he’s great at working boxing drills. Ito also has an advanced black belt in judo; he works with throws.”
“And you? What’s your area of expertise?”
Ronin punched the elevator button. “Submission holds. Getting out of holds. I’m usually the grappling partner. But I’ll admit it took me a while to get used to no-gi grappling.”
Amery frowned. “What’s no-gi grappling?”
Sometimes he forgot she hadn’t been around martial arts her whole life like he and his instructors had. “In jujitsu we train students to use the gi in fighting situations. It’s an added advantage to use your opponent’s lapels, or sleeves, or even the back of the gi for takedown techniques. It’s much easier throwing a guy to ground when he’s wearing clothes than when his chest is bare. But we do spend time on no-gi grappling in class.”
Before they exited the elevator, Amery put her hand on his chest. “So the scratches I sometimes see on your chest?”
“From grappling. Once in a while I’ll get a mark from a gi that looks like a rope burn.”
She smiled. “I’ve dealt with the rope burn issue recently.”
When they stepped into the hallway, several guys were loitering outside the closed door. “What’s going on?” Ronin asked Gil, Blue’s second in command.
“Blue and Sophia are fighting. I tune them out because this is not unusual with them.”
Great. Ronin knocked twice before opening the door. “You two about done? We’re ready to start.”
“Of course,” Blue said. “Sophia was just—”
“I’m not leaving, brother.”
“Fine. Everyone find a seat.” Ronin took the chair at the head of the table. Amery sat beside him. He scanned the room. “Who are we missing?”
“Shiori,” Sophia said, plopping next to Blue at the opposite end of the table.
“She’s teaching,” Ito said.
“Blue?” Ronin prompted. “Where are we on things?”
“The first event is set. I didn’t have to jump through many hoops to get the name of our new company switched over. Not much to report.” Blue smiled at Amery. “I believe Hardwick Designs is handling the flyers and print promotional materials?”
“Yes. If you have previous playbills—matchups, whatever they are—hand them over along with all the details I’ll need and your deadline.”
“Are any of the Black Arts fighters going up against ABC fighters in this event?” Knox asked.
Blue shook his head. “Deacon is in the pro fight. Sophia is representing ABC in the lone women’s bout. We’ve got to decide how many amateur bouts we want on the card. Ideally we should represent as many weight classes as we can, and I think eventually that won’t be a problem. But right now, we’ve got no amateurs in the heavyweight or super heavyweight divisions.”
Ronin took the piece of paper Blue offered him. “What’s this?”
“My recommendation on joint promotional goals versus individual dojo goals. I realize we both want to get our amateurs experience in the cage, but by putting too many guys from Black Arts and ABC on the Black and Blue Promotions fight card, we run the risk of becoming incestuous. What we don’t want are other MMA clubs thinking we’re only interested in furthering our fighters’ records. Then they’ll stop submitting fighters for events. The only way to accurately judge whether our club fighters are up to snuff is by fighting guys from other clubs.”
“Agreed.” He looked at Deacon and Knox, then Blue and Gil. “You guys see other options?”
Knox rested his elbows on the table. “If we limit entrants, we’ll still have to find other fights for them.”
“Also, why would they stay with our training program if we’re not putting them in events we sponsor? They’d be better off training elsewhere. So we lose income and fighters. How is that beneficial for either club?” Gil asked.
Blue pointed to the piece of paper. “That’s why I brought it up. Why would we help other amateur fighters but not our own?”
No one said anything out loud, but Fisher and Ito were speaking in low tones.
Amery cleared her throat. “Can I suggest something?”
Ronin didn’t miss the annoyed looks sent her way—like why the f**k did Sensei’s girlfriend get to speak?—and now he under- stood her reluctance to attend the meeting. “No one else has jumped in with ideas, so go ahead.”
“Use the event as a carrot for your fighters. Tell them you’re picking only one fighter to represent the club. If the guys are serious, won’t they work harder to be the guy chosen?”
He checked out the reactions around the room. Everyone seemed surprised. “Not a bad idea. That’d also encourage them to find other amateur fights on their own to up their game.”