A Fighting Chance

Chapter 1

It's hard to find a woman who can deal with the life of an MMA fighter, anyway & I know this firsthand. My mom left my dad because she couldn't handle it. My brother Jay, had trouble keeping a woman, but that could be because of his aversion to fidelity more than the fact that he was a fighter. In any case, I'm young, still, so I have plenty of time to find that special someone. When I do, though, I plan on treating her like a queen. Although my parents divorced, my dad still treated my mom like royalty & he was incredibly romantic, even if you'd never guess by looking at him. He just wouldn't do one thing for my mom, the one thing she couldn't continue to live with. He wouldn't give up his MMA life. He stopped fighting in competitions, but he still continued to train fighters, me & my brother both being part of that group. My mom hated that we fought, so she rarely came to our matches. She didn't even like to talk about it. We knew she was proud of us, though, so that's all that mattered to us.

My mom, Christina, remarried a year or so after her & Dad divorced & her new husband is a decent guy. He owns a construction company & Mom handles his books. They're happy & that's the most important thing, really. She still manages to be our mom when we need it. Once a week, Jay & I go over to her house, in Santa Monica, to have dinner. Every week she asks us about our love lives but manages to avoid asking about our fight careers.

My dad is Alvey Jonas, who's a legendary fighter, now owning Navy Street gym, where he trains fighters that he manages, with the help of Jay & Ryan. Dad is a player with the ladies, since he became single six years ago. He gets more tail than I do & probably gets girls closer to my age or Jay's age, than his own age.

I was pumped to be going into the cage tonight. This was the moment I had been waiting for. My dad had gotten this far & had gone further, so he had high expectations for me. Especially, since my brother had gotten this close only to have the dream shattered when he got injured at the very end of the fight. After that, he got addicted to pain killers & lost his way for a while. He was back, now, training me & thinking of fighting for real again.

My dad joined me in the locker room to give me his pep talk & tell me & my brother that we were family & I had this fight in the bag. I was a Jonas, he reminded me. I felt good as I made my way to the main ring. Dad squeezed my shoulders, as he & Jay led me out to where I'd wait until they announced me.

I can't explain the feeling I get when I hear my name being called to a fight & the roar of the crowd. My fans. Fight fans. My dad's fans. My brother's fans. They all were chanting my name, our name. My chest was puffed & my heart was racing as I made my way to the cage, showing my fight face the moment I stepped out into the spotlight.