An snorted slightly as he missed his mark, certainly the man was fast. However, it was expected, he wouldn’t have issued a challenge had the man not some skill. As An’s foot planted, the young Thai was already preparing for a quick counter, his weight shifting as his muscles tensed, hands raised, legs coiling with pent-up energy, ready to counter . . . what in the blue hell was he doing? 

He was dancing, after the simple dodge; the well-dressed man began to dance. Heat flushed on the back of An’s neck, his eyes narrowing, his breathing slowing to an even rhythm. Small shifts in the gravitational pull around them occurred as the Thai felt slighted. This man was mocking him.  There was laughter; behind him, a woman giggled as Johnny began dancing.  The taut muscles straining to unleash the pent up anger, An wanted to pound the man now, pound him into the dance floor.  An moved continuously his foot work keeping his body flowing as his feet moved to keep the dancing man before him and within striking distance. An was no fool, he suspected the man would remain close in any event, but An wanted to make sure the man stayed there.  

Anticipation, a skill taught to all fighters. It took a combination of reading the body movements of an opponent, where their weight rested and most importantly, luck to guess what an opponent was going to do. Muay Thai fighters were experts at anticipation and disruption off those guesses.  Tip-tap, tip-tap the dancer continued on the floor, with the incessant and annoying clacks of his shoes on the polished surface. Slide, step, slide step keeping pace with the dancer. In a sense it was a dance, a fighter against a . . . well An wasn’t exactly sure what he was that he faced. The man was cool as a cucumber and looked impressive in his clothes, but that meant little to An. This dapper gentleman had to prove he could do more than dodge a kick and dance. 

Then Johnny launched into his attack, his right going vertical for an axe kick, at least it appeared to be an axe kick. The axe kick is best when the opponent is vulnerable and the inside out or outside-ins variation are designed to open the opponent up, yet the dancing man simply went for a vertical up and down strike. Instead of the snapping front kick delivery, allowing the axe kick to be converted or abandoned mid-kick if, Johnny realized his axe kick was no longer feasible, he executed a vertical lift and descent. 

An merely stepped into the kick, under the man’s out stretched leg, closing the distance to Johnny’s body where he countered the descending kick with a flying knee.  By stepping forward, with the right leg An moved inside the Axe kick. As his right foot planted, An leapt forward with the left leg, hoping to strike the right buttock and groin recently exposed by the vertical axe kick. The impact to the underside of the buttocks would hurt, and if An managed to strike the groin, well the dancer would be less inclined to try such a flashy move again. The purpose of course to knock the man off balance and on his ass with a bruised tailbone or, well what ever was hit. Aware that descending leg would be problematic, perhaps not as effective as Johnny had hoped, An had to address the action. He did so by lifting his left arm to obstruct Johnny’s descending leg with a shove away.