Maddie Ziegler versus Kelli Berglund

BEFORE:
"Kelli's been boxing a few years longer than me but I already have twice as many fights as her,” Maddie says first from the press table, the Dollhouse dancer flipping her brown locks to the side to showcase that even wider smirk on her face. “It'd be interesting to see if her years of training can beat actual ring experience...but I really need this win after last month, so Kelli better bring her A game because I don't care about anything but winning tonight, pretty much."

Maddie may be putting on a brave face, but at least she’s partially aware of her partial fortunes, having recently fallen to Michelle Williams in last month’s PPV. It’s the same fact that Kelli Berglund will be hoping to exploit tonight, the older and shorter brunette keeping calm across the table after her recent impressive win over Danielle Rose Russel.

“Seems like someone convinced Maddie she’s the best of the best. Well, Michelle really knocked her off that pedestal, didn’t she?” Kelli responds with a smirk of her own, drawing an eyeroll from the Doll. “That just goes to show how the Dolls are more bark than bite. But when it comes to actually putting up their dukes in the ring, they get knocked the f*ck out too easily - something I’m going to prove tonight by continuing from where I left off with Danielle…”

Ladies lock eyes on the center of the platform, both eager to back up their words there and then, powerful limbs bulging and twitching, just rearing to go, but holding themselves back for later. Maddie doesn’t like those comments from Kelli one bit, has her brows narrowed and her lips twisted in a sneer. Berglund is still unaffected, glaring at her back with an intensity that borders on criminal.

The ring officials get through the photo op and poses quickly, signaling them back to their respective teams and backstage for their final prep. For now, we’re left to wonder what their eventual clash is going to be like, with the Dollhouse corner specifically the Queens of Absolution starlet has a prime candidate for a comeback, and Maddie’s advantages on full display: a three-inch height advantage and seven times the amount of wins. It should be enough, will it be enough, though?

Hours later, both fighters are all geared up and ready to leap in from opposite corners of the ring. We’ve got Maddie Ziegler in the Dollhouse corner, flanked by both big boss Electra and coach Loken , giving her some last minute advice with teammates Jessica Chastain and Lauren Mayberry sitting in the front row looking excited to see their stablemate in action tonight. Maddie is decked out in a turquoise sports bra and short white tights, her currently brown hair pulled back in a sleek tight ponytail and she’s wearing white gloves for tonight’s contest. In the opposite corner, we’ve got a potential stable war brewing with the Queens Kat McNamara and Bridget Satterlee glaring their counterparts down, and channeling their own energies into Kelli Berglund, who’s looking ready and willing to tear into the Doll. Kelli is wearing a black sports bra and purple short trunks, black boxing gloves, her blonde hair tied in a bun.

Referee gets the cue to start this contest ASAP, and with a wave of his hand, HERE WE GO with ten rounds of Flyweight action!

ROUND 1:
Maddie doesn't seem to think much of her opponent’s skills, and it shows early. The Doll hounds her rival from the very start, bounding inwards and pummeling shots to her arms and sides, before attempting to take her head off with wild swings to her head. Kelli left grunting and groaning to begin, her arms working overtime to contain the taller girl’s aggression, while Maddie is channeling her fire after that unfortunate defeat last month. The Doll scores some nice spanks off the tummy, forcing Kelli to back away and regroup, but those upper headshots aren’t doing enough damage as she’d like, with Berglund even evading some of them with a swerve of her upper torso, before responding late in the second minute with a nasty hook of her own across Maddie’s face, drawing an instant reaction from the crowds. If Ziegler ain’t careful in there, she might find herself on the receiving end of another upset, but for now, she still pushes in, determined to prove her worth in the final seconds with a constant thump thump THUMP of her fists off the forearms and body. Berglund has OTHER ideas, though, picking up the pattern and beginning to WHIP the Doll’s face from side to side, in jaw-dropping, head-turning action, with Maddie leaving herself wide open after each mad foray into her space. Berglund steals the round by a hair by the time the bell rings, sporting a cocky smirk on her face as she heads back to her corner, having staved off the Doll’s assault, and then some!

ROUND 2:
Bad tidings for Miss Ziegler if she’s starting this fight on the wrong foot. Aggression hasn’t suited the disciplined counter-fighter in the past, and it’s no different this time, having more of her big swings either evaded or absorbed by the stockier Berglund, who sees each hook or overhand coming from a mile away. Berglund continues to show the Doll how it’s done, plugging leather back into her lips and nose, those return slabs of heavy gloves bashing into her face, pushing her backwards a couple of steps, before Maddie growls and grunts, then throws herself back into the fray, stubbornly. It’s not working, and she needs to realize that fact sooner rather than later! By the third minute, it’s a little too late, with Maddie sporting a pinkish glow upon her cheeks, but staying away from the smirking Queen. The two ladies continue to circle and scratch at each other’s periphery, but those jabs from Ziegler ain’t gonna turn the tide so easily. Bell rings, and it’s a worse round for the Dollhouse superstar, with Maddie’s corner growing desperate and doing their best to offer sound advice.

ROUND 3:
Loads of movement from Ziegler to kick off the third, and for a while, it works, with Maddie falling back on her jab-and-move tactics to hound and harass the Queen. Kelli has a harder time of keeping up with her younger foe, mainly blocking as much as she can but powerless to stop the combos from sinking in from all directions, with Maddie one moment slamming a hard left into her side before tagging her up high to the forehead with a one-two follow-up combo. Kelli keeps her patience, however, slowly advancing several steps at a time, and Maddie doesn’t realize she’s getting cornered until it’s too late, swerving desperately to the side and down to avoid a sudden overhand from the Queen, but Berglund’s follow-up swing sails in the other way, which TAGS her on the side of the head!! OUCH! Ziegler has nowhere to run, getting blown into the ropes all of a sudden, now forced to cover up and groan as Kelli gets herself in there, plugging gloves into her paunch, then GOING TO TOWN on her arms! Trouble in paradise for Miss Ziegler, as she takes a rocking hook across the jawline, already hanging wide open from an earlier slug to the waistline, which sends her FLYING off her feet and DOWN TO THE CANVAS! It’s an early KNOCKDOWN for the Queens of Absolution starlet!!

Holy--! Dollhouse corner is up in arms, banging the apron and shouting for Maddie to shake it off and get the f*ck back up! If only it were this simple?! Fortunes don’t bode well here but at least Ziegler is beginning to rise, her head hung in shock but her legs and arms moving on auto-pilot, pushing her aching frame slowly back up. Meanwhile, Kelli Berglund is absolutely not hiding her glee any longer, having roared to the audience and marched straight to the neutral corner to kick-start the referee’s count. This will mark THREE rounds of consecutive domination for the Queen, and she has NO reason to stop this momentum going into the rest of this fight!

Maddie recovers by the count of 8, and nods to the referee that she’s ready to continue. There’s another minute left on the clock, however, and she finds herself in perhaps the most precarious position ever in her fledgling career! Bell rings to resume the round and HERE BERGLUND COMES, roaring in with her dukes up and immediately going back to those wild, ape-sh*t swings, determined to put the Doll away! Maddie’s holding on, however, quickly moves to the side to evade, and this newfound attention to her footwork is going to save her ass, with Kelli having to expend her own energy to keep up! Berglund chases her down as best she can, of course, banging away at her arms and sides, but at the final bell, Ziegler is still standing! A BIG round and bigger fight for the Queen thus far, with Ziegler being reduced to heavy panting and shakes of her head on her way back to her corner!

ROUND 4:
It’s now or nothing, and both Kelli and Maddie know this. A fourth loss in a row might be the final nail in the coffin for Maddie Ziegler, who’s now switched 180 degrees about and refocuses on her defenses instead of any wild rushes into enemy territory. She keeps her distance, jabbing at Kelli’s face only where convenient, her quick attacks shoved into the cheek or snapping the Queen’s head back whenever Berglund tries to rush her down and finish the job. It works… with Kelli’s own stamina taking a toll after three rounds of pushing and pushing, Berglund trying to circumvent the Doll’s longer reach advantage and speed, to little success. Each time she tries to barrel in and bash away at the body and arms, Maddie is there (well, not there anymore), scooting away and then tagging her on the nose and lips with that lead left jab. Berglund scores several surprise lunges off the Doll’s tummy throughout the three minutes, but they don’t hurt or stun Ziegler enough to keep her down for long. Bell rings, and the Doll has won her first ever round of this fight - it’s a small but crucial victory for her own confidence. But the road is long and she’ll have to slog it out over the course of the following rounds if she wants to make up for the shortfall…

ROUND 5:
Maddie continues her ascent, keeping calm and letting Kelli make those unforced errors, Berglund doing her best to knock her out but Maddie responding to those head swings with short and snappy punts to her nose, scoring points aplenty in the very first round. Berglund finally gets the memo afterwards, rubbing her nose and growling at a safe distance, but still playing the aggressor as she comes in, a little more slowly than usual, but still wanting to brawl. The brunette Queen resorts to lunging for her tummy once more, drawing low grunts from Ziegler’s lips as several take her by surprise, but after that first uppercut to the body, Maddie’s bracing herself faster and better, able to take the blows without too much damage scored. Instead, she’s making Kelli pay with one-two-three swift combos that stun her back to the face, overall dominating the round after a freefall scare of the first three. Good round to the Dollhouse Flyweight, who looks set on making up the difference.

ROUND 6:
Must be frustrating to see her lead slowly evaporating in the wind, with all those gains from the first rounds running away with every snap punch landed to her face. The arms in Kelli’s defenses are beginning to show, and for all her punching power, it’s getting harder for her attacks to land on Ziegler, much less try and overpower her like their last encounters. Maddie’s staying spritely on her feet, dodging and flying away at the first sign of trouble. It’s keeping her safe and out of reach for now, and better, allowing her to use her reach to tag her opponent all over: several hits stun the Queen to the chin, before a couple more poke her to her body to really highlight how far she’s fallen. By the third minute, she’s in a completely different state to how she started this fight, backing away and breathing hard, looking hurt after a big right cross smashed into her nostrils just moments earlier. Maddie staying methodical, coming in slow and steady with more punches in bunches, slowly dismantling the rest of Kelli’s resolve before swooping in for the kill. A sudden overhand NAILS the Queen off the forehead, throwing her faculties into disarray… Berglund stumbles against the ropes with a loud groan, before trying to steady herself and fend off the flurry that’s sure to come. Ziegler POUNCES, gnashing her teeth and wailing away at her undercarriage, before planting her feet firmly in the ground and letting those nasty hooks LOOSE across the arms, BLASTING her foe to oblivion!! Kelli holds on for only a couple of seconds more before she takes a swiveling shot across the chin, which SPINS her about, spittle flying up into the air!! DOWN SHE GOES, her eyes glazed over, mouth-guard spat from her mouth, before hitting the canvas face down and unmoving!! It’s a HUGE turnaround for the Dollhouse superstar and a well-deserved KO6 victory when the referee immediately WAVES the rest of the fight off! It’s OVER!

Official Result: Maddie Ziegler defeats Kelli Berglund via KO6!

AFTER:
More-than-polite applause as Maddie circles the ring in the immediate aftermath, looking a little smug after some pundits simply wrote her chances off after the first three rounds and that unfortunate knockdown she suffered early tonight. But here the Doll is, standing tall, looking partially grateful for her corner mates who stuck by her to the end!

She circles back to her corner, high-fiving her teammates, a wide smile on her face as she acknowledges her screaming fans. Tonight’s bumpy road against Berglund has shown the young Dollhouse prospect still has plenty to learn but Ziegler’s natural talent and determination to be the best might be enough to overcome these bumps in the road all the way to that elusive Flyweight title belt. After all, the 20 year old was already touted by Carmen Electra herself as the biggest natural talent ever signed to the Dollhouse’s flyweight roster.

Exiting the ring, Maddie gets stopped by the press outside the ring, with one reporter asking her about those first 3 rounds: “Kelli is better than I gave her credit for, and that’s on me. I started the fight too focused on my offense and on trying to win…and she made me pay for that. I guess I was surprised by how good she was for someone with only 2 wins...Coach Loken was pretty furious with me after the knockdown and I have to thank her for waking me the f*ck up.” She giggles. “I got back to fighting smart after that and focused on my strong points - movement and counterpunches. I think Kelli didn’t expect that and didn’t know how to adjust…From then I only needed 3 rounds to end it. Which is encouraging!” Maddie smiles. “Not my best performance ever…but I won, so….I’m happy I managed to bounce back from a bad start and take over the fight. I’m pretty tough.”

Ziegler smiling big at the cameras as she poses for the press with her hands on her hips, waving to her fans before finally exiting the arena to loud cheers throughout as the young starlet celebrates her 20th FCBA win tonight, with hopefully many more to come!.