Release the Kraken!

Brute Baynard vs Zach Reno, Pros in Private 13 (BG East)

Until I saw it, I didn't believe Zach Reno could hold his own against Brute Baynard. We're looking at a 90-pound weight difference here. Zach would have to bind an adult hyena to his back to match Brute in weight … and temperament. I had an extremely brief interchange with Brute two years ago, and instinctively kept my distance. The man is a live wire. Zach, by contrast, looks like the handsome and good-natured neighbor in a 90s romcom. So let me plant this image in your head: Paul Rudd versus Thanos.

Keeping up with the reversals in the first part of this match is like watching the blades of a fan in motion. I exaggerate, but the give and take here is on speed. Zach slows Brute by choking him in headlocks and torpedoing his full weight into Baynard's seemingly invincible muscle. It looks like a losing proposition, but this Zach is positive thinking plus ginormous nuts. With his curly dark hair and beard, Reno could play Perseus in a Clash of the Titans  re-remake. Then Baynard could be a Kraken with sex appeal.

That curly hair becomes the focus of baldy Brute's rage and the target of his assaults. Usually I don't think of burly he-men as hair-pullers, especially when they are taking on a smaller adversary. Though he has played the underdog in the past, Zach is nothing like that here. He seems entirely convinced that he has the advantage over Brute. I've never seen him exhibit this much vigor and self-confidence. The clash of attitudes in this contest is three-quarters of its brilliance.

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