The biggest target.

[Ulf Hednir]

Norway
01 March 2021

Ulf sat on a bench, dressed in exercising clothes branded by one of his sponsors for MMA, with the IWF World Television Championship held in his arms; the light reflected off the gold and illuminated back onto the face, almost blinding him, but he did not squint. He seemed to search it… was it enough? For now… he thought. For now, jeg er de IWF World Television Champion, og jeg er happy with it. But de IWF WORLD Championship… Ulf raised his eyes, and stared in front. He gritted his teeth, and nodded his head. He knew his goal. He knew the opportunity in front of him to get him there. Det is de goal! Det is de dream!

Ulf slung the championship over his shoulder, and stood up to face the camera… the background behind him seemed like a home gym setup inside of a vacant garage. There was a safety mat that covered the entirety of the floor, and the metal garage door appeared to be fully barred off indicating that the room was used for nothing else. Ulf adjusted the championship on his shoulder before speaking.

“Dette skulderen…” Ulf shrugged the shoulder up with the IWF World Television Championship sitting, “Det er full,” he looked over at his other shoulder, and shrugged it, “But denne… det er ganske (quite) empty.” Ulf brought his full attention back to the IWF camera before him, “Der is room for another championship på denne skulderen! Det is de IWF World Championship--” Ulf sniffles, and sits back down on the bench, putting his free arm down on his knee as the other one kept the championship propped up, “Det is sitting pretty rundt de waist of Warren Kane… Jeg never did tell du congratulations, Warren, but ja! Congratulations on din victory at Danger Zone!” Ulf raised his hand up but kept his fist balled into a fist, “Skål!”

Ulf brought his hand back down to his knee, and smiled, “As jeg say… disse skulderen, disse shoulder, is quite empty. Quite lonely. Og jeg ville love to put de IWF World Championship on it, whilst still wearing de IWF World Television Championship on denne en!” Ulf chuckled, “Og så… perhaps… jeg vil find min selv a partner to go after de IWF World Tag Team Championships, og carry tre!”

A second chuckle escaped Ulf, and he just waved his hand as if to dismiss the idea of carrying three championships… Hvorfor ikke? he thought to himself, Hvis noen… meg. he continued in thought, but he shook his head again to dismiss it. He had to focus on one thing… well… really, two things: defending his current championship, and winning the Roulette to become the number one contender for the IWF World Championship.

“Alle. Everybody. Går into de Roulette. Dette is arguably de toughest match det any IWF superstar kan ever step into! De IWF World Championship could change hands, en, two, tre, fire (four), or even fem (five) times a year! But de Roulette… EN. EN person per year! Dette is something det jeg need, something det ville stand ute as en of de biggest accomplishments any of us could ever attain. De potential… de shot… at becoming de IWF World Champion is just icing on de cake! Det is hva de people er looking forward to doing by winning de Roulette… og… det is a good mindset to have. Jeg kan ikke blame dem for having det in mind. If dere er not going after de IWF World Championship, da (then) hva er du doing here?”

“De question det must be answered is hva er my odds over anybody else det is on de roster? Hva is going to set me apart from anybody else det is going ute to de ring? Vel, for starters, jeg er de IWF World Television Champion,” Ulf said, while raising his shoulder to highlight the championship, “For det andre, as jeg said… most of disse people er looking at de Roulette as a stepping stone. De er getting ahead of dem selv! Jeg. Look. At. De Roulette… for hva it is. De Roulette! Det is hva is in front of meg! De IWF World Championship: not guaranteed. De Roulette! Is! Guaranteed! Og det is why jeg ville gå ute to de Roulette with en goal,” Ulf, with his arm at his midsection, raises one finger up, “... en agenda! Eliminate as many people as jeg kan. Vinne. De Roulette. Send a message to de back. Put everybody on notice! Jeg er kommer to VINNE de Roulette! Og nothing vil stop meg.”

Ulf pauses momentarily. The words that escaped from him were words of encouragement, because he knew that he was fully capable… and ready… to walk into the Roulette, eliminate anyone that got in his path, and walk out as the winner. The fire was there. The determination was there. But who else shared that same fire?

“Jeg get it. Alle oss, alle oss have det attitude! Have det drive! Have det belief! Det vi kan alle gå ute as de vinner of de Roulette… but how many of us can back it up? Der is no denying det de skill of everybody is there. Der is no denying det anybody could, in reality, vinne. It is hard to prepare for such a contest. But since jeg returned: jeg ha backed min selv up! Jeg ha backed up de words det escaped! Jeg ha proven it! De Roulette… all of dere vil se. Jeg er going to be de biggest threat, de biggest problem, og ha de biggest target on min back. Og jeg velkomme it. Skål!”

“Pappa!” a shrill, excited voice could be heard from off the camera; Ulf set his title down on the bench, and knelt down in front of the bench with his arms stretched out, and in ran a little girl into Ulf’s arms, and he wrapped his arms around her, embracing her in a hug.