The schedule for the fights, and who would be going up against who, hadn't been planned out in advance. Everything about the matchups was intentionally unpredictable. It had been organized in this particular way so that no one, not the spectators, not the fighters, not even the staff, could know what the odds of any fight would be until the faces appeared on the screen.
The randomness built anticipation. It forced fairness, in a strange, chaotic way. And above all, it limited the time people had to think, which was exactly what the event creators wanted. Less thinking meant more emotion. More emotion meant more betting.
This uncertainty didn't just keep the crowd on edge, it rattled the fighters too. All they could rely on was the single massive screen positioned just above the sunken arena. It was placed high enough that every seat on the rooftop could see it clearly.
Everyone waited. And then, suddenly, two faces flashed onto the screen, photos taken beforehand, side-by-side.
