Below The Belt Vol. 1 – The Breaking Point

This is the first episode in the feature series, Below the Belt. Two mixed martial arts fighters discover that sometimes your toughest opponent is the man in your mirror. Dimitri and Guillaume are ambitious up and coming fighters with their eyes on the championship. The biggest thing standing in their way may be their love for each other.

Both being trained by the same manager, Bastian Karim, the two men are thrown together as sparring partners. They grow to be good friends and that friendship blossoms into love. The problem is that they are coming from very different places. Guillaume is a gay man, comfortable with his desires and identity. Retreating to the closet is simply a price he will pay to pursue fame and accolades as a champion fighter. Meeting Dimitri seems like an answer to his prayers. They are well known as good friends and no one will suspect if their friendship runs far deeper.

Dimitri is a closeted bisexual, unhappily married to a woman, caught in a spiral of guilt and self-hate. He promises to himself that he will be a faithful heterosexual husband, until his desire for men gets the best of him. He goes out prowling parks and alleys looking for anonymous sex with strangers. Guillaume is the first man he ever loved. His feelings frighten him, and threaten to upend everything, leaving him trapped… or finally free.

Bastian overhears the two men talking in the locker room. Guillaume suggests that maybe they could get together later. Dimitri tells him that they have to stop before walking out. Bastian comes in to find his fighter slumped on a changing bench, potentially broken. He goes to the hurting man to offer him any comfort he can. The two men share a long, sweet, passionate encounter. Things are better for the moment but Bastian knows that, if he wants his men in fighting form, something must be done to tame their desires.