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Southpaw Halo: A Gritty MMA Coach-Fighter Romance
Paperback
Series: Bare Knuckle Hearts: An Mma Sports Romance, Book 2
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jan 31 2026
Pages: 318
Weight: 0.63
Height: 0.79 Width: 5.00 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
She's a southpaw with a chip on her shoulder. He's the coach who refuses to save anyone from the cage he barely escaped.
Zara Ortiz is done bleeding in basements for dirty money. The southpaw featherweight has six weeks to turn herself into a real contender-or get dragged back into the underground promotion that's been owning her contracts and threatening her family. Her last shot is Iron Halo MMA...and the infuriating striking coach who wants nothing to do with Pit girls and lost causes.
Cal used to live under bright lights and title banners. Now he runs a clean gym with two rules on the whiteboard: no dating fighters, and no ties to the underground. Zara breaks both from the moment she stalks through his doors-southpaw stance, battered gym bag, and a past that looks a lot like the one that almost killed him.
He tells her she doesn't belong at his level.
She tells him she's not asking for permission.
One trial week turns into full fight camp as Cal discovers Zara isn't just wild power and bad habits. She's timing, grit, and the kind of heart you can't teach. Pad sessions turn into late-night strategy talks. Clinch drills feel a little too much like dancing. And every time he adjusts her stance-fingers at her hip, breath warm at her ear-their no-dating rule frays another inch.
But the underground doesn't give up its favorites quietly. When Zara's old promoter starts sending threats, one last bonus fight becomes a brutal trap that could end more than her career. To get her into a sanctioned cage and out of the shadows for good, Cal will have to face his own ghosts...and decide whether protecting her means keeping his distance, or finally stepping into her corner for real.
Each Bare Knuckle Hearts book stands alone with a guaranteed HEA, but the emotional payoff is biggest if you start with Iron Jaw and read in order.
Readers search for: MMA romance, fighter romance, sports romance MMA, gym romance, coach and fighter romance, grumpy sunshine sports romance, underground fighting romance, found family romance series, closed door sports romance, slow burn MMA love story, strong heroine romance, protective coach romance, contemporary romance fightersAlso from
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