Woodshed Wallace is equally at home in the grittiest alleys and brightest MMA cages of Las Vegas, but none of that prepares him for the war that awaits him in Rio de Janeiro. Woody is in Brazil to reunite with his past flame Marcela and the Arcoverde clan and to fight in Banzai Eddie Takanori's first international Warrior Inc. event. Marcela and the Arcoverdes do their best to let Woody focus on the fight, but his instincts are too sharp. The family is in trouble. Carrasco, crime lord of the notorious, sprawling Rio slum Axila da Serpente, has taken a liking to Marcela. Carrasco believes he is the embodiment of an Exu, a spirit driven by lust, vice, and crime, and the spirit has demanded ownership of Marcela. Under the burning MMA spotlights and within the brutal labyrinths of Rio's slums, Woody must realize what he cherishes most--and what he must fight for--before it is gone forever.