We’ve all had that same experience: you’re watching ‘Limitless’ on TV and see a Marcelo Garcia rashguard, and proceed to rewind five times to confirm it’s real. Or you’re watching an old Lethal Weapon movie and suddenly realize Mel Gibson threw on a triangle choke in that final fight scene. We all crave those rare showings of BJJ and MMA in TV shows, film or fiction.

The Combat Codes is a recently released sci-fi novel that satisfies those fight cravings. Written by Alexander Darwin, the Combat Codes takes place in a dystopian world where war has been replaced by MMA-style combat, and nations utilize their resources to train the best fighters within university-sized schools.

So far, the Combat Codes has received praise from the BJJ and MMA communities. Josh ‘Kintanon’ Wentworth recently wrote a glowing review of the book: “This is the story of a former fighter and his new protege and it has a distinctly Ender’s Game vibe to it… The pacing is flawless, the characters evoke rich emotion without being cliched, and the fight scenes are well written and walk that fine line between realistic and entertaining. My only problem was that by the end of the book I found myself annoyed that I couldn’t immediately read the sequel.”

The author, Alexander Darwin, is a BJJ brown belt under Roberto Maia, out of Boston Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. “There is a ton of great non-fiction out there, but as far as fiction with MMA or BJJ in it… it’s slim pickings. I wanted to write something that filled that niche for the fans,” said Darwin.

Though Darwin certainly used his technical knowledge to write the Combat Codes, he made sure the fight scenes were accurate by bringing on T.P. Grant of Bloodyelbow.com. “He went through the entire story and made sure I didn’t make any mistakes,” said Darwin. “I think it’s the first book to ever have a combat editor, and he certainly fixed up some spots, like I mixed up my darce and anaconda chokes at one point.”

The Combat Codes is the first of a series, and Darwin said he’s already started writing the second and third books. The paperback version of the book is currently available on Amazon, and the digital kindle version can be pre-ordered for release on January 8th.