How do you write an equally matched fight that transitions to a fly swatting?
First post here. Just be aware this would be my first attempt writing ANYTHING, so any and ALL advice on anything I mention is welcome, but obviously theres this specific thing im unsure about.
So, ive always had a range of characters ive liked that ive created. Two of them, named Finnegan Mandoza and Alex Fuller, are the two ive developed the furthest in lore, background, personality, etc, and conveniently, ive been trying to write a fight between the two, a "world cup" kinda thing, as they are the two strongest in the story (I have ZERO intention of making anyone stronger, as balancing is frustrating...). Obviously I can go in depth about powers and such if required, but ill go over the particular power, and the quirk of it, thats causing me the dilemma.
Alex is a super-genius. Not original, I know, but by GOD is it so fun to play with. His main strength comes from a nanobot weave(?) In his skin, making him a stone-wall style character, insane durability and mildly enhanced strength, though its not his main shtick. The drawback of this is that he can only take so much beating before these nanobots begin to fail, which I intend to show by pulling attention to the first drawing of blood from him. Issue is, once this happens, he gets progressively weaker, turning the fight from a solid match to being unbelievably unfair, as his (at this point) broken tech and durability was his ace, and without it, hes just a normal dude.
So I ask, how do I make this transition more seamless? How do I write it so it doesnt seem like a cop out excuse to choose a winner, how do I make it so it doesnt seem like im unnescarily nerfing him?
Again, open to all advice, but mostly looking for help for this specific issue