SAN FRANCISCO - Unless I miss my guess, the writers of the Audience Network's "Kingdom" had at least an inkling that the third season was going to be the last when they sat down to craft new episodes of the gritty MMA drama, premiering Wednesday. The first two episodes of the season carefully set us up for things to come to a head for the members of the Kulina family and other denizens of the Navy Street MMA.

In a way, Alvey (Frank Grillo), his sons Jay (Jonathan Tucker) and Nate (Nick Jonas), fellow MMA fighter Ryan Wheeler (Matt Lauria), and other characters have been trying to beat the clock from the start of the series in 2014. The ticking grows louder for all of them this season.

The premise of the series, created by Byron Balasco, is that fighters can't quit the game, but MMA fighting isn't a profession that will lead you to retirement at a ripe old age. Alvey isn't an old man, but his body is old and as battered as his psyche. He runs the gym but longs to get back in the ring, in spite of the fact most fighters are half his age.

Ryan, the ex-con with the "Destroyer" tattoo stretched across his chest, is younger, but trying to hold on to his career. He's counting on Lisa Prince (Kiele Sanchez) to get him a lucrative contract. Lisa is Ryan's ex-fiancee and now managing Navy Street and living with Alvey. She and Alvey are struggling to keep the gym afloat while dealing with the death of their son.

Nate has his own demons. He's the youngest of the clan, but after struggling with his sexuality, he's accepted that he's gay. He has a boyfriend, but that doesn't mean he's out. As much of a cliché as it may seem, regardless of the fact that it's the 21st century and Nate lives in Venice, Calif., the MMA game is not keen on LGBT diversity. His brother knows Nate is gay, but Alvey doesn't. He can't go on keeping his sexuality a secret, especially because MMA is a small world.

Jay is out of the game and missing it. He's trying to sell real estate and live what he thinks is a normal life, staying away from fighting and drugs, raising his infant daughter as a single dad after his girlfriend's death. But he's wound so tight, we know he's going to pop at some point. Kirk Acevedo joins the cast in a recurring role as a former fighter who gets hired as a coach at the gym, but clearly, he's harboring secrets of his own.

"Kingdom" would be a perfect fit for, say, VH1 if it were only about MMA, but of course, it's always been more than that. The show has been and remains a superb character-driven drama. The series has its bad guys, chief among them rival MMA kingpin Gero Kassabian (Bryan Callan), but the real demons are internal in each of the major characters.

As brutal as these guys are in the MMA ring, as much punishment as they inflict and receive, they are each terrified in his own way outside the ring. And that's where the real fighting takes place, and it's the fight of their respective lives.

"Kingdom" follows in the tradition of great fight films like "Raging Bull," "Somebody Up There Likes Me" and "Rocky." Three seasons aren't enough, but at least "Kingdom" isn't going down without a fight.