Pat "Tigers love pepper, they hate cinnamon" Burns def. Jason Healy
The first round between senior captain Burns and junior Healy was relatively slow. Each wanted to be patient and pick and choose their spots carefully. With both adopting low, wide stances, neither could attack well enough to knock the other off-balance.
At the outset of the second, Healy landed a solid left, and then a few strong body shots as Burns covered. After a stoppage, Burns came out strong and landed a solid right hook to end the round.
In the third, the tempo moved up a notch. With each fighter sensing that he needed to distance himself on the scorecard, the two broke out of the rigidity of their styles. After two good 1-2 combos with a quick right and a swooping right, Burns landed one more heavy right to the head and Healy went down. At that point, Burns celebrated the fight as his and did indeed win in a unanimous decision.
John "Papi" Tchoula def. Luke Scullion
Before the opening bell, it was clear the junior Tchoula would need to overcome a distinct disadvantage in height and reach in order to top Scullion, an MBA student.
By staying low and in close, Tchoula effectively nullified Scullion's advantage and quickly took over the fight. Tchoula was on the offensive nearly the entire fight, and Scullion's only option was to try to counter in the few instances in which Tchoula left himself unsteady after an attack. Although Scullion made several impressive counterattacks and even made it appear that he would make a comeback, Tchoula never really lost control and continued to work the body and occasionally go after the head with reaching jabs. Tchoula advanced to the finals via a unanimous decision.
