Olympic judo competitor Rick Hawn and former welterweight champion Lyman Good met in the evening’s closest contested fight. For three rounds these two went back and forth, as Hawn appeared the aggressor, while Good landed the cleaner counter punches.

Neither man found himself in danger of being stopped, and for the most part the two negated each other’s technical strengths. Though Good seemed the more proficient striker, Hawn’s constant aggression left a positive impression on the judges, who awarded him the split decision victory. With the win (which could have honestly gone either way, as I personally scored the bout in favor of Good, two rounds to one), Rick Hawn advances to the welterweight tournament final.

In the promotions 39th main event, lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez ventured to the cage with the hopes of defending his title against season two tournament winner Pat Curran. The champ wasted absolutely no time in determining himself as the aggressor, dictating the pace from the jump. Utilizing excellent head movement and enough lateral footwork to leave a man dizzy, Alvarez was in and out, landing punches and escaping before eating many counters.

To Curran’s credit, he not only stayed in the pocket, but showed some great fortitude and solid defense, never allowing Alvarez to hurt him with strikes upstairs. Where Curran did look susceptible however, was the body. Time and again Eddie landed brutal one-two combinations to the body of Curran; they were the clear damage makers. While Alvarez couldn’t turn out the lights of the challenger, he certainly delivered plenty of pain to his midsection.

After five rounds of precision striking and elusive movement, Eddie had his hand raised with a unanimous decision victory. The verdict was an obvious one, however one judged awarded the challenger a round, which was the biggest mystery of the bout/outcome; Pat Curran by no means won a single round. It bore no effect on the outcome of the fight, but for a judge to award Curran even a single round after being dominated for 25 minutes is puzzling.