September 7, 2016 – Winter Park, Florida
Zack Sabre Jr. def. Noam Dar {Quarterfinal Match}
Sabre beat Dar in 15:46 with a modified Rings of Saturn. The story here was interesting, as Dar brutally went after the leg the whole match (a tactic that worked for him in his previous matches), but suddenly changed things up and went after the arm fifteen minutes in and got caught and defeated. I dug most of this, but Sabre’s lack of facial expressions when in submissions took me out of it, as he looked straight up bored at times. ***¾
TJ Perkins def. Rich Swann {Quarterfinal Match}
Perkins has dabbed way too much in this tournament. That taunt aged so poorly given the douchebags it became associated with. Swann’s dancing has been remarkably charming, however, mostly because he points out how stupid dabbing is. This was very exciting, and paid off leg work in an even more interesting way than they did in the match before this, like when Perkins got an anklelock when Swann was hopping up and down setting up for his finisher. That anklelock came back at 17:07 when Perkins tapped Swann to the move. In a cool touch, he immediately tended to his friend after the match. What a total antidote to Sabre’s lack of personality in the previous match. Perkins was so good in this tournament. ****