After Jerome tapped and Markus pulled Hank off of him, the room was silent. Almost everyone was shocked by the suddenness and ferocity of the submission.

“After watching the first few minutes, you could clearly see who has an advantage. I never thought the grappling would be even more one-sided.” Jackson said.

“That’s actually a pretty common thought. That size and strength mean more when grappling. It's hard to say if it is true. I don’t think so. When evenly matched in strength, the learning curve for grappling is high.” Lily looked over to Jerome in his corner before continuing. “We have a minute break before we start the next round. Jackson, what do you think we will see in the second round?”

“I think it all depends on Hank. He is in the driver's seat, and I don’t see that changing much. If he wants to do the same thing, then he will.”

The crowd was still in shock. They didn’t seem bored, but it couldn’t have been that exciting, Sevs thought. Maybe it would be different for someone not familiar with fighting.

Hank had no one in his corner, so he was free to look around. The crowd was silent. There was only the occasional muttering. Considering them, Hank nodded and seemed to come to a decision.

When the next round began, Hank didn’t start with feeling out, nor did he come out swinging like the previous round. Jerome bounced in front of him back and forth a few times before taking a swing. To Jerome's credit, that punch was technically better than in the first round. It seemed that he had been listening to Hank’s advice. Hank’s patience had run out, though. Like a snake, he slipped around the swing, and with some fancy footwork, he ended up right behind Jerome. In a flash, he had one arm around Jerome’s throat. With his hand tucked against his own neck, tilting his head, levering the choke closed. This left his other hand free. He used his free hand to wave to the crowd as he kicked the back of Jerome’s leg, driving him to his knees.

Jerome started tapping after resisting for a couple of seconds. Markus didn’t even have to move before Hank released him, and he collapsed. Grunting, Jerome rolled over. The crowd was totally silent.

Hank looked over and winked at Sevs before turning to the crowd.

“Enjoying yourself yet?” Hank asked in a casual tone. Someone from the front row gave out a little cheer.

Sevs turned to see Jackson. He looked pale. “I didn’t think it would be that easy for him. That was savage, not like the first round.”

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“Hank got tired of playing around,” Lily stated. The crowd murmured at that. They hadn’t exactly lost interest. However, the expectations changed from watching a fight to more awareness of the skill level. Sevs was satisfied. There were some fliers out front, and he wouldn’t be surprised to see many of these faces around next week.

The third round ended with a quick flurry of punches that left Jerome sprawled out on the canvas, wondering what had happened. Markus jumped in to stop the fight, but it wasn’t necessary. As Jerome lay there. Hank went down to one knee next to his head and said something to him, and Markus checked him over. After a second, Jerome said something back. They went back and forth a couple times. The crowd was not paying much attention as they were listening to Lily and Jackson’s breakdown of the fight. So only Sevs noticed the exchange at first. Eventually, Jerome said something that made Hank laugh. It looked to Sevs as if Jerome chuckled weakly too. It always amazed him, seeing how young men could fight one minute and then go grab a beer the next.

Almost everyone had missed that little exchange. However, when Markus stepped back, Hank reached down and hauled Jerome to his feet. That caught more people's attention. When Hank lifted Jerome’s arm in the air, that drew a lot of applause.

Right as the cheers hit their peak, Henry appeared behind Hank with a mic. “I’m here with the winner, Hank. Hank, that was a complete master class. I got to ask about what that was all about. Were you not at each other's throats for a long time? What was with that show of support for Jerome?”

Hank responded. “Yeah, we have had our differences. But. But people change. There is no better way to get to know a man than to fight them and get their measure. I think it was time we buried the hatchet, and he agreed. I also have committed to help him learn some of this, which I am looking forward to. It takes a lot of courage to come out here and fight in front of all these people. It is dangerous and really hard, so you have to respect that. For his experience, he put up a tough fight.”

“You say it was a tough fight, but it really wasn’t, was it? At no point did it look like you were in anything other than complete control.”

“For someone who has never trained in a real way, he did quite well. He picked up moves quickly and could set his ego aside to listen to me mid-fight. That is not something I think I could do myself.”

“As you say, Hank. Thank you for the excellent performance. I wish you good luck in your next fight. Hank Crassus, Everyone!”

Hank got a cheer before hopping out of the ring.

Sevs and the commentary team signed off. As they did, he gave a quick plug for the gym and a thank you for letting them host the event here. Once that was done, people started trickling out.

In an attempt to relax, Sevs leaned back in his chair with a deep breath. Things had gone rather well, honestly. He had expected something to go wrong, at least.

As people left, many came up to Sevs and congratulated him on such a fun event. Many made him promise they would be invited if he ever did something like it again. By the time most people left besides the ones helping clean up Hank came over to Sevs. “Quite a successful recruitment drive, eh?”