Joe Warren is as separated from reality as his leg nearly was from his body on Friday night at the WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma. Warren lost his Bellator bantamweight title via verbal submission to Marcos Galvao in the main event of Bellator 135.
He cried foul, but his argument has no merit. Sherdog.com noted Galvao’s win:
After a first round that saw Warren control the action with his wrestling, Galvao turned the champion’s aggression against him. Warren took Galvao’s back from a standing position, but Galvao countered by changing levels and grabbing his opponent’s legs.
Galvao obtained a knee bar that Warren couldn’t escape. Once the Brazilian put all of his strength into the hold and the grip forced Warren to scream out in pain, referee John McCarthy immediately stepped in to call a halt to the bout.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is not the World Wrestling Federation where faux submission holds can be held while the victim dramatically screams and musters up the intestinal fortitude to break the hold.
In mixed martial arts, bones break and ligaments tear. The unified MMA rules posted by ABCBoxing.com define a verbal tapout as follows:
“When a contestant verbally announces to the referee that he or she does not wish to continue or makes audible sounds such as screams indicating pain or discomfort.”
It can’t get much more black and white than that. Instead of accepting the defeat graciously, Warren stormed around the cage and cried…literally about what he deemed an injustice.
The truth of the matter is, McCarthy saved Warren from a serious injury that would have still led to him losing his title, but it also would have put him on the shelf for an extended time. At age 38, that could have been the end of his career. Perhaps when he calms down he’ll be happy McCarthy made the right decision.
MMA Roasted and fellow fighter Angela Hill poked fun at Warren’s submission and meltdown:
This was the much-anticipated rematch after Warren controversially won the first meeting in April 2011. The loss ended Warren’s five-fight win streak. Galvao has now captured his first world title with his fourth consecutive victory. This seems like a rivalry that will almost certainly have a third chapter.
Here’s a breakdown of all the results from the evening’s card:
Armbar Beginning
Things got underway with a very neat armbar finish from George Pacurariu over J.P. Cole. The stoppage took place in the very first round as Pacurariu‘s striking led Cole to clinch.
Pacurariu took the opportunity to take his opponent to the mat. He quickly cinched in the submission to earn the win. Caposa has the tweet and GIF (above) that shows Pacurariu executing the textbook judo throw.
Another First-Round Finish
Klayton Mai didn’t mask his intentions to take this fight to the ground. He mixed in jabs to keep Xavier Siller honest, but ultimately Mai would grab the advantageous position on the mat.
With a little over a minute remaining in the first round, Mai took Siller‘s back and secured the finish via neck crank.
Omoplata!!!
This one at least made it to the second round. Brad Mitchell showed some toughness, but he was overmatched in every way by Stephen Banaszak.
In the second round, Banaszak set up his opponent with a well-placed kick to the face. Banaszak‘s attacks were daring and risky, but Mitchell was unable to make him pay for his gambles. Ultimately, Banaszak went for a flying triangle that he couldn’t finish, but he was able to transition into an omoplata…yes an omoplata for the finish.
Finally a Decision
Neal Ewing used elbows, punches and dominant ground position to dominate Logan Nail for three rounds. One judge awarded Nail a round, but this one seemed to clearly favor Ewing in lopsided fashion. Zane Simon of Bloody Elbow endorses Ewing’s journey toward bigger and better things in MMA.
Another Dominant Performance
Tim Roman couldn’t prevent Sean Holden from taking him to the mat for three whole rounds. The only drama in this bout was whether Holden would be able to secure the finish as he periodically had chances to pound Roman out on the ground. He couldn’t put a period on the sentence.
Nonetheless, Holden was awarded the complete sweep from the judges.
Too Little, Too Late
After being handled through the first two rounds, Alejandro Villalobos caught a break when Emmanuel Sanchez gambled with a spinning back kick. Villalobos eluded him and took his opponent to the mat.
Villalobos saw that he wouldn’t get the stoppage on the ground, so he allowed Sanchez up. The two began a furious exchange that saw Villalobos get the better of the skirmish. He landed two shots that dropped his opponent.
With just under a minute remaining, Villalobos mounted Sanchez’s back, but he didn’t have enough time to finish. He simply waited too long to come on strong.
Somehow one judge scored the final round for Sanchez, but the other two accurately called it two rounds to one in favor of Sanchez.
Coulter Overpowers O’Neal
It took less than two minutes for the big and powerful Rashad Coulter to overpower Jeremiah O’Neal. Coulter landed a hard knee and a series of punches to finish his overmatched opponent. Quite honestly, O’Neal didn’t even look as if he should have been in the cage with Coulter.
Couture Too Slick for Cochrane
The moment Dakota Cochrane engaged Ryan Couture on the fence in the first round, it was all downhill. Cochrane was the one pursuing the takedown from the outset, but that was a bad idea. Couture scrambled away from Cochrane‘s first attempt to gain the advantage on the ground, but Cochrane was persistent. He’d drop levels again, but Couture countered and took his opponent’s back.
The son of the legendary Randy Couture sunk in both hooks and turned Cochrane belly up with a tight rear-naked choke that ended the fight. Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting notes Ryan’s record:
Carmont Survives Viana
Francis Carmont is lucky Guilherme Viana‘s Brazilian jiu-jitsu looked a bit rusty on Friday night. Viana had been preparing primarily to box Carmont, but he wasn’t able to gain the advantage he expected in the stand-up game.
Carmont‘s jab and overhand right scored regularly through the first two rounds. Viana was nearly stopped in the second round as Carmont stunned him with a huge right hand. The Brazilian survived and decided to change his approach in the final round.
In the third, Viana took the fight to the ground and nearly submitted Carmont via rear-naked choke, but he couldn’t get his arm under the chin to finish. Carmont took the unanimous decision, but he had some anxious moments in the final round. FRBShow.com pointed out Carmont’s ability to “control his opponent,” thus giving him an advantage in getting the win:
What a Fight!
Bellator MMA’s Matt Marsden clearly enjoyed the L.C. Davis and Hideo Tokoro fight:
Davis won a split decision over Tokoro, but it was anything but easy. Tokoro brought the traditional and daring Japanese style into the cage, and he had his moments against Davis. As a fan, this was one of the more entertaining fights I’ve seen all year.
Tokoro attempted to catch Davis sleeping in the opening seconds, and he attempted a flying knee. Davis was able to block the attack, but it served notice as to what type of fight this one would be.
Davis controlled tempo with takedowns and by controlling the center of the cage. In the second round, Davis seemed to badly hurt Tokoro with a right hand against the cage, but the American couldn’t secure the finish. Tokoro quickly recovered and attacked Davis’ leg looking for the submission.
Davis would wiggle out, but he caught a nasty up-kick during the scramble that caved in the lower row of his teeth. It was nasty.
You couldn’t see the damage until the fight concluded, but Davis showed toughness finishing the fight in that condition.
Tokoro went hard after the submission in the third round but couldn’t finish any of the submissions he attempted.
Davis earned the win and may be in position to challenge Galvao for the Bellator bantamweight title in the near future. Tokoro was so entertaining in defeat, it would be a shame if he doesn’t get another chance to thrill the Bellator crowd.
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