Flop Of The Month: Joe Warren At Bellator 41

It’s the end of the line, fans and friends. Now that I’ve talked about the best fights and the best fighter of April 2011, it’s time to focus on the worst part of the month. Not every MMA event can be spectacular, not all fights are “Fight of the Year” candidates. In “Flop of the Month”, I’ll look back on and discuss the biggest stumbling block of April 2011: not only why it failed, but why it was the most-important or most high-profile failure of the month. And it doesn’t get much worse than a loudmouth fighter talking a big game only to get served up a beating, and then winning a very controversial decision. Here’s why Joe Warren’s much-hyped Bantamweight “pre-debut” at Bellator 41 is April 2011’s “Flop of the Month”.

Before I begin, I think it’s important to note that this fight was contested at a 137-pound catchweight, meaning that this was Joe Warren’s way of testing the waters at Bantamweight without having to make the full cut to Bantamweight.

With that said, one of the main reasons Joe Warren takes this award is due to all the trash talk he did in the weeks/days leading up to this fight. I’ve said this before, but Joe Warren really does strike me as a smaller Josh Barnett. Both men are wrestling-based fighters with good punching power, and normally wrestlers don’t have too much personality. But both Barnett and Warren differentiate themselves with their bizarre pre-fight interviews.

In the past, Josh Barnett has talked about beheading his opponents and drinking their blood. Before his fight at Bellator 41, Warren also made some bizarre promises and generally talked a big game. In particular, the one thing that stands out to me is Warren’s reaction when he was asked if he was worried about the weight cut. Warren basically said that he wasn’t worried at all, and with his power and wrestling, he should be able to “throw guys around” at 135 very easily.

Warren’s opponent, Marcos Galvao, was a decision-heavy fighter with a successful Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background. Heading into Bellator 41, Galvao was on a three-fight win-streak. Galvao had competed in several high-profile promotions, having a good run in Shooto while also fighting a few times in the WEC. Much like Warren, Galvao would also be dropping down from Featherweight.

The fight began with something we all knew would happen: Warren almost immediately shot for the takedown. But then the unexpected happened: Warren actually couldn’t throw guys around at such a reduced weight. Some of his power was lost, or perhaps he had underestimated Marcos Galvao. Either way, Galvao repeatedly blocked virtually all of Warren’s takedowns.

Throughout the course of their three-round fight, Warren was plagued by several such problems. In the end, Bellator’s Featherweight Champion would win a Unanimous Decision. Almost immediately after this fight, a very vocal section of the fanbase claimed that Joe Warren was gifted a ridiculous decision. My initial reaction was that Warren’s win was justified, but after the hostile reaction that received, I have since re-watched this fight several times.

Here’s what I think: it was definitely close, and the judge that scored the fight 30-27 for Joe Warren was either blind, dumb, or asleep. If Marcos Galvao had won that fight, I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised. A lot of people believe that an injustice was done, and I have to say, fans and friends… part of me does now agree with them.

So, why is a fighter that won his fight being given the dubious “award” of “Flop of the Month”? It’s quite simple: Joe Warren said he would demolish people at Bantamweight. He talked about it for quite some time, and promised that he would both dominate and destroy Bellator’s Bantamweights. Instead, he had significant trouble at 137, so significant that this fight could be considered Warren’s poorest performance since getting submitted by Bibiano Fernandes in 2009.

Joe Warren didn’t just not live up to the hype, he fell far short of it, and in the process he shot himself in the foot while putting that foot in his mouth. And that’s why Joe Warren’s fight at Bellator 41 is April 2011’s “Flop of the Month”.

And what about you, fans and friends? Do you agree or disagree that this was the biggest flop of the month? And why or why not?