Bellator 135: Warren vs. Galvao

Joe Warren (12-3-0) vs. Marcos Galvao (16-6-0)

Joe Warren will look to defend his Bantamweight Title when he takes on Marcos Galvao, winner of his past three fights, on March 27th at WinStar World Casino in Oklahoma.

Warren kicked off his career as a NCAA and USA star in the wrestling game and then translated that over to an impressive showing in the Bellator association. He has fought there since early 2010 and has held both the Featherweight and Bantamweight titles. He currently has the formerly mentioned belt after rattling off wins in each of his past five fights. He became the interim bantamweight champion when he defeated Rafael Silva back in April and claimed the title of undisputed champion after his five-round unanimous decision when facing Eduardo Dantas at Bellator 128. Marcos Galvao is also a former featherweight fighter who has been in his current division since 2011 and earned the nickname “Loro,” which translates to blonde in Portuguese with his often dyed hair. He has a third-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has used that to win six of his past seven fights. He did fight once for the Bantamweight title, losing to Eduardo Dantas in early 2013 and has not taken a defeat since. His last time out came against Thomas Vasquez and he went the full three rounds before winning by unanimous decision. Galvao is six years younger than his opponent in this one, but it may be tough to get by the strategic efforts of the current belt-holder.

Warren has been fighting at a tremendous level of late and seems unbeatable with three victories in his last five coming by way of decision, the other two coming by a submission (modified keylock) and knockout with knees and punches. He typically is not much of a submission fighter with his recent one being the only of his career in his six attempts (17%). Instead he likes to get his opponents on the mat and he has done so successfully in 54-of-81 attempts (67%) over his career. While on the ground he’s been able to land 62% of his strikes. With just three of his 12 career wins coming by a knockout it is no surprise that he lands just 54% of his significant strikes. In his last match against Dantas, Warren was able to handle a plethora of hard hits to his head and hold on through the five rounds to become the undisputed champion and first cross-weight champion in Bellator. His biggest asset is being able to last through a barrage of strikes and wear down his opponents before dominating the final few rounds.

“Loro” has only four knockouts in his 16 career victories, but two of those have come in his most recent three-match winning streak as he dropped both Shely Santana and Tom McKenna via punch. He is precise with his style, getting his takedowns in 20-of-26 attempts (77%) and landing 70% of strikes when in that position. He won’t put any fear into his opposition in terms of submissions, though; as he has attempted seven in his career while failing to successfully complete any of them. If Warren can continue to show impressive athletic performances he may be able to easily defend his title as Galvao has only landed 47% of his career significant strikes. Neither fighter here has an innate ability to take down his opponent via knockout, so there is a very good chance that this fight goes the full five rounds and at that point it will come down to which fighter was able to land the most significant strikes.