Lôro with Ring of Combat belt won in December 2010

Keeping with the theme of dubious judges’ decisions stirred up by Thursday’s under-65-kg division final at the World Pro in Abu Dhabi (read both sides here and here), similar protests arose regarding the Marcos “Lôro” Galvão-Joe Warren superfight at the Bellator 41 show held last night in Yuma, Arizona. The general consensus on message boards and blogs from pundits and fans alike is that the Brazilian won the first two rounds and the third went to the Greco-Roman wrestling world champion – but in the end it was the Team Quest representative whose hand was raised. However, while the 30-year-old veteran from team Nova União says he is outraged at the treatment he received at the hands of the judges, he is also taking the setback as added motivation for his second-coming in the big leagues since exiting Shooto and the WEC two years ago.

“I was robbed!” said the Nova União fighter over the Nextel radio the day after being handed the controversial decision. “I beat him up in rounds one and two. He won the third, but there’s no way he took rounds one and two,” he said, accepting that the fight wasn’t a complete washout to his opponent, before launching into the substance of his complaint.

Lôro is no stranger to decisions, but what he says bugs him about this one is incoherence in the criteria with which the fight was scored: “I won that fight any way you look at it; but if they thought he (Warren) won, then he could only have won on takedowns, because that’s the only thing he managed to do,” he explained. “But in the first round I beat him in everything, especially takedowns. So how could one of them give him all three rounds?” referring to Chuck Wolf’s scorecard, reading 30-27 for Warren. But however indignant the Jiu-Jitsu and MMA teacher at Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro’s New York academy said he was, as soon as his grievances had been voiced, the anger was swiftly turned into cheerful optimism.

“Now I feel even more motivated to train. I know I fought well in that fight; I fought the 145-lb GP champion and should have won. The Bellator guys said I fought well, so now I want to be in the 135-lb GP so I can beat Joe Warren again, but this time I’ll finish him off,” he said, adding, “I said I was going to shock everyone before the fight. Now I’m really going to shock them. I’m going to win it all.”

Patrício / Photo: Carlos Ozório

There was plenty of action on display in the black cage that was stage to the 41st Bellator event, in Yuma, Arizona, this Saturday.

The featherweight GP semifinals featured an all-Brazilian bout between Patrício “Pitbull” Freire and Wilson Reis – a rematch of the 2010 semifinal won by the former via unanimous decision. The fight seemed destined to end in the same fashion when Pitbull launch an onslaught of strikes that put out Reis’s lights 3:29 into the third round. Now Patrício faces Daniel Straus in the GP final, for a grand total of 100 thousand dollars in prize money from the tournament and a shot at current champion Joe Warren’s belt.

“I’m the kind of fighter who likes being complete, I’ll fight in whatever situation they put me in,” said Pitbull.

Ring of Combat champion Marcos “Lôro” Galvão was another Brazilian with a Jiu-Jitsu background in action, facing Bellator featherweight GP champion Joe Warren at a catch-weight fight meant to prepare Warren for an eventual go at the bantaweight GP, too. After three hard-fought rounds, the judges handed the win to the Bellator champion, in what has come to be seen as a controversial decision.

(Collaborator Junior Samurai)

Check out the results:

Bellator 41
Arizona, USA
April 16, 2011

Joe Warren defeated Marcos Loro via unanimous decision

Zach Makovsky defeated Chad Robichaux via technical knockout in R3

Featherweight GP semifinal

Patricio Freire knocked out Wilson Reis in R3
Daniel Straus submitted Kenny Foster via guillotine in R3

Brendan Tierney submitted Dano Moore via armbar in R1

Anthony Birchak submitted Tyler Bialecki via arm triangle in R1

Nick Piedmont defeated Michael Parker via split decision

Carlos Flores defeated Rudy Aguilar via technical knockout in R1

Patrício. Foto: Carlos Ozório

O Bellator 41 rolou neste sábado, no Cocopah Resort and Casino em Yuma, Arizona, Estados Unidos, e não faltou emoção no torneio do cage negro.

Pela semifinal do GP dos penas, o duelo tupiniquim contou com o potiguar Patrício Pitbull e Wilson Reis, que já se enfrentaram na semifinal do GP de 2010, vencida pelo primeiro por decisão unânime. Dessa vez o duelo permanecia parelho e caminhava para ser decidido novamente nas papeletas, quando, no terceiro giro, Pitbull acertou uma sequência de golpes nocauteou Wilson Reis aos três minutos e 29 segundos. Agora Patrício encara Daniel Straus na final do GP, que premiará o vencedor com 100 mil dólares, além da oportunidade de disputar o título da categoria contra o campeão Joe Warren.

“Sou um lutador que gosta de ser completo, a situação que me colocarem estarei lutando” disse Pitbull

Marcos Loro também esteve em ação, enfrentando o campeão dos penas Joe Warren em luta não válida pelo título da categoria. Depois de três rounds bem movimentados, onde travaram uma verdadeira batalha, o americano ficou com a preferência dos jurados, vencendo por decisão unânime. O resultado quebra uma sequência de três vitórias do faixa-preta da Nova União.

(Colaborou Junior Samurai)

Confira os resultados:

Bellator 41
Arizona, Estados Unidos
16 de abril de 2011

Joe Warren venceu Marcos Loro por decisão unânime
Zach Makovsky venceu Chad Robichaux por nocaute técnico no 3R

Semifinal GP dos penas
Patricio Freire nocauteou Wilson Reis no 3R
Daniel Straus finalizou Kenny Foster com uma guilhotina no 3R

Brendan Tierney finalizou Dano Moore com um arm-lock no 1R
Anthony Birchak finalizou Tyler Bialecki com um triângulo de mão no 1R
Nick Piedmont venceu Michael Parker por decisão dividida
Carlos Flores venceu Rudy Aguilar por nocaute técnico no 1R

Loro with his Ring of Combat featherweight belt / Photo: John Tabor

Sure he spent years as a top-ranked bantamweight and can even boast of being one of UFC champion José Aldo’s first teachers, but Marcos “Lôro” Galvão knows he’ll have his work cut out for him when he faces Joe Warren in the Bellator 41 main event this Saturday in Yuma, Arizona. That’s why it was so startling to hear him say he’s taking the fight so seriously he’s “taken a three-month vacation.”

Odd as it sounded, Lôro wasn’t kidding. But neither was he overlooking the dangers inherent in facing a world champion wrestler like Warren – one who barged onto the MMA scene emphatically, taking out former WEC champion Chase Beebe and all-time great Kid Yamamoto in his first two outings and going on to wrecking-ball his way through the Bellator Featherweight GP. It just means Loro’s fighting career had taken a back seat to his teaching career – and that the fans can look forward to a great fight come Saturday night, with two virtuosos in their respective martial arts likely to put on a great main event.

The three featherweights: Lôro, José Aldo, and Marlon Sandro / Photo: John Tabor

It wasn’t long ago that Loro was at the pinnacle of the world MMA ranks. Before the WEC became the premier lighter-fighter promotion, the standout Jiu-Jitsu black belt (among numerous achievements in the gentle art, he once won successive world championships as a blue belt and a brown belt, skipping purple belt altogether) was a fixture atop the World Shooto bantamweight rankings, beating top-tier fighters of the time like Kenji Osawa and Fredson Paixão. Then, two WEC losses sandwiched around a draw in a Shooto World title challenge set him back in his bid to become the world’s number one bantamweight. After the disappointing end to his WEC tenure came the switch to teaching mode, move to New York, and three-fight unbeaten run as a featherweight.

Lôro and his mentor, "Dedé" Pederneiras / Photo: John Tabor

“I feel so much better at this weight,” he said, shortly after winning the Ring of Combat featherweight title in December of last year. “I feel so much stronger, and I train a lot better.” Now being so pleased with the results obtained at his new weight, it would go to figure he’d be somewhat put off at having to face the champion of his new division at his new event but at a catch-weight closer to the one he just vacated. But Lôro’s chipper about the situation and happy he’s getting his shot:

“It’s a great opportunity for me. I don’t care that it’s not for the belt; I’m going to fight a champion in the main event and the event will be broadcast live on MTV2. I couldn’t ask for more,” he said. “He wanted this fight at a 137-lb catch-weight because he’s going to move down to try and win the bantamweight division, too. That’s fine, I can make bantamweight again. Here in America I learned the science behind making weight – it’s not so hard for me anymore,” he said, hinting at further changes since moving to North America.

Lôro grapples with Shaolin. Photo: Luca Atalla.

Now in New York, where when not on vacation he teaches Jiu-Jitsu and MMA full time at Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro’s Manhattan academy, he no longer trains regularly with the fierce Nova União outfit where he used to spar daily with the UFC’s José Aldo and Renan Barão, former Sengoku champ Marlon Sandro, and seasoned strikers like Johnny Eduardo; but that doesn’t mean the level he trains at has dropped off any: “I train MMA with the Millers and their guys,” he said, referring to Jim Miller, who is now at the top of the stacked UFC lightweight food chain, and his brother Dan Miller, who just went the distance with the dreaded Nate Marquardt as a late replacement at UFC 128. “They’re so strong it’s unbelievable. They’re technical too, but they’re just ridiculously strong,” he said of his new workout partners, when asked whether he would be ready for the kind of strength a world champion wrestler like Warren brings to the table; then explaining what is different for him now that he is in the States:“Those guys know how to train smart: I’ve learned how to train just enough not to overtrain, how to eat just enough not to go hungry and still make weight, and how to make the weight cut without suffering so much. People here have it down to a science.”

The Millers' and Shaolin's crews united / Photo: personal archives

But all the changes in approach and life he mentions urge the question: is there anything left of the methods that got him to the top of the Shooto rankings and into the WEC as a contender, during the previous incarnation of his career? The answer came as little wonder, given how the only man to stop Warren to date hails from Lôro’s hometown of Manaus and has the same martial arts background: “I’m still training Jiu-Jitsu. Bibiano (Fernandes) beat him – why can’t I?”

The other question begging to be asked we’ll just hang on to for if and when it happens: if he successfully puts the brakes on Warren’s dominant run in Bellator, will he take a real vacation?