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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Bellator 41 took place on Saturday night in the Arizona heat outdoors at the Cocopah Resort and Casino in Yuma, Ariz., and in the night's main event, Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Warren once again needed a comeback victory, though this time he was helped by the judges.
Taking on Marcos Galvao, Warren was most assuredly down two rounds to none heading into the third round, where he took Galvao down and worked effectively enough to take the final frame. But after getting numerous takedowns stuffed and taking a high level of blows from Galvao in their 137 lb. catchweight "superfight," it looked like Warren would lose for the first time in the Bellator cage.
The judges had something else to say about that, handing down scores of 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28, all in favor of the Champion.
The night's other non-title "superfight" saw Bellator Bantamweight Champion Zack Makovsky earn the first knockout win of his career over Chad Robichaux. Both fighters were looking for submissions early and often, but in the third round, Makovsky took Robichaux out with a series of strikes.
The season four Bellator Featherweight Tournament finals are now set, and for the second time Patricio "Pitbull" Freire has advanced to the finals of a Bellator tournament. In a rematch of the season two featherweight tournament semifinals, Freire took on Wilson Reis. After two fairly even rounds, Freire and Reis began trading punches in the third. That was a mistake for Reis, as Freire battered him with pinpoint strikes, finally knocking him out with a vicious combination against the cage.
A third stoppage on the card saw Daniel Strauss lock on a fight-ending guillotine choke on Kenny Foster in the third round of their fight, sending Strauss to the finals to meet Freire. Their season four finals bout will take place later this season.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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