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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Marcos Galvao put in a valiant effort on Saturday night against Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Warren, winning the fight in the eyes of most all watching, save for the three that determined the outcome of the fight in the judges.
Though he lost the decision, he has been given a consolation prize with a spot in the next Bellator bantamweight tournament. Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney confirmed that consideration in comments made to MMAJunkie.com.
Rebney agreed that the 30-27 score handed down in Warren's favor was "completely out of line," but also tried to quell talk of a fix with the assertion made by all promoters in situations like these.
"The commissions and judges that oversee our events are appointed by the state or by the tribal nation that we work with," he said. "We don't control them. Sometimes they do an amazing job, and sometimes they don't. But they're human beings, and our sport remains comparatively new when you compare it to boxing and other combat sports."
"We've seen it across all promotions. There isn't a group of highly qualified professional judges in mixed martial arts. It's not because people don't want to be good or don't care but because MMA is relatively new. I'm not the first person to say it, and I don't think it's defamatory toward judges. We need to strive to get people who want to judge mixed martial arts better education."
There's no definitive word on when the next Bellator bantamweight tournament will take place, though it could come in this year's fifth season.
Penick's Analysis: With him already being under contract with Bellator with taking this fight against Warren, Galvao will at least be guaranteed a number of fights and a chance to make a lot of money during the next bantamweight tourney. All it takes is winning his fights, and hoping he doesn't again get screwed by poor judging.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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