No question, for a show outside of their “tentpole” events like Bellator 214 in Los Angeles next January, Bellator 210 was a deep card. How deep? Joe Warren was on the prelims. So was Joe Schilling, former title challenger Daniel Weichel, and Noad Lahat, who was last seen welcoming bantamweight champ Darrion Caldwell to featherweight. Plus Chris Honeycutt and Gerald Harris.

When you’ve got that much talent on the preliminary card you’re doing something right.

The main event, of course, featured Chidi Njokuani taking on John Salter in a striker vs. grappler affair. Before them, Brazil’s ‘Bomba’ would face an American Caveman in David Rickels. Kristina Williams was also back in action, set to take on Bruna Ellen.

Check out the Bellator 210 live stream below for all the preliminary card action, and check back for results throughout the evening in case you missed anything! The preliminary card kicks off at 6:45 PM ET

Bellator 210: Njokuani vs. Salter – Live Tonight on Paramount Network

Bellator 210: Njokuani vs. Salter Preliminary Card Results:

Costello van Steenis def. Chris Honeycutt by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Jordan Young def. Anthony Ruiz by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 3:48
Goiti Yamauchi def. Daniel Weichel by split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)
Joe Schilling def. Will Morris by TKO (corner stoppage), Round 1, 5:00
Shawn Bunch def. Joe Warren by verbal submission (punches), Round 1, 1:42
Mike Shipman def. Scott Futrell by submission (anaconda choke), Round 1, 2:58
Noad Lahat def. Brian Moore by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)

Dark Prelims

Daniel Carey vs. Adil Benjilany
Gerald Harris vs. Hracho Darpinyan
Rudy Schaffroth vs. Vernon Lewis

The post Bellator 210 Preliminary Card Live Stream and Results appeared first on Cageside Press.

Former two-division champion Joe Warren will return to action at Bellator 210 at the end of the month. A Bellator official confirmed Warren’s involvement with the card to Cageside Press, after the fighter himself revealed on social media that he’d be fighting at the show in Thackerville, OK. Warren previously held the bantamweight and featherweight titles in Bellator MMA.

Warren will reach the 20-fight milestone with Bellator thanks to the pairing, and has spent nearly his entire professional MMA career with the outfit. Warren (15-7) last fought at Bellator 195 in August. That night, ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ came out on the wrong end of a split decision against Joe Taimanglo. Warren has been trading wins and losses since unifying the interim and undisputed featherweight titles against Eduardo Dantas in 2014. His last win came against Steve Garcia in July 2017 at Bellator 181.

Shawn Bunch (7-3) started his career in Bellator, going 4-2 with the promotion. He has not fought under the Bellator MMA banner since since 2015, but will enter the fight against Warren on a three-fight win streak. Bunch, however, has been out of action over a year.

Bellator 210 takes place November 30 at the WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The main event features Chidi Njokuani taking on John Salter.

The post Joe Warren vs. Shawn Bunch Added to Bellator 210 Card appeared first on Cageside Press.

Olympian and former Bellator/WSOF combatant Alexis Vila has been jailed on some rather serious charges in Florida. Per a Miami-Dade County Inmate Information Record, Vila (fully, Alexis Vila-Perdomo) is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on charges including murder in the second degree, as well as a conspiracy charge. Jason Floyd of the MMA Report was among the first to report the news. Vila is currently being held without bond, and is listed as “hold for immigration” which generally means involvement from ICE.

Few additional details on Vila’s arrest are available at this time. The former fighter was booked back on April 17. A Miami-Dade police official declined comment to Cageside Press on Saturday and deferred to the Public Information Officer (PIO), who is only available during business hours.

Vila (15-7) won the bronze medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlantic. Competing for Cuba, he would later defect to the U.S. An incident in 2004 saw Vila crash his car into the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, resulting in a prison stretch. Upon his release he went pro in MMA, making stops in Bellator and WSOF among other promotions. Running up an eleven fight win streak to start his career, Vila defeated both Joe Warren and Marcos Galvao in the Bellator season five bantamweight tournament. Both fighters would go on to become Bellator champions. Vila was finally stopped by Eduardo Dantas in the final, and would lose once more in the promotion the following season before moving on.

From 2013 to 2014, Vila spent time in the WSOF, going 1-2 in the company. He was most recently seen competing at Titan FC 40 in 2016, picking up a win over Jorge Calvo. At the time, he spoke to MMA Fighting about resuming his MMA career at the age of 45.

Now 47, it appears Alexis Vila has far more serious concerns to contend with. We’ll update this story as it develops.

Update, April 24 2018 3PM ET: Miami-Dade PD’s Public Information Officer confirmed to Cageside Press that Vila was picked up on a sealed warrant. A copy of the document provides scare info, given it is a sealed warrant, but shows that the warrant was signed on April 17 and Vila was arrested later that night. His occupation is listed as fighter, “weapon seized” is marked in the negative.

The post Bellator, WSOF Veteran Alexis Vila Jailed on Multiple Charges appeared first on Cageside Press.

Former dual-weight class champion Joe Warren got back in the cage at Bellator 195 Friday in Thackerville, OK. Opposite him was a tough out in Joe Taimanglo, with the former champ was looking to overcome Taimanglo and make it two in a row in the 135lb division. The pairing served as the evening’s co-main event.

It was ‘Baby’ Joe Taimanglo coming out strong early and surprisingly taking Joe Warren down. Few saw that coming, but the greco-roman wrestler Warren quickly reversed and had Taimanglo in a headlock. Warren then began dictating the fight, stacking Taimanglo up against the cage. He was in control for a while, but Taimanglo would escape to the feet, and rock Warren with a punch. Warren recovered, and fired back, but was soon under heavy fire. Taimanglo was landing almost at will as Warren covered up; a takedown by Warren was easily shook off. Warren was hurt, and more than once recklessly rushed into harm’s way, only to eat heavy shots from Taimanglo. Yet at the end of the round it was Joe Warren scoring one last takedown and finishing the round in control.

In the second, Warren brought his wrestling early, but much of the action was on the feet. Joe Taimanglo continued to land some heavy shots, but had noticeably slowed. For better or worse, Warren was not willing to back off, even launching a number of flying knee attempts. Taimanglo was finding success with overhands, while Warren simply couldn’t find the much-needed takedown.

Taimanglo’s movement and jab were in play early in the third, as was a hard leg kick he landed on the former champ. Yet Warren scored a knockdown shortly after (if not a trip), and quickly got on top and went to work with ground and pound. Taimanglo found himself with Warren on his back from that point; Warren had a leg in, and briefly looked like he might have a shot at a rear-naked choke. Taimanglo exploded up however, and scored a takedown of his own. Warren gave up his back to get back to his feet, but Joe Taimanglo took him down once more. Taimanglo wasn’t able to do much with those takedowns, and Warren managed one last takedown of his own — right into a guillotine attempt! He pulled free, adding a final ground strike before the bell rang.

Joe Taimanglo def. Joe Warren by split decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)

The post Bellator 195 Results: Joe Taimanglo Takes Split Decision Over Former Champ Joe Warren appeared first on Cageside Press.

Bellator MMA returned to action Friday with its lone card from the month of March. Featuring a bantamweight title fight between Darrion Caldwell and Leandro Higo, Bellator 195 was set to be key for the 135lb division, especially given a co-main event featuring former two-weight class champion Joe Warren, looking to make it two in a row at bantamweight.

Aside from Caldwell and Warren, the card also featured an interesting women’s flyweight scrap between Emily Ducote, who challenged for the inaugural women’s 125lb title last year, and Kristina Williams. Just 1-0, Williams was green, but her stock was on the rise after she defeated Heather Hardy last October.

Preliminary action, meanwhile, kicked off at 7PM ET.

Check back come fight time, and you can catch the Bellator 195 live stream for the preliminary card right here on Cageside Press!

Bellator 195: Caldwell vs. Higo – Live Tonight 9/8c, on Paramount Network

Bellator 195 Preliminary Card Results:

Romero Cotton def. Justin Reeser by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 2, 4:35
Kevin Holland def. Teagan Dooley by submission (triangle choke), Round 1, 2:59
Aaron Webb def. Thomas Lopez by knockout, Round 1, 3:11
Fernando Gonzalez def. Armando Servin by submission (arm-bar), Round 1, 2:24
Daniel Carey def. Cris Williams by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Justin Patterson def. Brian Grinnell by TKO, Round 1, 4:49

Dark Bouts:

Treston Thomison vs. Jessie Vasquez
Andrew Parker vs. Will Florentino
Ky Bennett vs. Morgan Solis

The post Bellator 195 Preliminary Card Live Stream and Results appeared first on Cageside Press.

In Campos vs. Girtz 3, Brandon Girtz was looking to snap a two-fight skid, while Derek Campos was out for revenge after Girtz made short work of him in their second fight. The winner would be a step closer to the title shot in a division awaiting the rematch between Michael Chandler and new champ Brent Primus.

See below for full results and a main card recap!

Joe Warren vs. Steve Garcia

Former bantamweight and featherweight champ Joe Warren opened the main card action in a 135lb bout against up-and-comer Steve Garcia. Warren shot immediately, and whlie he didn’t land that takedown (and ate a punch for his efforts), his second shot resulted in him scooping Garcia up and slamming him down. You could feel that one.. From there, Warren worked within the closed guard of Garcia. The youngster found himself unable to work back up until around the two minute mark, but as he found his feet, Joe Warren found his back. In short, it was all Warren in round one.

In the second frame, Warren took less than thirty seconds to once again take Garcia’s back, showing the edge experience had over age. He then stacked his opponent up against the fence and controlled the action with his solid wrestling ability. That lasted all the way to the final thirty seconds, when Garcia got in on the action for the first time since round one and tried for a standing kirmura, later dropping to his back to try to finish it. He had neither the position nor the time, however, and the action would go to a third.

In the third, Garcia came out fast and hard, swinging and throwing a kneeing, briefly forcing Warren to retreat. However, he might have been a little over excited, and the end result was Garcia once again being planted on his back. Once again, it was all Warren from there, and it would go the distance.

Joe Warren def. Steve Garcia by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Jessica Middleton vs. Emily Ducote

Short notice replacement Jessica Middleton faced off against fellow flyweight Emily Ducote in the evening’s second bout. Both ladies exchanged early, with Middleton using her reach advantage well. Ducote switched tactics, and put pressure on Middleton alongside the fence, earning the takedown only to have Middleton quickly escape and look for the guillotine. It wasn’t happening, but Ducote went right back to work applying pressure and working her takedown game, capturing the first round by controlling the action.

In round two, Ducote scored another takedown early. She was able to pass to side control then into mount, but Middleton reversed and managed to get on top. She was able to ride out most of the round on top, fending off a Ducote arm-bar, but wasn’t able to do much in the way of damage. Going to the third, however, it was likely tied at one round a piece.

Ducote secured a takedown early in the third and moved to half guard, working to pass. She would again control the action, staying on top for several minutes before taking Middleton’s back. Once on the back she worked to slide her arm under Middleton’s chin, looking for the rear-naked choke. When she couldn’t land the choke, she transitioned to an arm-bar, but at that point, the round was up. Ultimately, the judges sided with Ducote.

Emily Ducote def. Jessica Middleton by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Kendall Grove vs. John Salter

Grove and Salter went through a feeling out period early, with Grove looking to judge distance with his jab, and throwing a head kick in for good measure. There wasn’t a lot of action in the first, and with a minute left in the round, Salter scored a takedown, which very easily could have secured him the round. He then took Grove’s back, landed a number of shots and looked to sink in the rear-naked choke. Grove went out, and Salter got the win!

John Salter def. Kendall Grove by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 4:37

Brandon Girtz vs. Derek Campos

The main event rubber match started with Campos holding the center of the cage, and both men putting everything behind their punches. Campos ate a hook coming in for an exchange, but landed a number of shots of his own. Early on, it felt like either man could land the finishing blow at any moment. Girtz landed a straight left and a liver kick that pushed Campos back. Girtz ate a shot of his own, then caught a kick and both men landed. It was starting to look like a spin cycle, then Girtz shot for a takedown after being opened up and bloodied by a knee earlier. They would stand and trade until the end of the round, with the doctor checking on Girtz’s cut between rounds, and letting the action go to the delight of the crowd.

In the second, Girtz was looking for a home run, loading his punches up. A right hook followed by a left rocked Campos mid-round, bu Campos came right back and clipped Girtz, stunning him as well. They’d survive, then exchange shots again and again, with both men connecting and Girtz adding in some kicks. Ref Big John stopped the action to have the doctor take another look, but again it was allowed to continue.

Going into the third, anticipation was high, and it was still anyone’s fight. However between rounds, the doctor took another look at Girtz, and waved off the bout, despite his willingness to continue. A rough way to end a great fight.

Derek Campos def. Brandon Girtz by TKO (doctor’s stoppage), Round 2, 5:00

Bellator 181: Campos vs. Girtz 3 Results:

Derek Campos def. Brandon Girtz by TKO (doctor’s stoppage), Round 2, 5:00
John Salter def. Kendall Grove by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 4:37
Emily Ducote def. Jessica Middleton by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Joe Warren def. Steve Garcia by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Preliminary card (Spike.com):

André Fialho def. A.J. Matthews by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Rafael Lovato Jr. def. Mike Rhodes by by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 1:59
Kate Collins def. Bruna Vargas by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Romero Cotton def. Aaron Rodriguez by split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)
Valentin Moldavsky def. Carl Seumanutafa by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Logan Storley def. Kemmyelle Haley by TKO, Round 1, 1:44

Preliminary Cards (Dark Matches)

Justin Lawrence def. Treston Thomison by TKO (doctor’s stoppage), Round 1, 3:34
Jordan Howard def. Johnny Marigo by KO (punch), Round 1, 1:26
Jonathan Gary def. William Florentino by unanimous decision
Amanda Bell def. Brittney Elkin by TKO (punches), Round 2, 4:56

The post Bellator 181: Campos vs. Girtz 3 Ends in Bloody Doctor’s Stoppage appeared first on Cageside Press.

Warren spoke to Cageside Press leading in to his bantamweight scrap with Garcia about Bellator coming of age, the fight Friday night, and more.

Warren, who has spent most of his MMA career in Bellator, was a person whose thoughts on the promotion’s big show (or shows, as they promoted it) in New York last month we certainly wanted to hear. So what was his appraisal of Bellator 180/NYC, and how things have changed for the company?

“I’ve been with Bellator, I’m part of the Bellator family since the first season. It’s an honor to see Bellator grow and be part of the family” he told us. “I remember Bellator fighting outside places and now we’re in Madison Square Garden, selling it out, having pay-per-views. Scott Coker, I’ve been part of both organizations, so like you know my step dad did a good job, but my new dad is getting the job done. He keeps raising the bar, moving the needle and its an honor to be a part of the organization still.”

It seems as if Bellator is at a turning point, getting close to being right there with the UFC, especially given some of the recent signings of late.

“I always said that this is where the cool kids fight. Been saying that for years” Warren said in regards to Bellator’s position in the MMA world. “The great thing about Bellator is they’re on Spike. Spike and Viacom, they are first class organizations and they have their eyes on the skies with Bellator. They’ve been moving that needle, they’ve been doing impressive things. That’s just a fun thing to be part of. You can definitely tell with that last fight you know, it took a step up, another step up, we moved another step up, it was a big PPV. It felt like a big show.”

“It was a definite turning point for Bellator and Spike. It shows that we can be a competitive PPV organization also.”

Prior to that event, Bellator MMA announced they had signed veteran play-by-play announcers Mauro Ranallo and Mike Goldberg, of Pride and UFC fame, respectively. Warren, who has done some commentary of his own, said of the moves that “I’m happy that Goldie is there, he brings so much credibility to the stage. Having Goldie and Chael [Sonnen] and these guys, it just brings the credibility of color commentating to the base, to Bellator.
They’re the best behind the mic that there is.”

Between fighter signings and personnel moves like Goldie and Ranallo, Bellator CEO Scott Coker has been making a lot of waves. So what has his impact been, in Warren’s approximation?

“Scott Coker brings credibility to Bellator’s image and brand” Warren suggested. “We have the best supporting cast there is, Viacom and Spike behind us. They go out and they get the best in the business, Scott Coker and say, ‘just move this needle, make sure Bellator is a big as you want it to be’ and they took off his handcuffs and he’s doing it.”

“Every fight gets bigger, every show gets a little more dramatic” he added. “We have new fighters joining the family every week, names that people are used to hearing, fights that people want to watch and Scott Coker brings that to the table. He brings the entertainment to the sport like they used to do in Japan. It’s more than just a sporting event, it’s entertainment.”

“I think we gained a lot of the credibility of the MMA world with having Scott Coker as the leader of our organization.”

Warren made his debut in the sport late, turning pro in 2009 after a storied career in wrestling, including gold in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2006 World Championships. Now forty, what keeps Joe Warren going?

For Warren, avoiding the injury bug, supporting his family, and competing in fights that mean something are key. “I believe after my last loss, we went back to the drawing board and said ‘how did this happen?'” Warren explained. “I’ve only been injured one time and that was last year; the Darrion Caldwell fight in the first round I dislocated my knee cap and tore my MCL. I couldn’t even stand up; you know that was an unpredictable thing. MMA is the most unpredictable thing in the world. You never know whats going to happen in there. That’s healed, everything’s fine. I won two fights, after that I got the opportunity to get that title fight. I was fighting a lot that year. What motivates me is my kids, I’m a family man and what I do, I take of them by beating peoples a***s in that Bellator cage. I’m not satisfied with just fighting in a cage, I want it to mean something.”

“I’m used to being at the top of the stage, it just motivated me that I’m a different fighter than I was before, re-energized, new techniques” he continued. “Like I said you’re only as good as your last fight and if you can evolve, and I can evolve. I’m a coachable athlete and we changed it up a little bit. It took some time and if you think you can run your mouth about my age you better watch your f***ing mouth, because this old man will come around the corner and beat your a**, and that’s whats going to happen this year. I’m focused on one thing, getting my belt back in Bellator and I’ve done this three times.”

“It’s a very comfortable situation for me. Not for a lot of other people, but I’m right back to where we started. I’m faster stronger and more violent than I’ve ever been” he added.

On the next page, we talk Bellator 181 opponent Steve Garcia, working the booth, avenging losses and more.

The post Bellator 181: Joe Warren — Faster, Stronger and More Violent appeared first on Cageside Press.