· Warren Looking To Take Galvao’s Heart At Bellator 41

· Article author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Posted on 04/15 at 02:46 PM

Marking the promotion’s first visit to the state, Bellator 41 is set for April 16 at Cocopah Resort and Casino in Yuma, Ariz. The card offers two non-title “super fights” and two featherweight tournament semifinal matches. Four local feature fights round out the prelims. The event airs live at 9 p.m. ET on MTV2.

In the headlining bout, Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Warren (6-1) makes his first return to the cage since capturing the belt from Joe Soto in September 2010. The self-proclaimed "Baddest Man on the Planet" takes on WEC veteran and Ring of Combat featherweight champion, BJJ black belt Marcos "Louro" Galvao (9-3-1), in a 137-pound catchweight match that pits two of the sport’s elite grapplers in a three round war that may very well end up remaining on the feet.

Currently in training to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics, Warren sees little difficulty in facing Galvao. “Marcos Galvao has trained with a lot of great fighters, and he's fought a lot of great fighters too. I'm not taking him lightly for one second. I'm going to take his heart and beat the hell out of him. This guy's in serious trouble,” he stated.

Galvao looks to add to his current three-fight win streak as he makes his promotional debut. He last fought under the Ring of Combat banner in December where he successfully defended his belt against Ryan Vaccaro, winning via unanimous decision. Finding himself the underdog in this fight, Galvao intends to shock the world—if only to teach the Bellator champion some respect. “Of course I don't know Joe Warren personally, but from what I've seen of him on television, I think he needs to be a little more humble. I definitely think he should respect other athletes more than he does,” he remarked.

In the co-main event, Bellator Bantamweight Champion Zach "Fun Size" Makovsky (12-2) meets a formidable challenge in the undefeated Chad "Robo" Robichaux (11-0) in another non-title affair. Winning the first-ever Bellator bantamweight championship in October of 2010—in a five round unanimous decision win against Ed West—Makovsky went six for six in that calendar year.

In his first fight since then, the champion is willing to take the battle to Robichaux, a submission specialist, wherever necessary. “I want to challenge myself. I feel like adversity brings the best out of me and makes me better. I'm always looking for new challenges and I'm glad that Chad [Robichaux] is going to bring something different to the table than the last couple opponents that I fought. I want to be seen as well rounded. The kind of fighter that can deal with any opponent in any situation,” said Makovsky.

Robichaux last competed in August of 2010 when he made his Strikeforce debut, picking up the split decision victory against Humberto DeLeon—in Robichaux’s only fight that year. He admits that he see a hole in the champion’s game which he hopes to exploit it. “I'm not relying on going out there and submitting Zack in the first round, but I'm definitely going to be pushing to finish this fight from the opening bell. Getting a decision is never my plan. I'm going to be pushing to finish Zack every second that I'm in the cage with him.”

In the featherweight semifinals, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (15-1) and Wilson Reis (12-2) square off in a sequel to their first meeting in the featherweight tournament semifinals of last year. That May, at Bellator 18, Freire walked away with the the unanimous decision, only to fall to Joe Warren in the finals. With a rematch with Warren as the ultimate goal, Freire is fighting his friend for the second time and remains focused on the present, “I'm always confident every time I fight, but the fact that I beat Wilson [Reis] before doesn't affect me either way. That fight is in the past. I see Wilson as a new fighter now.”

For Wilson, friendship and fighting are not mutually exclusive, especially when the prize is the championship title. “Patricio and I are both chasing the same dream so we know that there's not going to be any friendship inside of the cage on Saturday night. We're going to touch gloves and then we're both going to try to get where we need to go. But after the fight, we're still going to be friends. I like Patricio a lot.”

In the second featherweight semifinals match Daniel Straus (15-3) rides an 11-fight win streak into his contest with Team Bombsquad fighter Kenny "The Tooth Fairy" Foster (9-2). Strauss last fought at Bellator 37 where he defeated Nazareno Malegarie via unanimous decision. He’s not looking for the same result here, “With this fight being so close to the finals, I definitely want to finish him as soon as I can. If I can go out there and finish Kenny quickly, that would be great."

Foster’s most recent outing, also at Bellator 37, resulted in a guillotine submission win over Eric Larkin. For his part, he concurs with Strauss in aiming for an early night. “Daniel Straus is seasoned and tough, and he definitely has a lot more experience than Eric Larkin did, so I'm going to be prepared for a three round battle. At the same time, I'm going to be looking to finish this fight early. I want to just completely overwhelm him. I'm just going to keep trying to finish, finish, finish - and I think eventually my strength and power is just going to overwhelm him.”

The weigh-in and pre-fight press conference for Bellator 41 will take place April 15 at 8 p.m. ET at the Pearl Room inside the Cocopah Resort and Casino. The entire weigh-in/pre-fight press conference will stream live at Bellator.com.