Darrion Caldwell choked out Joe Warren (Photo/Bellator)The former Wolfpack mat champ earned a technical submission by rear-naked choke of Warren at 3:23 of the first round of their bantamweight (135-pound) main-event bout.
"A former two-division Bellator champion, Warren was a non-factor," according to Brian Knapp of Sherdog.com. "Caldwell executed a pair of takedowns and a spectacular belly-to-back suplex, sandwiching ground-and-pound between the techniques. The 28-year-old advanced to Warren's back with little resistance, slipped in the choke and waited for referee Dan Miragliotta to intervene."
"Darrion Caldwell wanted to make a statement Friday at Bellator 151, and boy, he did exactly that," wrote Shaun Al-Shatti of MMAfighting.com. "The former NCAA champion put on a flawless performance against the toughest test of his career, manhandling Joe Warren before putting the former two-division beltholder to sleep with an early rear-naked choke."
With the win, Caldwell remains undefeated, with a 6-0 record in Bellator, and 9-0 overall. In the meantime, Warren drops to 11-4 in Bellator, and 13-5 in his MMA career.
Earlier in the evening, Bubba Jenkins, the former Penn State wrestler who completed his collegiate mat career with the Sun Devils, was awarded the win over Yamauchi, with judges' scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 29-27 in their 145-pound bout.
"Fellow former NCAA champion Bubba Jenkins fell back on his bread-and-butter wrestling to survive the submission attack of Goiti Yamauchi and win a battle between two of Bellator's brightest featherweight prospects via unanimous decision," MMAfighting.com reported.
"Yamauchi had his counterpart under duress throughout the first round, as he climbed to the decorated American wrestler's back in a standing position and hunted rear-naked chokes," according to Sherdog.com. "Jenkins survived the exchanges and pushed the fight deeper, finding more favorable conditions as the minutes passed. He struck for takedowns in the second and third rounds, paired a suffocating top game with ground-and-pound and avoided Yamauchi's armbar and triangle attempts from the bottom."
With his third straight win, Bubba Jenkins is now 8-2 in Bellator bouts, and 11-2 overall, while Yamauchi, who had a three-match win streak snapped by Jenkins, falls to 5-2 in Bellator, and 19-3 in his MMA career.
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