Bellator Fighting Championships 51
Sept. 24, 2011
Canton Civic Center
Canton, Ohio
A bronze medalist in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Vila made his presence felt, not with a double-leg takedown but with a horrific left hook in the most significant bout of his MMA career. The 40-year-old late-bloomer knocked out Warren, the brash Bellator featherweight champion, in the promotion’s 135-pound tournament. The carnage started with an overhand right mere seconds into the match, as Vila clipped the surging Warren. Rattled, he turned and retreated, but Vila gave chase with heavy leather. When Warren returned fire, the Cuban defector landed a crushing left hook that rendered the 2008 Greco-Roman wrestling world champion unconscious before he hit the canvas. When Warren landed, his head whipped violently off the floor. It was over in just 64 seconds.
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