Joe Warren Proves Doubters Wrong Again

How Joe Warren continues to prove doubters wrong and why that might be a bad thing.

(Also at 411Mania.com)

I wanted Joe Warren to strongly consider retirement following his loss to Pat Curran in 2012. At the time was Warren 7-3, and lucky to be so, but had taken a lot of punishment to the head. In the Curran fight, he was knocked unconscious at least twice before the fight was stopped. In the fight prior against Alexis Vila, he was knocked out cold. He picked up controversial decision victories over “Kid” Yamamoto, Patricio Freire, and Marcos Galvao. In all three fights he took significant damage to the head and it looked like the Vila and Curran fights were a result of those shots catching up to him.

I was looking out for Warren. He was 35 at the time. He started MMA in 2009 and had years of Greco-Roman wrestling wear and tear on his body. He didn’t need to take all that punishment to the head at that age in that short amount of time. He had already accomplished more than most people thought he would in MMA, upsetting “Kid” Yamamoto and winning the Bellator featherweight title. 

Warren continued on though. He took eight months off and returned against Owen Evinger, picking a lackluster decision victory. It still seemed like a bad idea for Warren to continue on in MMA. But he did. And he dropped 10 pounds to move down to bantamweight. 

On one hand, it didn’t seem like a terrible idea. He would be bigger and stronger at the weight, allowing him to use his wrestling advantage. Guys also don’t hit quite as hard at bantamweight, lessening the damage Warren would take. On the other hand, Warren was now 36 years old and just a month shy of his 37th birthday. The older you get, the harder it is to cut the weight and the more it takes a toll on your body. 

The weight cut didn’t seem to hinder Warren too much as he submitted Nick Kirk in his bantamweight debut and then knocked out Travis Marx in his next fight. Kirk was an unknown and an expected win for Warren, but defeating a good fighter like Marx showed that maybe Warren had found new life at bantamweight. 

He followed up his victory over Marx with a five round decision victory over a solid Rafael Silva in a back and forth fight to win the Bellator interim bantamweight title. Warren had officially shut up guys like me who thought he should call it a career after losing to Curran. He re-invented himself at bantamweight and rattled off three straight victories, two coming against strong competition who both posed a threat to do even more damage to Warren’s suspect chin.

This past Friday, Warren was matched up against Eduardo Dantas to unify the Bellator bantamweight titles. While Marx and Silva were worthy opponents for Warren, Dantas was on an even higher level, especially in the striking department. 

“The Baddest Man on the Planet” proved himself once again, going 25-minutes with Dantas and winning a razor close decision to become the first ever two-weight Bellator champion. Warren took a lot of clean shots to the chin and head during the fight, but he managed to hang on and out-pace Dantas for the duration for the five rounds. 

Anytime Warren stays conscious in a fight, I consider it a victory. When he wins, that’s a victory that shows up in the record books. Since losing to Curran, Warren has done nothing but stay conscious and win. 

There aren’t that many good bantamweight’s outside of the UFC to challenge Warren for his new title. Maybe Bibiano Fernandes can be talked into finally making his return to the US, but I wouldn’t count on it and Marlon Moraes is currently under contract to World Series of Fighting. That leaves Warren left with rematches against Dantas and Silva and not much else. 

Joe Warren turns 38 at the end of the month. He’s not getting any younger and he’s really not getting any better. He still relies heavily on his world-class Greco-Roman wrestling and still offers up very little striking defense. Even though he’s only been knocked out twice in his MMA career, he’s still taken a lot of damage to the head in very few fights. 

But he keeps pressing forward, and for that I have to applaud him. Warren could’ve called it a career after he lost to Curran and no one would’ve blamed him. But he kept fighting and he kept winning. He surpassed all expectations when he entered MMA and he’s surpassed many expectations since losing the featherweight title.

I still worry about his long term health. Even though he’s not getting knocked out, he’s still getting hit in the head a lot. Warren seems like a smart guy. He knows his gimmick and he plays it well, but when he’s not being the “Baddest Man on the Planet” he comes off very intelligent and knowledgable. I would hate to see him start suffering the ill-effects of too many head shots in his 40’s because he hung around too long and kept competing when it wasn’t necessary. 

He’s proved just about every critic wrong. Unless he ends up in the UFC within the next year, there really isn’t anything else for him to prove in the sport. Randy Couture, BJ Penn, Dan Henderson, Joe Warren. Those are the only four names to win a major title in two different weight classes. That’s elite company for Mr. Warren. 

Things ended on a sad note for Couture and Penn while Henderson likely has one more chance to go out with a victory. Warren doesn’t need to hang it up right now, although what a way to go out if he did, but he does need to recognize how much damage he’s taken in a short amount of time and all in his late 30’s. 

I’m sorry I doubted Warren after the Curran fight. He proved me wrong. But one more knockout and I’ll be saying the same thing.