Joe Warren Looks to Make History at Bellator 118

By Adam Martin

Never before has a Bellator fighter won a title in two different weight classes, but this Friday night at Bellator 118, bantamweight Joe Warren can make history, albeit with an asterisk attached.

The former Division I wrestler at the University of Michigan takes on Rafael Silva in the main event, and the interim Bellator Bantamweight Championship is on the line. The interim

strap, which is obviously a promotional tool, is being introduced because Bellator Bantamweight Champion Eduardo Dantas pulled out of the fight last weekend with a head injury.

Although I do not agree with Bellator’s decision to introduce an interim title – especially since Dantas is expected to only miss one month of training, and is likely to return to the cage in the fall – I still believe that Warren winning a belt in two Bellator weight divisions is a significant feat, even if it’s an interim title.

Warren won his first Bellator title at Bellator 27 in 2010, when he knocked out Joe Soto to win the Bellator season two featherweight tournament and the inaugural belt. Although he did not defend the title — in 2011, he unsuccessfully attempted a run at 135 and was then brutally knocked out by Pat Curran in his 145-pound return – technically he was champion for one and a half years, which is one of the longer title reigns in Bellator history.

Last year, after Warren had coached on the first season of Fight Master, he once again tried his hand at 135. Unlike his first try in the weight class, which resulted in a brutal uppercut from the hands of Alexis Vila, this time he won the season nine bantamweight tournament, earning a crack at Dantas’ belt and a chance to win a Bellator belt in two separate weight classes.

Bellator has crowned 44 tournament champions so far in its five-year existence, and only three men have won two of those tournaments. They are Pat Curran, who won tournaments at 155 pounds and 145 pounds; Rick Hawn, who has won tournaments at 170 pounds and 155 pounds; and Warren, who has won tournaments at 145 pounds and 135 pounds. That’s impressive any way you look at it, and it will be even more impressive if Warren does on Friday night what Curran and Hawn didn’t do, and that’s actually win a belt in both weight classes.

There’s no doubt Bellator would love for Warren to beat Silva and claim the interim bantamweight title. And although Bellator brass are high on Dantas because of his finishing abilities, they like Warren even more, and ever since the first season they have attempted to promote him as a star because of his exciting fighting style and his brash personality. Should Warren defeat Silva, he’ll have an interim belt around his waist. And a fight against Dantas later this year for Bellator’s “Undisputed World Bantamweight Championship” would be one of the bigger fights that Bellator could promote for the rest of 2014.

I know that Bellator has given Warren favorable matchmaking in order to get him to the position he is in today, and I also know that there is an interim tag attached to the belt he could win this Friday night, but regardless of that, winning two titles in a major organization is an incredible feat. After all, there’s a reason why only two fighters in UFC history (Randy Couture and BJ Penn) have won belts in two different weight classes, and it’s because being successful in two different divisions is a tough thing to do in a sport that is so deeply structured around the practice of cutting weight.

Bellator 118 isn’t a good event on paper, but Warren vs. Silva is a very good main event fight with historical consequences, and it’s reason enough to tune in this Friday night and watch. Because what Warren could potentially do by winning a second belt is a rarity in the sport of MMA – interim tag or not – and should be appreciated for what it is. That is, if Silva doesn’t play spoiler.

Bellator 118

• Joe Warren vs. Rafael Silva (Interim BW Championship)

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Bellator 118: Warren vs. Silva (formerly Bellator 118: Dantas vs. Warren) takes place on May 2, 2014 at Revel Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey.