Breaking Baddest: “Dudu” Dantas Should Defeat Joe Warren In Their Bellator 128 Battle

By Raphael Garcia

The hiring of Scott Coker has kicked off an interesting period for Bellator. Months into his leadership, there have already been changes in matchmaking which have been positively accepted to this point. The company is working hard to provide its champions with the best matchups available. On some occasions, this has led to the creation of “squash matches” designed to make champions such as Emmanuel Newton look fantastic. Then there are matchups like the Eduardo Dantas vs. Joe Warren fight at Bellator 128, which has the potential to either go down as a grueling brawl that fits Warren’s style or a highlight reel moment for Dantas.

Dantas has been an enigma within the bantamweight division for an extended period of time. For a minute, he seemed to be developing into a fighter who would flourish outside of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. That was until Tyson Nam clipped him in 2012 in a highly unexpected upset in Brazil. Since then, he’s continued his winning ways with two dominating victories, but excitement about the Nova Uniao standout seems to have waned.

This is where Joe Warren can help. The former Bellator featherweight and current Bellator interim bantamweight champion knows the ropes when it comes to promoting himself in any form or fashion. The moment a microphone or camera is put in front of his face, Warren shines at his brightest. Even after he was brutally stopped by Pat Curran at Bellator 60, the organization has hung its proverbial hat on his willingness to talk about nearly anything. He’s the exact type of contender that Bellator needs for its 135-pound champion at this point in time.

This is going to be a very interesting matchup in the cage. When Dantas was coming up the Shooto promotion he was mostly known as a fighter who leaned heavily on his capabilities with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. However, that has changed since establishing himself within Bellator. He’s more of a well-rounded fighter who uses striking to hurt and control his opponents while keeping BJJ in his back pocket, much like his teammates in Renan Barao and Jose Aldo. He actually used those skills to dominate another teammate in Marcos Galvao at Bellator 89. When paired with his Submission of the Year candidate win over Anthony Leone at Bellator 111, Dantas has demonstrated all the makings of a complete fighter.

His opponent Warren, unlike other wrestlers, has stayed true to what brought him into mixed martial arts. The multiple-time Greco-Roman champion has kept that as his calling card for much of his career. His recent four-fight win streak has shown that even at age 37 he has the ability to control where the fight takes place. Against Dantas it will be interesting to see how much he wants this fight to occur on the ground, rather than on the feet, where he can use the striking he says he’s been working on. It has been hard to hold Dantas down in the past, and being on the mat with him is a dangerous position as well.

Positioning is vital in this fight. While Dantas is the taller fighter, his arm reach is equal to that of Warren. But unknown is the difference in the lengths of their legs, and the damage that Dantas can do using low and push kicks to set up his offense has been seen in the past. Warren likes to keep the contests in close range where he can mix up short strike boxing with takedown attempts. Again, both of those positions can be dangerous to Warren’s title attempt, because the advantage should belong to “Dudu.”

As with any fight, a major strike can quickly turn the tide of the contest. However, when it comes to Eduardo Dantas vs. Joe Warrren, Dantas should be able to control this fight in enough areas that he should be successful in his third defense of the Bellator bantamweight title. Warren will be game, but Dantas will ultimately hoist the belt at the end of the night.