Joe Warren (6-1) took Joe Soto‘s Bellator featherweight title by force Thursday night at Bellator 27 in San Antonio, Texas. No decisions here my friend. Yet, the win did not come easy for Warren. He spent the first round eating punch after punch from Soto. Commentator Jimmy Smith even scored round one 10-8 for Soto, so lopsided was the beating.
As round two started though, Warren landed a big punch that dropped Soto. Warren capitalized with several big shots as Soto turtled up. After a few seconds of punishment Soto got to his feet. Warren chased him down and put a big knee right on Soto’s chin, followed it up with a big left punch, and Joe Soto was out cold.
Warren, known as one of the top wrestlers in MMA, is not known as a great striker. However, he has just forced every future opponent to be aware of what is possible if you underestimate him. Evidently Soto got over confident after dominating round one on the feet. Warren was not able to get him to the ground with his wrestling, but in the end, he didn’t need to.
The official time was 33 seconds into round two. After the fight Warren said, “I can’t be stopped. I’m the baddest man on the planet.” That might be pushing it a little this early in his career, but as he continues to progress, he’s definitely on his way to being one of the baddest 145-pounders on the planet.