Dream GP Semi-Finalist Warren Chooses Bellator
Brian Knapp Feb 1, 2010
Bellator Fighting Championships on Monday made a significant splash
on the free agent market.
The fledgling tournament-based promotion announced it had agreed to a long-term promotional contract with 2009 Dream featherweight grand prix semi-finalist Joe Warren. He will compete alongside Georgi Karakhanyan, William Romero, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Bao Quach in Bellator’s Season 2 featherweight tournament. Specific details of Warren’s deal were not released.
“We are very excited about this signing and being the MMA
organization that brought Joe back to the states,” Bellator founder
and CEO Bjorn Rebney said in a release. “Joe has the ability,
drive, confidence and personality to become a star in our sport.
His first two wins would make a good career for most fighters, and,
as his stand-up continues developing, the sky is the limit.”
A decorated amateur wrestler who won gold at the 2006 Pan-Am Games, the 2006 FILA Wrestling World Championships and the 2007 Wrestling World Cup, Warren was an All-American at the University of Michigan. The 33-year-old stunned the mixed martial arts community in 2009, when he debuted with a first-round technical knockout win over former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Chase Beebe and then outpointed Japanese standout Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto.
“My hands are getting quicker, I’m seeing the openings quicker … I’m just getting better every single day,” Warren said. “I’m already 1,000 times better than I was in my last fight. With my style and my experience and my never-lose, never-die attitude, it’s gonna be really exciting for Bellator and for everyone who’ll be watching on TV.”
Anchored at Team Quest, Warren last appeared in October, when he submitted to a first-round armbar from the world-ranked Bibiano Fernandes at Dream 11. Married with one child and another on the way, he loves the challenges MMA provides and the opportunities it presents.
“My family has always been behind me, and they believe in me a lot, which drives me,” Warren said. “I’m a family man, but I’m also a warrior. I’ve been through a lot of battles in my life so I thrive on it. In the heat of battle, some people turn, some people run and some people stand up and fight. I see this as a battle, and I can promise that I’m gonna stand up and fight.”
The fledgling tournament-based promotion announced it had agreed to a long-term promotional contract with 2009 Dream featherweight grand prix semi-finalist Joe Warren. He will compete alongside Georgi Karakhanyan, William Romero, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Bao Quach in Bellator’s Season 2 featherweight tournament. Specific details of Warren’s deal were not released.
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A decorated amateur wrestler who won gold at the 2006 Pan-Am Games, the 2006 FILA Wrestling World Championships and the 2007 Wrestling World Cup, Warren was an All-American at the University of Michigan. The 33-year-old stunned the mixed martial arts community in 2009, when he debuted with a first-round technical knockout win over former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Chase Beebe and then outpointed Japanese standout Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto.
“My hands are getting quicker, I’m seeing the openings quicker … I’m just getting better every single day,” Warren said. “I’m already 1,000 times better than I was in my last fight. With my style and my experience and my never-lose, never-die attitude, it’s gonna be really exciting for Bellator and for everyone who’ll be watching on TV.”
Anchored at Team Quest, Warren last appeared in October, when he submitted to a first-round armbar from the world-ranked Bibiano Fernandes at Dream 11. Married with one child and another on the way, he loves the challenges MMA provides and the opportunities it presents.
“My family has always been behind me, and they believe in me a lot, which drives me,” Warren said. “I’m a family man, but I’m also a warrior. I’ve been through a lot of battles in my life so I thrive on it. In the heat of battle, some people turn, some people run and some people stand up and fight. I see this as a battle, and I can promise that I’m gonna stand up and fight.”
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