For the opening five minutes of Thursday's Bellator 27 main event, the self-described "baddest man on the planet" looked like anything but.
Then came round two.
After getting tagged throughout the first round football jerseys
with lead left hands and nasty right uppercuts, Joe Warren (6-1 MMA, 4-0 BFC) uncorked a powerful barrage of strikes that left former champion Joe Soto (9-1 MMA, 4-1 BFC) unconscious on the floor.
The extraordinary comeback served as the headlining contest for Thursday's FOX Sports Net-broadcast Bellator 27 event, which took place at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas.
While Warren and Soto are both accomplished wrestlers, it was Soto's striking that dominated the early frame. Warren, the season-two tournament winner, appeared wobbled on several occasions and simply overmatched.
But the second round took a decided turn. Warren landed a right hand that sent Soto to the canvas in the opening seconds of the frame. Warren followed with a rapid-fire ground-and-pound assault, but Soto courageously worked his way back to the feet.
He might have been better staying down.
Warren uncorked a huge knee that dropped Soto. Warren landed another punch for good measure as Soto slumped to the canvas, and a few more shots came on the ground, but the former champion's fate was already sealed. Just 33 seconds into the second round, Warren had claimed the belt.
"You can't stop me," Warren said after the fight. "I'm the baddest man on the planet."
With the win, Warren becomes the first Bellator fighter to knock-off a season-one champion and claim the belt. He's also won four-straight fights overall, and his past two have come in stunning come-from-behind fashion.
Warren promised there was more Dallas Cowboys jersey
to come.
"This is the first time you've seen me knock someone out," Warren said. "It's going to come a lot more."
Meanwhile, Soto loses for the first time as a professional despite looking like a world-beater in the opening round.
In the evening's final bantamweight tournament bout, Philadelphia Fight Factory product Zach Makovsky (10-2 MMA, 2-0 BFC) outlasted a game Nick Mamalis (15-5 MMA, 2-1 BFC) in their grappling-heavy 15-minute affair.
Makovsky spent almost the entirety of the opening round in a dominant position. After a minor struggle, Makovsky was able to work Mamalis to the floor and advance quickly to mount. From there, Makovsky looked for an armbar that Mamalis, to his credit, defended extremely well.
The second round saw Mamalis end up on top after reversing a toss attempt, but he wasn't able to capitalize. Makovsky was able to sweep easily to top position, and he spent the remainder of the round in the dominant position.
Needing a finish in the final round, Mamalis came out scrambling and secured back-mount briefly, as well as taking a run at a guillotine choke. But Makovsky would not be denied. He swept back to a superior position in each instance and finished the fight with an arm-triangle choke securely wrapped around his opponent's arm and neck. While the third round was Mamalis' best, Makovsky was awarded a clean sweep on all three judges' cards.
Makovsky said his positioning in the fight was the key to his win.
"After I won the first round, I realized how I could really control the fight when I was on top," Makovsky said.
Makovsky has now won four-straight fights.
The evening's first televised contest saw Ed West (14-4 MMA, 1-0 BFC) out-point Bryan Goldsby (12-12 MMA, 1-1 BFC) in a fast-paced three-round affair.
West used impressive footwork and a barrage of kicks to claim the opening round. Goldsby tried to turn the tables in the second with an early takedown, but West proved capable from his back and threatened the legs of his opponent when not stalling well.
The fight appeared it might be in the balance in the opening frame, and both fighters responded to the challenge. Tow-to-toe striking made for a few tense moments, but West edged out the action and claimed the unanimous-decision victory.
Following the win, West said he was expecting a high-paced fight.
"I was just trying to move around a Indianapolis Colts jersey
lot and really cut a lot of angles," West said. "I had seen his last fight, and I wanted to make sure I didn't make the same mistakes his last opponent did."
With the win, West has now won six-straight fights and joins Jose Vega, who won earlier this season, and Bellator 27 winners Makovsky and Ulysses Gomez in the 135-pound tournament semifinals.
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