Bellator's Joe Warren may look to TV, implies champ Dantas milking injury

Bellator interim bantamweight camp Joe Warren plans to stay busy while he waits to unify the Viacom-owned promotion’s titles. But he isn’t convinced that undisputed champ Eduardo Dantas will give him a chance.

“I’ve been telling [Bellator] since two-and-a-half months ago that Dantas will not fight me,” Warren told MMAjunkie Radio. “He’s a young kid. I got in his head a little bit. I started messing with him. He probably is a realist to understand I’m going to beat the s–t out of him, and he didn’t want to get it done in front of a bunch of people.”

Brash declarations are nothing new for Warren (11-3 MMA, 9-2 BMMA), of course. There is a reason his moniker of “Baddest Man on the Planet” is often preceded by “self-described” – he is nothing if not a good promoter and giver of soundbytes. But the new interim champ, who outpointed short-notice replacement Rafael Silva earlier this month at Bellator 118, isn’t simply accusing Dantas (16-3 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) of being scared – he is accusing him of malingering.

“So he was passing out in practices he said,” Warren continued. “Bellator brought him through all the clinics and all the brain specialists and everyone to see if he was OK. He was cleared to fight. He still didn’t want to fight me and pulled out, so kind of knew this was happening.”

Warren’s description of the events following Dantas’ injury, however, are different than those of Bjorn Rebney, who spoke to MMAjunkie following Bellator 118, when the interim champ was crowned. The Bellator CEO told MMAjunkie that follow-up tests for the champ, who this past March defended his belt with a second-round submission, were not encouraging and that the fighter will be out of action for the foreseeable future.

A request for comment to Dantas’ longtime coach and manager, Andre Pederneiras, wasn’t immediately returned. But it’s reasonable to assume the champ’s team would take issue with Warren’s statements. And considering the alleged cause of Warren’s withdrawal from a fight this past fall, they are somewhat harsh.

Warren reportedly was yanked from a fight with Nick Kirk at this past September’s Bellator 98 because he was knocked out in sparring, according to a source close to the commission overseeing the event. The commission’s head said a neurologist and Warren’s doctor initially declined to clear him to compete, though subsequent tests later reversed the decision. Warren confirmed regulators suspected a knockout and withheld clearance, but claimed the whole issue was a “printer mistake” based on misread tests.

In any event, Warren is in a holding pattern until Dantas is cleared to fight, and he doesn’t plan to wait.

“I’d like to fight Dantas as soon as possible, but he probably won’t fight me, so we’ll see what happens,” he said. “I’m trained; I’m in great shape and everything’s going well. I’m making money fighting and so I would like to fight again, but I can wait until (Dantas heals) no problem. The bigger stage, for me, is usually going to be better. I’d like to knock this guy out in front of as many people as I can. So I’m excited to get this guy in the cage.

“We’ll see what happens. Usually, I get some stuff on the side with Bellator from television stuff with Spike (TV), so maybe I’ll do some of that and wait to fight. But I’m back in the gym training already. I’ve got a black eye, but I’m pretty satisfied win. I’m excited to get this other belt, here.”

Since suffering back-to-back knockouts, Warren, who became the promotion’s first featherweight champion by winning the promotion’s Season 1 tournament, is enjoying a four-fight win streak which includes the Season 9 bantamweight competition.

If he were to beat Dantas, he would be Bellator’s first champ to have held belts in two separate divisions. And the way things are going, he is giving the undisputed champ plenty of reason to return.

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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