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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Bellator Fighting Championships have a heated Championship fight on their hands tonight at Bellator 27, as the ever cocky Joe Warren challenges Joe Soto for the Featherweight Title at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas on Fox Sports Net.
Warren, the braggadocious winner of the season two welterweight tournament, has been nothing but forthcoming in how he views himself and his talents, and Soto isn't willing to fall to a fighter like that.
"It would suck to lose to him; I never want to lose to a dirt bag like that," Soto said ahead of tonight's fight. "All he does better than me is talk s***. Talking is the only thing he does better. He keeps a good pace, but I don’t see anything in the cage he does better than me. He’s got weak punches when he’s on top, nothing I’m scared of."
As for Warren, he is ready to push Soto to the limits, and believes he's not come anywhere close to his potential as a fighter.
"No one can handle my pace. I can’t even handle it," Warren said. "I’m going to push even harder than I ever have before. I don’t plan on leaving without that belt.”
“As far as my potential, I’m about 20 percent of where I can be. I’ve got 80 more percent coming. Any competitor should be scared as hell. Just because I’m older doesn’t mean I’m not nasty.”
Soto believes his more well rounded game is going to cause problems for Warren, and thinks he'll be prepared for Warren's wrestling.
"I think my overall game will give him problems," he said. "I’m an MMA veteran, and he should be worried about my game. Warren likes to do a lot of talking, and is doing a nice job of selling the fight, but he definitely has some holes I feel like I can exploit. As always, I’m prepared for any situation."
For Warren, should the fight get into his wheel house, he contends he's the better wrestler of the two.
"If the fight turns into a straight wrestling match, it’s going to get really interesting because flat out, I’m the better wrestler," Warren said.
"Either way, neither of us want to lose, so the fans are in for a great match."
The fight comes to Fox Sports Net tonight, along with the final quarterfinal bouts in the bantamweight tournament.
Penick's Analysis: Warren does have that "short man" complex where he projects a much tougher outer attitude, and he comes off as a complete dick at times, but you can't deny the man's abilities. He's got holes in his game that he showed throughout his fights in season two, but he's extremely tough and was able to get himself out of a number of really bad positions. This fight should be a good one, and this event overall should be Bellator's best so far in season three.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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