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Joe Warren sees his future in MMA at Bantamweight
By Zach Arnold | September 5, 2010
Joe Warren did an interview for RJ Clifford’s MMA radio show on ESPN 710 in Los Angeles a day after winning the Bellator Featherweight title from Joe Soto. Here’s a summary of that interview:
How’s your head feeling? You took a lot of punches.
“Yeah, it’s just, I just watched it actually. I just got home. Yeah, I got hit hard a few times and dazed me in the beginning and his hands were so much better than mine that he was able to keep it on. He had a good game plan but got a little cocky, kept his hands down… I understood that maybe there might be a round or two that might go either way so I was ready for the war and just stayed focused through the period and came out hard in the second, but my face is fine. A little scrape on my lip but besides that I’m fine.”
What sort of advice did your corner give you for the second round?
“Scott Jorgensen in the corner and he said, you know, he yelled at me for not moving my feet, told me that I am not throwing any punches, that the overhand right is there, that I need to drop the hammer he said so I threw it hard and it landed.”
First round you took a lot of damage and you made a comeback in the second round. This isn’t the first time that you’ve had to do this. You’ve been behind in a lot of fights before and yet you always somehow manage to come back. Is that a flaw or a strength? What’s in your head in the beginning of fights during a comeback?
“Well, I’m still a very new fighter, you know, it’s only been a year and a half, I’ve went through seven fights and I’m really learning on the job. It’s not something I plan on doing, it’s just bad. It’s not, it’s just that I’ve been fighting extremely high-level athletes, you know, these are top-of-the-line fighters, we’re fighting for titles and big tournaments so these guys have a lot of fights above me, a lot of wins, they’re just used to fighting more than I am. I got caught in some weird submissions, just had to fight through it you know. I knew, I would war every time I get in there, the weight class is a little big for me and I just try to stay focused and push hard. Understand that maybe it might not go my way all the time but I understand I can win at any point. I know that this sport, like wrestling, you can win at any point if you stay focused so some of the trouble I get in, you know, I don’t think I’ll get in that trouble again. I think I’ve been probably in the worst trouble out of any fighter in the world and gout out of it.”
You and Joe Soto had a war of words on Inside MMA on HDNet. (Audio clip from shows plays. Soto says Warren will just take him down and grind out a win and Soto says Warren can’t knock him out.)
“Yeah, you know, some of these guys are young kids and they haven’t been through the kind of grind that I’ve been through so I get in their head a little bit. You know, these guys are good guys, I don’t mean half the things that I’m telling them. I just let them know that I’m going to rip a hole in them, I don’t give a crap who they are. I don’t care if they’re sitting next to me, I don’t need to talk on the radio in front of them, you know, and some of them they don’t take it well. They get real upset, lose their focus, and I’m able to gain a little bit of advantage but he’s a great opponent, extremely strong, just didn’t start very well and he hit hard in the beginning in the fight, dazed me a little bit and kind of took me a little bit to get back here.”
In the post-fight interview, you were asked ‘walk us through the fight’ and you said it was the first time you knocked someone down with a punch like that. Is that something that you’re focusing on exclusively, is that striking or are you still really trying to sit on your laurels which is your wrestling background?
“Well, I mean, I’m focused on my striking. I’ve now been working with the Grudge Training Center and Trevor Wittman for the last two weeks, it hasn’t been that long so I’m still working with him but I’m real focused on my striking, it’s going to get better. Things are coming along, you know, I’m a Greco-Roman Wrestler, my arms are usually pinned to my side for 10 years. It takes a lot for me to extend my arms in that kind of sport that I did my whole life so it’s taken a little bit of muscle memory to let these hands go and you know I train with the best strikers, I think, Jorgensen, Urijah, Benavidez, and I can throw there, I’m learning every single day but one day at a time here, I’ll get better, I promise.”
Speaking of your Greco-Roman Wrestling, you mentioned you’re going to be leaving MMA soon to pursue your 2012 Olympic goals. What are your goals long-term? Are you leaving MMA for good just to wrestler? Are you still going to take some fights in-between? What’s your schedule?
“Yeah … I’ll fight on the 25th here on DREAM and hopefully New Year’s Eve on DREAM and then defend both of my Bellator and DREAM belts hopefully the first few months of next year and then focus on winning the Olympics, drop down to 35s and maybe fight in Bellator for a little bit while I’m training but I’m focused on maybe six months before focus on strictly training for the World Olympic trials and then the Olympics.”
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