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9. Joe Warren vs. Joe Soto
Bellator 27
Sept. 2, 2010 | San Antonio
It rarely comes easy for Warren.

The self-professed “Baddest Man on the Planet” withstood serious adversity and captured the featherweight crown with a rousing second-round knockout against Soto in the Bellator 27 headliner at the Majestic Theatre. Warren unleashed a devastating knee strike and finished it with follow-up punches 33 seconds into Round 2.

Soto spent the first round carving up Warren with crisp combinations. Two massive uppercuts from the David Terrell protégé had Warren reeling and might have polished off a lesser man. Nevertheless, there was enough separation between the two that a case could be made for a 10-8 round. Warren entered the second stanza with a sense of urgency, smashed the Californian with a right hand and swarmed with punches and hammerfists. Soto escaped the barrage to his feet, where he was greeted with a collar tie and met with a concussive knee and a left hook. He fell on his face, forcing referee Kerry Hatley to rescue him.

Warren was ecstatic. Soto suffered a detached retina in the exchange -- a career-threatening eye injury that forced him out of action for nearly a year.

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