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8. Joe Warren vs. Eduardo Dantas
Bellator 128
Oct. 10, 2014 | Thackerville, Oklahoma
Warren willed his way into the history books.

Repeated takedowns, tenacious clinches and a number of knee strikes in close quarters carried Warren to a unanimous decision against Dantas, as he unified the bantamweight championship in the Bellator 128 main event at the Winstar World Casino. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 48-47 for Warren, who entered the cage as interim champion at 135 pounds and walked out as the first Bellator fighter to capture undisputed titles in two different weight classes.

A gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2006 Fila Wrestling World Championships, Warren secured takedowns in all five rounds. His approach bottled up Nova Uniao’s Dantas, who spent far too much time playing defense in the closely contested 25-minute unification bout. Warren -- who held Bellator’s featherweight crown from Sept. 2, 2010 until March 9, 2012 -- set the tone with a strong first round, where he staggered the dynamic Brazilian with a knee to the chin before landing the first of his many takedowns.

Dantas did his best work in Rounds 2 and 4, sliding to mount in the second and delivering a three-punch combination punctuated by a clean left hook in the fourth. Still, he could not keep Warren at bay. Down the stretch, the tenacious grappler won a majority of their exchanges on the ground. Warren executed an illegal kick to the head while the two men were grounded against the cage in the fifth round, as referee “Big” John McCarthy issued a stern warning but elected not to take away a point. That decision cleared what was the final obstacle standing between Warren and a career-defining moment.

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