Sherdog’s Top 10: Burglars

Joe Warren’s skills are a recipe for questionable scoring. | Photo: Keith Mills/Sherdog.com

5. Joe Warren

While the self-proclaimed “Baddest Man on the Planet” might lack a bit of name value in the robbery department, Warren is certainly one of the finest practitioners of judge-jitsu in the MMA world. His early career was built almost entirely on the strength of wins that ranged from controversial to straight-up garbage, including his run through the initial Bellator MMA tournament that brought him to the attention of fans.

This tendency toward winning close fights first manifested itself in Warren’s second professional fight: a high-profile matchup with Japanese legend Norifumi Yamamoto. “Kid” was obviously not the same fighter after suffering a devastating series of injuries that included a blown knee and a dislocated elbow. While it was a close fight -- Yamamoto landed more and harder shots on the feet but gave up top control and lost most of the clinch exchanges -- the split decision outcome for Warren was fairly controversial. It was certainly unexpected, given that it took place in front of Yamamoto’s home crowd.

Warren followed that performance with a clear decision against Eric Marriott and then much closer scorecards against Georgi Karakhanyan and Patricio Freire. The latter fight, in particular, was quite contentious and by all rights should have been an obvious draw after Freire brutalized Warren in the first round for a likely 10-8 before dropping the second and third. It was Warren’s scrap with Marcos Galvao at Bellator 41, however, that engendered the loudest cries of “robbery.” Most observers thought Warren dropped the first two rounds, but judge Chuck Wolf somehow saw all three in the American’s favor, while the other two judges both gave him the second and third.

These controversial decisions have been less of a problem for Warren lately, but some of us have yet to forget the less-than-compelling circumstances under which he reached Bellator gold.

Number 4 » The smothering veteran is less a full-on robber than the slick salesman who tricks you into purchasing an extended warranty on the phone you probably will not have for more than a year. Against top competition, his fights are almost always close, largely because he lacks anything resembling finishing ability on the feet.