Bellator 128, scheduled for the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma on October 10th will be headlined by a unification title bout between Joe Warren and Eduardo Dantas for the company’s Bantamweight title. The two were scheduled to meet last year in what would have been a title defense for Dantas, but he was injured in training and pulled out. Warren went on to win interim gold by beating Rafael Silva over the course of five rounds. Now Warren and Silva will finally meet, as Dantas is apparently recovered from injury.
This is one match with a lot of ex-factors. Dantas was injured in training and he had to pull out last time. He is with Nova Uniao in Brazil, and though the team is home to elite names in MMA, there is a chaos that surrounds Dantas and his teammates, UFC Champions Renan Barao (recently lost belt and pulled out of re-match) and Jose Aldo (who had his latest title defense rescheduled due to injury). Whereas they were all winning and on top of the world 12-18 months ago, there is definitely an aura of bad karma around them as Dantas enters this critical fight.
Joe Warren is not the baddest man on the planet, I wish he would stop saying it because he sounds shallow and stupid. What he is however is an elite athlete who has for several years now immersed himself in MMA. Once the cage shuts and he shuts his mouth, he has become a very solid and exciting fighter to watch. What’s more, he has been groomed to be a ‘poster boy’ type by Bellator since he started with the company, so for him it must feel like the culmination of a long road to the top.
No lines are out yet, and hopefully the books do a better job of getting this line up there before the week of the fight is upon us, as they frequently give only a short window with Bellator lines. Based on that mysterious gut feeling, or karma, or whatever you want to call it, this just feels like it is Warren’s time, and that Dantas will have baggage if he even makes it to the fight.
