Joe Warren was set to be in the co-main event of Bellator 98 earlier this month and meet Joe Kirk in a bantamweight tournament semifinal bout but the fight was scratched after the Mohegan Tribe commission would not allow him to fight.
The tournament bout between Warren and Kirk will now take place in the main event of tonight’s Bellator 101 from the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon as Warren was recently cleared by doctors to complete.
Since his fight was cancelled for Bellator 98, Warren (8-3) has not made many comments but did address the situation when TheMMAReport.com asked him about it this week. The self proclaimed “Baddest Man of the Planet” explained that an image abnormality was the reason why he was not allowed to fight three weeks ago.
“Everything was fine,” Warren said. “I was 110 percent then also. They were misreading, it was image abnormality is what they told me was the problem. After all this [expletive], they told me it was a image abnormality meaning that the doctors are reading the image wrong. It was a lot of headache for me.”
“I was driving to the airport on weight to fight and got a call from the commission that they would not clear me. They wanted me to turn around and see a neurosurgeon in Denver, so me and my coach turned around and saw the neurosurgeon. He was reading the MRI they sent him telling me that I had a stroke or something. I was like, whoa what are you talking about. I know my body better than anything in the world and I am completely fine. They instantly put me in for another MRI. The doctor in Denver cleared me, my family doctor and everyone cleared me said there is nothing wrong.”
“The commission in Connecticut would not clear me still and they wanted another MRI. It just ended up costing me a lot of money and a lot of headaches for me and the best part about that is that they found out that I am 110 percent. There is nothing wrong with me. The Baddest Man on the Plant must break machines.”
Warren was cleared by the doctors around a week and a half ago and Bellator announced last Friday night that Warren would headline tonight’s card against Kirk. While he understands the big picture of the tournament, he has to take one step at a time and the first step is to defeat Kirk tonight at Bellator 101.
“My main plan is to win this tournament and first thing in front of me is Nick Kirk so it is one round at a time here to try to make sure I get this win. The most important thing in my life is to get this win and move forward. I’ve got some plans for me here and first things first, I have to get this win.”
The winner of the fight will move on to the bantamweight tournament final and will meet Travis Marx at an unknown date. If Warren is able to defeat Kirk tonight, the former Bellator champion feels that he is made for pay-per-view and has his sights set on potentially being on that card.
“There is a pay-per-view in about a month that I think that I am made for. I think Joe Warren is made for pay-per-view. I think it would be exciting to get myself on that pay-per-view and I think that might be the option. I just have to win this fight here.”