Former Bellator bantamweight and featherweight champion Joe Warren, dubbed ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’, indicated on social media that he would return to the cage at Bellator 161, and this week the promotion made it official by announcing his matchup against Sweden’s own Sirwan Kakai in the co-main event.
Warren is coming off a submission loss to Darrion Caldwell via rear naked choke at Bellator 151, which was billed as a number one contender’s match. Undoubtedly, he will be looking to get back in the win column. Kakai, meanwhile, just posted back-to-back losses of his own, the most recent coming at Bellator 151 where fell to a unanimous decision to Joe Taimanglo.
The bantamweight contest joins a heavyweight main event featuring Cheick Kongo taking on Tony Johnson, and the US debut ofAnastasia Yankova, who meets Veta Arteaga.
Meanwhile, it’s coming up to a month since Michael ‘Venom’ Page stole the show at Bellator’s debut event in the UK when he spectacularly knocked out Cyborg Santos, leaving him with a crushed forehead. Thankfully Cyborg is on the road to recovery but post fight Pokemon Go inspired celebration by Page is a phenomenon that continues to grow and get attraction.
In just three weeks MVP’s post-victory scene has become the number one video and just a few views shy of 4 million on the promotion’s official YouTube channel. That’s almost doubles then next most watched video – a highlight reel of the matchup between Toby Imada and Jorge Masvidal from seven years ago!
Bellator’s next tent pole event is just weeks away as Bellator 160 takes place on August 26th in Anaheim, California and sees former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson take on Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire in the main event to determine the number one contender for Michael Chandler’s lightweight championship.
Bellator 160 – Main Card
- Lightweight: Benson Henderson (23-6) vs. Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire (25-3)
- Lightweight: Saad Awad (19-7) vs. Derek Anderson (13-2)
- Flyweight: Lena Ovchynnikova (11-4) vs. Jaimelene Nievera (4-1)
- Featherweight: AJ McKee (4-0) vs. Henry Corrales (12-3)
Preliminary Card
- Featherweight: Chinzo Machida (3-2) vs. Mario Navarro (4-4)
- Featherweight: Bubba Jenkins (11-2) vs. Georgi Karakhanyan (24-6-1)
- Welterweight: Joey Davis (Pro Debut) vs. Keith Cutrone
- Welterweight: Kevin Ferguson Jr. (Pro Debut) vs. Jon Tomasian (Pro Debut)
- Lightweight: Gabriel Green (2-0) vs. Alex Trinidad (1-0)
- Flyweight: Steve Ramirez (4-1) vs. Ron Henderson (4-2)
- Flyweight: Kyle Estrada (3-2) vs. David Duran (3-4)
- Lightweight: Mike Segura (4-3) vs. Jacob Rosales (3-2)
- Welterweight: Jonny Cisneros (9-4) vs. Andy Murad (12-2)
- Lightweight: Jake Roberts (6-0) vs. Stephen Martinez (11-4)
