Bellator champ Joe Warren still eyes Olympic gold medal

Fresh off a unanimous decision victory over Eduardo Dantas at Bellator 128, new Bellator bantamweight champion Joe Warren might go to Dantas’ backyard in 2016.

The decorated wrestler, who won the gold medal in the 2006 Pan American Championships in Rio de Janeiro, could return to wrestling competition 10 years later for the Olympic Games, also set for “Marvelous City.”

“I have an idea of maybe winning the Olympics, too,” Warren told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I don’t know why, man. It’s my birthday yesterday, and that was in my mind again. … I don’t know. If the Worlds are in Las Vegas next year, a year from now, it would be pretty sweet to win the World Championship in Las Vegas.”

Warren won the 2006 edition of the World Championship in Guangzhou, China, and would be down to compete in both wrestling and MMA if he gets the right support. He came close to competing at the 2008 Olympic Games, but was sacked by a positive drug test for marijuana.

“I tried to do it last time. Pat Curran knocked me out seven days before the trials (in 2012). I lost in the trials, but I probably shouldn’t have been wrestling in the first place,” Warren said. “I didn’t think, at this age, I’d be talking about this again, but I’m faster, stronger, lighter, older, and all those things that makes wrestlers better. I don’t know. That’s a possibility.

“If I can get the support that I need, to be able to do the fighting and wrestling,” he added. “You know, I’ll still fight, that’s what I do. The wrestling would be just for fun. I’m open-minded, I need another goal to set in front of me. I’m sitting here with too many belts, and I’m thinking maybe I’ll get another wrestling one.”

Fresh off a unanimous decision victory over Eduardo Dantas at Bellator 128, new Bellator bantamweight champion Joe Warren might go to Dantas’ backyard in 2016.

The decorated wrestler, who won the gold medal in the 2006 Pan American Championships in Rio de Janeiro, could return to wrestling competition 10 years later for the Olympic Games, also set for “Marvelous City.”

“I have an idea of maybe winning the Olympics, too,” Warren told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I don’t know why, man. It’s my birthday yesterday, and that was in my mind again. … I don’t know. If the Worlds are in Las Vegas next year, a year from now, it would be pretty sweet to win the World Championship in Las Vegas.”

Warren won the 2006 edition of the World Championship in Guangzhou, China, and would be down to compete in both wrestling and MMA if he gets the right support. He came close to competing at the 2008 Olympic Games, but was sacked by a positive drug test for marijuana.

“I tried to do it last time. Pat Curran knocked me out seven days before the trials (in 2012). I lost in the trials, but I probably shouldn’t have been wrestling in the first place,” Warren said. “I didn’t think, at this age, I’d be talking about this again, but I’m faster, stronger, lighter, older, and all those things that makes wrestlers better. I don’t know. That’s a possibility.

“If I can get the support that I need, to be able to do the fighting and wrestling,” he added. “You know, I’ll still fight, that’s what I do. The wrestling would be just for fun. I’m open-minded, I need another goal to set in front of me. I’m sitting here with too many belts, and I’m thinking maybe I’ll get another wrestling one.”