Pat Curran lands a knee to the jaw of former champ Joe Warren – Photo via Bellator.com
Last Friday night (March 9, 2012) saw Bellator featherweight champ Joe Warren lose his title to Pat Curran in the season six main event opener for the promotion.
Warren was knocked out by Curran in the third round, sustaining a barrage of punches and knees to the head before finally collapsing to the mat to end the fight.
Many are criticizing referee Jeff Malott for the late stoppage, including Curran himself who thought things should have ended “10-15 seconds earlier.”
Warren’s coach Marc Montoya re-iterated that statement on Tuesday as a guest on “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” noting that his fighter likely suffered a concussion due to the late stoppage.
“He definitely had a concussion. He was vomiting, I think some of it due to the last 30 seconds (of the fight)…that is going to take it out of you,” Montoya told Ranallo. “(But) he was checked out in the hospital and they tested him and he doesn’t have permanent brain damage. He’s back at home with is family and we’re getting ready to see what his future looks like.”
“When Joe got caught with the knee he was dazed, but if you’ve seen Joe fight that doesn’t mean he’s done. We [his corner] weren’t ready to intervene then,” Montoya said. “As far as us throwing in the towel or anything like that, Joe was unfortunately across the cage from us…(but) we definitely thought the fight should have been stopped at some point. it all happened too fast — you didn’t know if Joe was going to shoot, take (Curran) down and recover — but when he turned his back, not only once but twice, I felt the ref should have jumped in.”
Montoyoa goes on to say that Warren will continue his career with Bellator but will move down to the bantamweight division instead of competing at 145-lbs.
Also featured on yesterday’s podcast were former UFC fighter Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, legend Bas Rutten, UFC featherweight Mark Hominick, and Vancouver Athletic Commissioner Jonathan Tweedale.