Warren, Kid Yamamoto's bane, is the new Bellator champion.

American MMA has a new candidate for darling of the public and media, but the guy had it coming. We’re talking about Joe Warren (Team Quest), the new Bellator champion in the USA.

With six wins and one loss (our Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes caught his arm in seconds at the Dream GP in Japan), Warren is a reality in MMA.

First of all, his record is solid, built on victories over Chase Beebe, Kid Yamamoto, Patricio Freire and Joe Soto himself, the Bellator champion up until the knockout he suffered yesterday.

But Warren has further achievements. He beat the frenetic Chase Beebe by doctor’s intervention on his debut, and without any prior amateur MMA fight or anything of the sort. To our always-alert colleagues in the Middle East, Warren holds the post of MMA’s greatest upset for his win over Kid Yamamoto (18w, 3l, and just 3 wins by decision) at Dream 9.

“When Joe Warren pulled the upset over Kid Yamamoto at Dream 9 in only his second MMA bout (dude had no amateur bouts), I stayed up the rest of the morning trying to find a way not to compare it to Mike Tyson vs. James ‘Buster’ Douglass. It’s impossible. I still consider it MMA’s greatest upset and people will continue to throw tomatoes at me,” wrote commentator Zeus, of MiddleEasy.com. “We all knew who Kevin Randleman was when he KOd Cro Cop in Total Elimination. (…). When Joe Warren stepped into the Yokohama Arena, no one knew who he was and he served a guy that technically never lost a fight, his first true loss.”

Check out what Warren got up to this time in the riveting clip from his fight at Bellator. At the same event, black belt from Brazil’s state of Amazonas Rodrigo Pinheiro met defeat for the first time in MMA.

BFC – Bellator Fighting Championships 27
Majestic Theatre, San Antonio, Texas
September 2, 2010

Steven Peterson defeated Ernest de la Cruz via unanimous decision
Jon Kirk defeated Shane Faulkner via TKO at 2:19 min of R3
Ulysses Gomez defeated Travis Reddinger via split decision
Ed West defeated Bryan Goldsby via unanimous decision
Zach Makovsky defeated Nick Mamalis via unanimous decision
Joe Warren knocked out Joe Soto at 0.33 min of R2
Andrew Chappelle defeated Joe Christopher via unanimous decision
Andrew Craig defeated Rodrigo Pinheiro via doctor’s intervention at 2:53 min of R3
Richard Odoms defeated Dale Mitchell via unanimous decision
Gilbert Jimenez defeated Aaron Barringer via unanimous decision