Former champion Joe Warren set to return at Bellator 80

Former Bellator champion Joe Warren

Former Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren will return to action against Owen Evinger in a bantamweight bout at Bellator 80. The card takes place Nov. 9 at an undetermined location.

Warren started his MMA career with a bang. The 2006 Greco-Roman champion world champion defeated former WEC champion Chase Beebe and Japanese icon Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto in his first two fights. In 2010, he moved to Bellator and defeated Eric Marriott, Georgi Karakhanyan and Patricio "Pitbull" Freire to win the season-two tournament championship. He then bested Joe Soto for the promotion's title.

After claiming the belt, Warren went only 1-2. He took an extremely controversial decision over Marcos Galvao. He was then eliminated from the season-five bantamweight with a knockout from Alexis Vila. Pat Curran then took Warren's belt with a third-round knockout at Bellator 60.

Evinger brings a 7-3 record into this fight. However, his three career defeats have come in his last four outings. He has lost both of his previous Bellator bouts via submission, to Brandon Shelton and Aaron Ely.