Bellator champion Joe Warren now wants Olympic gold in 2012

Since winning the Bellator featherweight title this past year, Joe Warren has asserted himself as one of the best featherweight’s in the world, and the self-proclaimed “Baddest Man on the Planet” isn’t looking to stop at just a mixed martial arts title. He’s still seeking Olympic infamy.

Before his foray into the world of MMA in 2008, Warren was considered to be one of the best Greco-Roman wrestlers on the planet, having won the very prestigious Pan American games in 2006, Joe was considered to be a favorite heading into the 2008 Olympic games.

However, Marijuana+drug screenings don’t mix well with the 34-year-old as he came up positive heading into the 2007 World Cup.

A two-year suspension was handed down to Warren, and now that his time is served, he is eligible to return to competing on the amateur circuit, and hopefully pick up Olympic gold in 2012.

Though his focus has been on mixed martial arts recently, Warren has not shied away from wrestling roots, and insists that MMA has, if anything else, improved his wrestling.

“I’m in a position right now where I’m the best wrestler in the world,” said Warren while speaking with MMAJunkie.com. “My technique is there, and I have my coaches. Right now, I’m physically better than I’ve ever been. Fighting is helping that.

The dedication to wrestling, though, will put a hold on his MMA career for an elongated period of time.

“I’m going to put the MMA on hold for six or seven months,” said Joe. “I’m going to win the Olympics.”

“I still train at the Olympic Training Center three or four times a week. I believe I can win this Olympic championship. It’s the only thing I didn’t win in wrestling.”

So before his training begins thus far, officially anyway, for the 2012 games, Warren will be fighting like a mad man before the Olympics consume most of his time. His eyes are set next on the 135-pound title in the bantamweight division. If Warren is successful in retaining both the 135 and 145-pound titles in Bellator, he would have become only the second man to hold two-titles in two different weight classes simultaneously in a major mixed martial arts promotion. The first is his fellow trainer and teammate, Dan Henderson out of Team Quest.

“I’ll fight February for Bellator, July for Bellator, then enter the 135-pound tournament for Bellator,” Warren said. “Then I will stop fighting in December of next year and win the Olympics.

“I would like to win the gold, win the 135-pound belt, defend my 145-pound belt, and then come win some other belts. I believe I can get it done. It’s my love. I’ve done it my whole life. I’m going to go get a gold medal in London, and it’s $250,000, so come on.”

So, MMA peeps, what do you make of the news? Can Warren pull it off–retain both the 135 and 145 titles, and pick up Olympic gold in 2012? Only time will tell. Sound off in the comment section below.