10/30/2026 1:35:00 PM | Wrestling
STILLWATER, Okla. -- University of Michigan wrestling alumnus Joe Warren was selected Thursday (Oct. 29) as one of eight inductees to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2027. Warren is the sixth Wolverine to be named to the prestigious Hall of Fame.
Other members of the Class of 2027 include Distinguished Members Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston, Iris Smith and Thad Turner; Meritorious Official honoree Michael Chase; Order of Merit recipient Dan Russell; Medal of Courage recipient Ben Kja; and Outstanding American honoree retired United States Navy Admiral Richard W. Mies.
Johnston, Smith and Warren were chosen as Distinguished Members for the Modern Era, while Turner was selected by the Veterans Committee. The newest honorees will bring the number of Distinguished Members to 224 since the Hall of Fame began in 1976.
The Class of 2027 will be honored and officially inducted during the 50th Honors Weekend on June 4-5, 2027, in Stillwater, Okla.
Warren won a gold medal at the 2006 Greco-Roman World Championships, becoming only the fifth American to win a Greco-Roman world title. A three-time U.S. World Team member, he finished ninth at the 2005 Greco-Roman World Championships and was a two-time gold medalist at the Pan American Championships as well as a gold medalist at the World Cup. Following a runner-up finish at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 2004, Warren won back-to-back Greco-Roman national championships in 2005 and 2006. He was a finalist for the Sullivan Award, presented annually to the best amateur athlete in the United States, in 2007.
As a Wolverine student-athlete (1996-2000), Warren earned All-America honors with a third-place finish at the 2000 NCAA Championships and finished sixth at the 2000 World University Championships. A three-time MMA Bellator World Champion and the first to win titles in two weight classes, Warren was the first athlete to become both a wrestling world champion and an MMA world champion. Warren continues to coach both wrestlers and MMA fighters and currently helps coach many USA Wrestling National Team Greco-Roman athletes.
Warren becomes the sixth Wolverine inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, joining Cliff Keen (inaugural Class of 1976), Harold Nichols (1978), Steve Fraser (1994), Mark Churella (1999) and David Curby (2019).
