Ex-Bellator champ, new Tachi titleholder Joe Soto ready to graduate to UFC

Joe Soto was 21 years old when he emerged from Bellator MMA’s inaugural featherweight tournament with $150,000.

The money, earned over three fights against Ben Greer, Wilson Reis and Yahir Reyes, lasted about two years. It went to student loans, medical bills, rent, a used SUV and food. Lots of food.

“I eat a lot,” he told MMAjunkie. “I could have been smarter.”

Soto (13-2) is 26 years old now, and a little bit wiser for his wear. He’s also enjoying his fourth straight win as a bantamweight, which also netted a vacant belt in California’s Tachi Palace Fights promotion.

“I think it was last week, right?” he said this past Friday. “Feels good – any time you can get a victory over a tough opponent, and no injuries. You get paid.”

When he signs his next contract, he plans to put his money away for safe keeping. He knows how quickly it can disappear and how it can be taken away.

“I’m not one to be injury-prone really, besides my eyes,” he said. “But I guess everyone has a weakness.”

Doctors found Soto had suffered a detached retina after his loss to Joe Warren in 2010, which eventually forced his Bellator release and kept him out of work for 11 months.

When the damage was repaired with laser surgery and a glass bubble was placed into his eye to make sure it didn’t again detach, Soto was free to continue his career. But the injury’s effects didn’t end there.

“Later on I had to get surgery because whenever they do laser surgery, you end up developing a cataract,” he said.

Four years after the injury, Soto said he’s no longer worried about his eyes. He noted that as with his loss to Warren, he was floored by a punch but managed to recover. In its own way, taking punches every day in the gym also has helped to distance him from insecurity.

“After that Warren fight, when I fought, I wasn’t 100 percent mentally ready,” he said. “But now, I feel like I’m strong and trust the eye is going to hold up. I feel like I’m back.”

The goal now for Soto is to win a UFC contract. His manager is in talks with the promotion to sign a deal that could bring him into the industry-leading MMA promotion’s fold at 135 pounds, where champ Renan Barao rules.

“I think I could do good in the division,” Soto said. “One of the guys I beat in Bellator was (current UFC fighter) Reis. I think I could definitely get up there in the top 10. There’s just so many good bantamweights, and there’s a lot of guys I would like to compete against. [T.J.] Dillashaw. Maybe Urijah (Faber) one day. Eddie Wineland.”

In the five years since his first brush with the sport’s upper echelon, Soto said he’s getting closer to being a finished product as a fighter.

“I think I had four fights when I got called to Bellator,” he said. “I was basically a wrestler. Now, I feel like I’ve been through so much more.

“I’ve had tough fights. I’ve had to overcome injuries, and had to overcome a lot of obstacles in my life. I just feel like a stronger person. I feel more calm; I’m not really afraid of anything any more.”

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