Fighter Watch: Bellator's Featherweight Joe Soto

Kyle Nagel over at MMAJunkie.com has a featured column called "Fight Path" that focuses on the stories surrounding how fighters came to become mixed martial artists. Many of the columns also highlight up-and-coming talent that fans may want to keep an eye out when watching events. Specifically, Nagel's article talks about a featherweight fighter by the name of Joe Soto (4-0), who will be making his Bellator Fighting Championships debut on April 3rd against veteran Ben Greer (11-4).

The article talks about Soto's upbringing during his childhood, his blue-collar family life, the gangs, and the streets of their California town. Notably, it talks about his wrestling credentials as a California State Wrestling Champion at 135 lbs. and being a part of Iowa Central Community College's NJCAA national championship teams.

"My parents divorced when I was in the seventh grade, and I think it helped me deal with that," Soto said. "It was tough, so I focused all my attention on wrestling. Even though everyone else had started years before, I caught up to them. When I wasn't practicing, I was watching video."

Without the grades to join an NCAA Division I program, Soto instead traveled to Iowa, where Iowa Central was collecting a dominating set of wrestlers. One of Soto's teammates, Jon Jones, is 2-0 in the UFC (8-0 overall). Another, Cain Velasquez, is 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the UFC.

The talented group that would win two National Junior College Athletic Association national championships in Soto's two years at the school turned the practice area into a de facto brawling room, and Soto has his share of stories from the experience.

"They basically wanted us to fight," Soto said with a laugh. "Once, me and my assistant coach got into it. He used to tape his wrists, and when he got you down he would rub them against your face. I elbowed him a couple times in the face, and he started punching me in the back of the head.

So, this kid was rolling around in semi-fight mode in the Iowa Central Community College wrestling room with guys like Cain Velasquez and Jon Jones, two of the UFC's most promising prospects in their respective divisions? Soto could very well be a promising fighter in the Featherweight division with that kind of experience under his belt.

Furthermore, Soto's training regiment seems to be inline with a guy who's heading to make an impact:

Soto won the debut at the 3:26 mark of the first round on TKO by strikes, but his college career sidetracked his MMA progress. After a two-year wait, the junior college national runner-up at 141 pounds beat six-fight veteran Darren Crisp in just 68 seconds with a kneebar in July 2008.

By then, things were starting to click. After a third win, in September 2008, Soto was ready to take his training more seriously. He continued his work with David Terrell at NorCal Fighting Alliance in Santa Rosa, where he now makes his home. He also works out at Fairtex MuayThai Fitness in San Francisco and The Garage in Porterville for a mix of training and strong competition.

Training with David Terrell for a ground game and submission ability is outstanding, but also adding in the Muay Thai work for his standup game is pretty forward thinking for such a young prospect. It goes to show the the sport is evolving and so are its fighters.

Keep an eye out for Joe Soto. He'll be fighting veteran Ben Greer (11-4) on April 3rd's Bellator Fighting Championships card . The event will be headlined by Nick Agallar (21-5) vs. Jorge Masvidal (16-3) and Eddie Alvarez (16-2) vs. Greg Loughran (18-11) as part of the Lightweight tournament. Soto's bout is part of the opening round of the Featherweight tournament.

HT: Kyle Nagel of MMAJunkie.com

Videos of Joe Soto in action after the jump...