In this exclusive interview provided by our partner site, Prommanow.com Joe Soto speaks on his disappointing loss to Joe Warren at Bellator 27. If you may or may not know, Soto was clearly dominating Warren in the first round, toying with the challenger in the stand up game. As he did with his fight with Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Warren who should be called the “come back kid” would come back to win the Bellator Featherweight title via TKO in the 2nd round. Soto finally speaks and lets us in on everything that went down!
PMMAN: Joe, thanks for taking the time to speak with us here at ProMMAnow.com. How are you feeling today physically, were there any medical issues for you following your fight Thursday night at Bellator?
Joe Soto: Thank you for allowing me to respond!! I’m doing well physically thank God no injuries.
PMMAN: Take us through the last couple of days leading up to and then the day and night of the fight. Joe Warren had been talking quite a bit. What was your attitude come fight time, were you just ready to shut him up? How much had his talking got to you?
Joe Soto: Leading up to the fight I felt great, confident and was ready to go to war for the fans. Yes Joe Warren had been talking a lot. Leading up to the fight I kept reminding myself not to let it get to me, just to go in there as a professional and do my job. But walking out to the ring Joe Warren yelled something to me that created a spark and I became filled with emotion. I tried to calm myself as I walked into the cage but when the bell rang my emotions got the best of me.
PMMAN: At one point you had said you “never wanted to lose to a dirt bag like that.” What is it about Joe Warren that made you feel like that?
Joe Soto: What I meant about the dirt bag statement was Joe Warren’s lack of respect for opponents and trash talking.
PMMAN: Do you feel he is a poor representative of MMA? If so, why?
Joe Soto: I don’t know if he’s a poor representation of MMA, but he’s has a personality that rubs me the wrong way. And it definitely got to me when I didn’t think it would.
PMMAN: Take us through round one… What was going through your mind as the fight progressed through those first five minutes?
Joe Soto: In my mind I just keep thinking how I wanted to embarrass him and humble him and shut him up.
PMMAN: You were just shutting him down. He wasn’t able to take you down. You were picking him apart on the feet. Do you think there’s anything you could have done differently to maybe finish the fight in round one? I heard one analyst say on the radio today that he thought you had Warren hurt enough that you could have finished him if you had poured it on. Do you agree?
Joe Soto: Looking back on it all now I think there were plenty of opportunities and openings to take him down and finish the fight. I tried my best to finish the fight standing and I kept thinking the next punch would do that, but it didn’t happen.
PMMAN: What did your corner say to you in between rounds? Did they give you any advice or comments?
Joe Soto: Yes they told me to keep my hands up and to look for the take downs.
PMMAN: Have you had a chance to watch the fight yet? What do you think went wrong; do you think you got over confident or did you just get caught?
Joe Soto: Yes I’ve watched the fight and I believe I got over confident and I just got caught. Got hit with a punch in back of the head that I didn’t see.
PMMAN: Do you remember anything that was going through your mind during round two or was it happening so fast you don’t remember anything specifically?
Joe Soto: All I remember was waking up on my knees with Warren punching me and saying to myself what the hell happened, then I tried to get up then got hit with the knee. But I didn’t remember the knee either until they told me. Basically all I remembered from the second round was being on my knees and getting hammered punched.
PMMAN: Did you and Joe Warren have any words after the fight, did he say anything to you?
Joe Soto: Yes, Warren came over and said he was sorry for all the trash talk that he didn’t mean it and that it was just to hype the fight.
PMMAN: What’s your mindset right now, how are you feeling mentally, what’s next for you and where do you go from here?
Joe Soto: My mindset right now is it’s OK. I’ve been through more then a MMA loss. I’m a young fighter that had to learn a hard lesson, to always stay professional and never mix business with pleasure. Next for me is to go back through the tournament, earn a rematch and do everything over the right way.
PMMAN: Joe thank you for talking with us. I know you will bounce back from this and come back stronger. Thank you for laying it on the line out there for all of us. Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans out there?
Joe Soto: Just want to say sorry to all my fans, I let my emotions get the best of me, but I’ll be back as a smarter and more dangerous fighter..
