Mixed martial arts is a sport that is writing its own underdog story, so it’s always interesting to watch a fighter who is categorized as the underdog enter a steel cage with the intention of defeating a person that nearly everyone thinks is his or her superior. Joe Soto was in this situation at UFC 177. But even though he walked out of the cage bruised and defeated, just as the betting odds predicted, he walked out with a type of victory. The UFC is now in his debt, and that is a position that all MMA athletes would love to be in.
While mainstream fight fans may not know much of Joe Soto, he is not a slouch by any standards in the sport of MMA. The California native became the first man to hold the Bellator featherweight title when he took the tournament back in 2009. Before being brought into the UFC as an undercard fighter for UFC 177, he would go on to win two additional titles — one at 135 and the other at 145 — in the Tachi Palace Fighting organization.
Many observers wondered whether Soto had the abilities to continue his winning ways in the Octagon. His initial bout against Anthony Birchak was expected to be a “coming out party” of sorts. However, fate would not have it that way. On 24 hours notice he stepped up to face the defending bantamweight champion in T.J. Dillashaw in the main event, and did so in impressive fashion. Yes, he was knocked out in the fifth round of that contest, and moral victories are fleeting in mixed martial arts. But this is as close to that type of situation as one can get.
The story of UFC 177 has been told multiple times up to this point. The card was nearly forgotten about in the shadow of UFC 178. The co-main event title match of Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso was pulled off of the card due to Jon Jones’s injury. Then Henry Cejudo vs. Scott Jorgensen was snatched from the card because Cejudo cited medical reasons. The final nail in the coffin was former bantamweight champion Renan Barao passing out during his final weight cut to also be removed from the event. Current buyrate estimations suggest that this show did not reach 200K, which would deem it an utter failure. Yet because he stepped up in the 11th hour, Soto walked away from the event with his own silver lining intact.
It will be interesting to see what type of treatment Soto receives going forward from the UFC. He should not be shunted to UFC Fight Pass prelims, or fights in far off countries. After his performance in the UFC 177 main event, organization has the opportunity to build “One Bad Mofo” into a star of sorts. Yes, he’s coming off of a loss, but he’s shown the ability to hang with the best that the division has to offer. The organization should respond by giving him an opponent like George Roop or Alex Caceres to give him an opportunity to show how good he really is. The promotion should do what it can to develop him into something special, seeing as he dug deep to dig pull the UFC out of the ditch that it had put itself in.
Without a doubt Joe Soto is the hero of UFC 177. He didn’t get his hand raised in victory, but he fought well enough to put himself in a position of security within the UFC for the time being. Both he and the promotion should take advantage of the opportunity that lies in front of them. UFC 177 was destined to be the forgotten card of 2014, but in its aftermath, the promotion could find itself well-situated to build up the name of a future bantamweight star.
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UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto (formerly UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Barao II) took place on August 30, 2014 at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California.
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