Joe Soto secured a huge victory last night (March 11), but it wasn’t a cakewalk.
Soto took on No. 14 ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight Rani Yahya inside the Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil. Soto took a unanimous decision victory and is now on a three-fight winning streak.
The former Bellator featherweight title holder have to overcome some adversity when he suffered a gash on the side of his head. The cut was cause by an accidental clash of heads. Blood poured down the face of Soto.
Speaking with the media (via MMAJunkie.com), Soto said he didn’t allow the blood to bother him:
“That one was dripping in my eye. It’s mental. You just don’t let it affect you. I don’t think it did affect me too much. It’s a little bit of blood, just feels like water all over your face. Blood, sweat and tears. That’s what we put into this thing. That’s my sacrifice, is my blood, for this victory. I knew Rani would be tough. I thought I would do a little bit better (job) of putting things together offensively. My defense was really good; I just got caught with the head butt. But I expected a tough fight. He’s a ranked fighter, a veteran. … I knew it was going to be a hard war in his home country.”
