Author: MMA Fighting Newswire

Watch Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua 2 full fight video to relive Henderson’s devastating knockout of Rua at UFC Fight Night 38 on March 23, 2014. Henderson squares off against Tim Boetsch in UFC Fight Night 68’s main event this Saturday night.

UFC bantamweight Joe Soto has had one of the more interesting UFC careers for a fighter with only one bout in the organization. Scheduled to take on Anthony Birchak on late notice for UFC 177, he ended up fighting in the main event for the bantamweight title opposite T.J. Dillashaw when former champ Renan Barao was pulled from the event.

Soto didn’t win, but he fought valiantly before being stopped in the fifth round. It was as odd of a UFC debut as one can have, but even more strangely, he hasn’t fought since.

Soto told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s MMA Hour he wasn’t really injured after the fight. He’s basically just been waiting for the right opportunity to return, which he gets Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 68 against Birchak, his original UFC 177 opponent

“I guess, a little bit, but you can always gain that back with an awesome fight, good performance,” Soto said of losing momentum by not fighting soon after his loss to Dillashaw. “I’m not really too worried about that. As long as I keep winning, good things will happen, I guess.

“It took a while,” Soto said in terms of understanding the whole experience. “I think that’s why I took a little break, too. It took a while for everything to sink in. The biggest thing was I was just relieved I was finally in the UFC. It took a lot of years to get here. I think that’s what I needed, like a breather, because I hustled for so many years to try to grind to get in. It was hard to get in.

“Definitely it was weird, that whole situation,” he continued. “It took a while for, ‘Wow, it happened.’ It was cool.”

The long-time MMA veteran gave Dillashaw about as good of a fight as one can expect on 24 hours notice. That doesn’t mean, however, he doesn’t look back with some regrets about what could’ve gone differently.

“There’s a lot of things I could’ve did differently,” he admitted. “It’s kind of hard to game plan in one night for the best guy in the world. I could’ve won, I guess. I don’t know. He’s a tough fighter. I think next time it could be different. You never know. He’s always going to be dangerous no matter how much time I have to prepare.

“There’s a couple of things I could’ve did different that I was like, ‘Man, I should’ve did that’. It was hard to be confident going into that fight in your cardio and everything 100 percent because you just didn’t prepare for that fight, that situation. I couldn’t go 100 percent. I had to reserve my energy. I had to fight 80 percent. I couldn’t push like I wanted to. I don’t know. That fight could go a lot of different ways because we’re both athletic.”

Soto believes, in retrospect, more leg kicks and diverse striking could’ve kept Dillashaw guessing. He stuck with his boxing thinking it was the safer route. And maybe it was, Soto conceded, but it wasn’t enough to get the job done.

That doesn’t mean the experience wasn’t rewarding. Soto says everyone from his gym teammates to people on the street to online messengers showed him a ton of support.

“Everybody was definitely happy for me. Everybody was real positive. Everybody thought I did real well,” he noted. “A lot of encouraging words. It was just happy around here, everybody that knows me.

“From the fans on Facebook, people were sending me messages from all over the world saying that I did a good job and congratulating me. Telling me I’m inspirational or whatever, for whatever reasons. It was cool.”

For all the highs and lows of the experience, one thing it definitely wasn’t is something he’s still looking for: a win inside the UFC. Fighting in the main event on short notice had its perks, but a loss is a loss. What he struggles with now ahead of the Birchak fight is just getting a win inside the world’s top MMA promotion.

Fighting Dillashaw was interesting, but until he gets a win in the UFC, it’s not the validation he’s looking for.

“A part of me feels like I made it. Nobody in home town, nobody in my area has ever reached the pinnacle this high in anything. Part of me feels like, ‘Hey, I made it’ and just try to have fun with it and obviously win,” Soto said.

But, he argued, it’s not enough. Getting past Birchak, earning the win inside the Octagon, that, more than anything, is what he’s craving.

“A part of me, obviously, I need to get that first win to really prove to myself that I made it. I think I’ll be a little less nervous after I get that first win under my belt.”

Bellator is in the process of paring down its roster again. As Bloody Elbow reported, the Viacom-owned promotion released eight fighters on Wednesday, including longtime veteran Rameau Sokoudjou.

The other fighters who were handed their pink slips included two-time UFC veteran Razak Al-Hassan, the 21-year old Brazilian prospect Julio Cesar Nevez, Curtis Millender, Jesse Juarez, Rafael Silva, Antonio Duarte and Alejandro Villalobos.

Each of the fighters who were cut from the roster are coming off of losses.

None of the cuts were bigger than the Cameroonian fighter, Sokoudjou, who spent time in the late-2000s in Pride FC and the UFC. The Team Quest fighter had won back-to-back fights for Bellator in 2014 over Terry Davinney and Malik Merad but lost to Linton Vassell his last time out at Bellator 134 via second-round TKO.

Sokoudjou’s biggest win to date remains his shocking 23-second knockout of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at Pride 33. He followed that up with a knockout of Ricardo Arona at Pride 34 six weeks later to boost his stock heading into the UFC. Since that time Sokoudjou has gone 12-12 as a journeyman, with a 1-2 record in the UFC.

Sokoudjou (2-1), along with Silva (3-2), Juarez (3-2) and Neves (2-1), all posted winning records during their time with Bellator.

UFC made big changes to its drug policy Wednesday afternoon. The organization announced it has selected USADA as an independent arbitrator of its new year-round program, calling it “the best anti-doping program in all of professional sports.”

I hope all the juicers are shaking in their boots bc USADA doesn’t mess around!

— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) June 3, 2015

Hey @danawhite remember when I said you could and should do this in 2012 and you retorted that it was impossible??? LOL

— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) June 3, 2015

This is so awesome.

— Coach (@CMPunk) June 3, 2015

I think that makes sense. The only people concerned about a long suspension are those on stuff…just be clean https://t.co/q8zVpUThfE

— Sarah Kaufman (@mmasarah) June 3, 2015

Very curious to see how the new drug testing system is gonna work and who are gonna get caught! Should be lots of fun 🙂

— Stefan Struve (@StefanStruve) June 3, 2015

Great to see @ufc setting the bar for all professional sports when it comes to doping! What’s your thoughts? https://t.co/SDs2N5O0NQ

— Joseph duffy (@Duffy_MMA) June 3, 2015

Really liking this new drug testing policy. #fightclean

— Scott jorgensen (@Scottjorgensen) June 3, 2015

https://t.co/JOkYeE0xz3

— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) June 3, 2015

after all this drug testing chat in the UFC it makes me wonder how many people ive lost to o… http://t.co/O4fbmqo02Q

— Michael McDonald (@MaydayMcDonald) June 3, 2015

Times are changing for the better in @ufc . Happy to be a part of it #usada

— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) June 3, 2015

Love the out of competition testing, I think more out of competition is needed

— Al Iaquinta (@ALIAQUINTA) June 3, 2015

I’m very proud of the @ufc for taking a serious position on #PEDs. I hope they follow through with everything and clean this sport up.

— Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) June 3, 2015

Bethe Correia talks about her simmering feud with Ronda Rousey and their title fight at UFC 190.

Urijah Faber looks back at his loss to Frankie Edgar last month and discusses what’s next for him.