Joe Soto attended Iowa Central Community College on an athletic scholarship and wrestled alongside Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez. Jones and Soto were roommates for their freshmen and sophomore years. Soto would begin his career with four straight finishes before signing on with Bellator for their first event and the featherweight tournament. He would make it to the finals defeating Ben Greer and Wilson Reis before finishing Yahir Reyes to earn the first featherweight title for the promotion.

He would pick up another win for the promotion over Diego Saraiva in a non title bout and would then lose his title to Joe Warren in his first loss. He would leave the promotion after that fighting for Tachi Palace Fights losing his second straight to Eddie Yagin. He would bounce back with 2 wins for another promotion before coming back to Tachi to rip off four straight wins including a win over Jeremiah Labiano for the vacant bantamweight title.

Soto would then get his shot at the UFC when he was scheduled to face Anthony Birchak at UFC 177. However due to the cancellation of the T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barão title fight Soto would step in at the last minute to get a shot at TJ. Soto was a huge underdog but put up a great effort against the champ before being finished by Dillashaw in the fifth round.

10 months after facing Dillashaw, Soto fought Anthony Birchak, at UFC Fight Night 68: Boetsch vs. Henderson. Birchak came out in an explosive fashion, as he was looking for his first victory in the UFC. Soto was rocked twice before finally being knocked out cold at 1:37 in Round 1.