Ex-Bellator champ Joe Soto cleared to fight, targeted for Tachi Palace 10

Although his career once was in jeopardy due to a detached retina, first-ever Bellator featherweight champion Joe Soto is returning to the cage.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmjaunkie.com) the fighter has been cleared by his doctor and the California State Athletic Commission.

While still under contract to Bellator, Soto is slated for a return at Tachi Palace Fights 10 on Aug. 4.

With Bellator's permission, Soto (9-1) is expected to meet Hawaiian fight veteran Eddie Yagin (13-4-1) at the event, possibly in the night's headliner. According to Tachi Fights promoter Jeremy Luchau, Soto replaces Isaac De Jesus at the event. Verbal agreements are in place for the fight.

If all goes well for Soto, Rebney said, Soto could drop a weight class and be added to Bellator's star-studded season-four bantamweight tournament, which kicks off in September. The field, of course, includes the only man to defeat Soto: Joe Warren, who's also dropping a weight class.

Soto won Bellator's first-season featherweight tournament, which also earned him the belt. Then, in season two, he knocked out Diego Saraiva in a non-title fight. But in his first official title defense at Bellator 27, he suffered a TKO loss to Warren and suffered a detached retina in the process.

"(Soto's manager) Tom Call got a specialist in Northern California," Rebney said. "He went through the whole process of healing and waiting and seeing how everything lined up.

Ultimately, both the doctor and the California commission cleared Soto to fight again.

"The kid lives for this game," Rebney said. "It's everything he's about. He's been wrestling and on the mats, but he couldn't risk it striking until they saw how everything came together.

"We're happy he's back. He started the whole thing out. He was the first champion we ever crowned."