It's Never Too Early to Get Cised for Torres

Is Miguel Torres the best, pound for pound fighter in the world?  At the age of 27 he sit atop his much unheralded and under recognized weight class.  He has defeated every opponent he has fought and has finished 80% of his fights.  He has not gone to a decision in three years.  Over his career he has regularly fought much heavier opponents. Opponents weighing as much as 205lbs.  His only blemish on an otherwise remarkable record was a decision loss to Ryan Ackerman.  A loss that was avenged two years later by finishing Ackerman in the first round by armbar.  Sure Torres is great, but is his track record a who’s who of nobodies? Not exactly, but he could use a clearer path to top competition.  That’s what the WEC brings to the lighter weights in the states.  Torres has been a force to this point, but there is still much to prove.  How much further does Torres have to go to be crowned the best?  How can someone end his run as a powerhouse bantam? What exactly is a bantam?  All this and more, after the jump.

The first Ackerman fight is an example of how, I think, one can manage to beat Torres, but it is still no easy task.  Ackerman, put on a display of top control and positional dominance and defended submission after submission.  Torres displayed why a guard pulling mentality brought from BJJ class can lead to losses in the MMA ring.  Ackerman refused to be submitted and had enough in his gas tank to stay in control and win a close decision (29-28 X3).  It may seem like I am harping on a close loss from almost five years ago and not really making my case for Torres, but I think you can learn much more from fighter losses then from any number of wins.

Its important to have a firm grasp on a fighters weakness before calling them the best.  One of Torres’ biggest assets is his aggressiveness, but it can lead to sloppiness and loss of position.  Watching his more recent fights you can see it still exists, but not to the same extent.  The glaring weakness in his competition is also another barrier to calling him the best.  Being in the states puts him half a world away from some of the best lower weight class fighters.  At 135lbs fighters aren’t exactly headlining and raking in the dough.  The water is muddy in the US and JP because there is little incentive to travel for the lower weights because the hype is not there for the fights to happen.  There is little excitement as compared to Liddell/Wandy.  Torres said in an interview after UFC 90 that he was offered $500 to fight in Japan and that didn’t include a flight for a corner man (see the interview in an earlier BE post).  Now with Torres calling the WEC home there is enough infrastructure to make this high level fights happen, but only time will tell.  So far so good though, Torres has put away all comers since his WEC coming out party versus Jeff Bedard.  Needing less then a round to put away the cardio king and top control master Chase Beebe.  Then putting on a dominating performance against Yoshiro Maeda.

Torres is slated to take on Manny Tapia December 5th and I couldn’t be more excited.  Tapia was scheduled for a title shot over a year ago, but was sidelined with a knee injury.  He renewed his quest for the title with a split decision win over Antonio Banuelos.  He brings in an impressive ten wins and one draw record, but has his work cut out for him with Torres.

So if Torres the greatest? Maybe.  But his lack of a steady diet of competition raises some questions.  I think he has the skills to set himself apart, but that is very different then laying his division to waste and standing unchallenged and undisputed as the best of the best.  I think he is on the short list and looking to make the list even shorter with a few more key wins over some more diverse competition.  Consistently being matched up with fighters of the same size might put the spotlight on his skill as a fighter. 

See Torres in his only lose, five years ago.

Ryan Ackerman vs. Miguel Torres

As I was typing this up Tracy Lee of CombatLifestyle send me a message about her blog.  She spent a few days with Torres leading up to UFC 90.  Check it

Also a Bantam is a real thing.