Meet Miguel Torres, The Wrestler

“For me to be a complete grappler, to get a real black belt, I have to learn how to wrestle...That’s a part of my game that I’ve ignored for a long time." 37 professional victories despite no wrestling skill whatsoever.

Arguably the worst wrestler that elite MMA had to offer from the year 2000 all the way through 2010.  

Here’s the stone-cold truth: We will probably never see another like Miguel Angel Torres again in our lifetime. A legendary fighter who defied conventional wisdom, ignored the wrestling aspect of his sport altogether, and still won a world title and ruled the bantamweight division for the better part of a decade.

So I ask him, “Miguel, in 40 bouts, when’s the last time you took somebody down in a live fight?”

“Never,” he responds.

That’s right -- zero takedowns. And it’s not like the Purdue University graduate’s takedown defense was much better. UFC.com statistics show that Torres has stuffed a paltry 11 percent of his opponents’ takedowns, which might be a record low for a seasoned veteran in the organization.

The reason for Torres’ incessant neglect was simple: He held a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under the late great Carlson Gracie. He owned sick submission skills. Torres didn’t bother to shoot on foes because he could beat every one up standing (thanks in part to a massively long reach). And he didn’t concern himself with stopping takedowns because he was far superior to his adversaries on the ground, too. Take down Torres? Please. You were doing the guy a favor.

But along came Joseph Benavidez, a former state champion wrestler who single-handedly changed Miguel Torres’ life, changed the way Miguel Torres trains, changed Miguel Torres’ antagonistic relationship with wrestling. The Team Alpha Male fighter took Torres down at will in their battle last March and bloodied the East Chicagoan with a vicious elbow that literally required hundreds of stitches and the services of a plastic surgeon. Benavidez showed Torres the light, so to speak.

“I had to branch out,” said the 30-year-old Torres. “I had to learn how to wrestle.”

Indeed, the 135-pound weight class has been all but hijacked by high-caliber wrestlers who have added deft striking skills to round out their games. UFC champ Dominick Cruz fits the description, as does former kingpin Urijah Faber, top contender Scott Jorgensen and Japanese sensation Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto. Torres’ next opponent, Chuck Liddell teammate Antonio Banuelos, is another fighter who hails from the evolved wrestler ilk.

“I always knew we’d fight sometime and it just happens to be for my UFC debut,” said Torres, who meets Banuelos this Saturday night to jumpstart the UFC 126 main card.

“He’s a tough guy and he likes to throw big combinations. He’s got good takedowns and good ground-and-pound. He trains at a great team, ‘The Pit,’ so you know he’s in shape and he’s not going to get tired.”

Six months ago Banuelos would have been a bona fide lock to manhandle Torres in the wrestling department. But after hearing Torres rave on and on about wrestling -- how he’s training with many of the same wrestlers who molded Georges St-Pierre, how he’s added Olympic-style weightlifting and studied lots of wrestling videos – it’s enough to make a man forget the pre-2011 Torres. This “new” Torres, reinvented under widely respected trainer Firas Zahabi, sure sounds transformed.

“I even demoted myself from a black belt to a brown belt,” Torres noted, referring to his rank in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

He proceeded to give the rational for this self-imposed stripping. Zahabi was still ranked as a brown belt several months ago. Torres owned a black belt, an honor he had held for years.

“I can’t be a black belt and he’s a brown belt,” Torres explained. “I did it out of respect for a guy that I’m training under and call my “master.’”

Master?

“He’s one of the only guys I’ve ever called master,” Torres said.

(Incidentally, John Danaher awarded Zahabi his BJJ black belt on New Year’s Day).

“When Firas feels that I’m ready to get a black belt then I’ll get my black belt from him,” Torres said. “For me to be a complete grappler, to get a real black belt, I have to learn how to wrestle. I have to 100 percent be able to decide whether the fight is going to be standing or on the ground. That’s a part of my game that I’ve ignored for a long time. I thought I could remedy it by doing better jiu-jitsu but the game has changed, it’s totally different. I’m studying wrestling in-depth now.”

This rebirth is happening amid the frigid temperatures and snow-lined streets of Montreal, where Torres has called Zahabi’s basement home for the past two months.

“I’m a hermit. I come up only to eat and take a shower and then go back downstairs,” said Torres, who for the first 10 years of his career trained in Chicago or his hometown, East Chicago, Indiana. “I don’t have my car for the winter so I’m pretty much at the gym or (Firas’) house. I just try to keep my eye on the prize. I went back to square one and got away from all of my comforts.”

The charismatic former champ believes that this relative solitude and simplicity will lead him back to his lost throne. It is striking, I must say, how frequently Torres mentions Firas’ name during our interview. Rarely a minute passes without the occurrence, giving the distinct impression that Torres is utterly convinced that the man who helped architect GSP’s ascent will deliver the same impact on his own career.

“During the first month we would have talks until like four or five in the morning,” Torres said. “It was crazy, but he’s a great leader, a great coach and a great mentor. Firas is a great fit.”

Zahabi, he says, has tried to reform him from an all-out brawler into a strategic thinker.

“Firas talked to me about not going in for guts and glory every time,” Torres said. “I’ve always gone out there to out-tough somebody, but just because you’re the toughest doesn’t mean you’re the smartest. The biggest thing I’ve changed is my mentality … I’ve watched a lot of my fights with Firas and he’s showed me a hundred times how every time I go in with a combination I’m going in elbow and shoulder deep with punches and kicks and it’s very dangerous. So he’s trying to clean up my striking.”

Torres began working with Firas last year, two months before his bout against Charlie Valencia, a contest he won handily to break a two-fight losing streak.

“We watched that last fight and it was a huge difference from the other fights that I’ve had,” Torres remarked. “I didn’t get hit at all in my face. I got kicked in my leg two or three times. I just controlled the distance and totally frustrated my opponent. It’s exciting to know that I can win a fight by being smart and not taking damage.”

Such a smooth and one-sided performance meant he didn’t need to show off Torres 3.0. But he expects to continue to impress on Saturday night, and, for anyone wondering – yes, his notorious mullet will once again be in full effect inside the Octagon.

“It’s a long time coming. From watching the first UFC with Royce Gracie to actually being able to call myself a UFC fighter, it’s a great honor,” Torres said. “The most important thing is to get back on track with my fighting career, especially now that my weight class is in the UFC now.

“I made a whole new family out here in Montreal. If I wouldn’t have lost that fight to Benavidez then I would have been training somewhere else. So everything happens for a reason. My mind, my heart and my body are in the right place now. I’m chasing a dream. I want to be a UFC champ and I know I can achieve that. I expect big things in the next couple of years.”

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Stakes High for Torres in UFC Debut

Miguel Torres (right) faces high stakes at UFC 126. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

For years, Miguel Torres led a life strangely defined by dominance and anonymity. Inside the cage, he ran up dozens upon dozens of wins against only one -- later avenged -- loss. But those wins came at a time when lighter weight fighters struggled to capture the public’s imagination. Many of Torres’ victories remain unchronicled to this day, and his known triumphs took place almost exclusively in low-profile shows in the Midwest. Torres had a feared reputation but lacked the proper stage to showcase his skills.

That changed with Zuffa’s purchase of World Extreme Cagefighting. The WEC became the promotion for lighter weight North American fighters, and Torres had the venue to become a star. Torres won the WEC bantamweight title in his second bout for the promotion and defended it successfully on three occasions. Torres’ name was a mainstay in pound-for-pound lists, and his classic bout with Takeya Mizugaki drew more than 5,000 fans in Chicago.

With fame arrived a new set of challenges. Opponents once knew little about Torres’ tendencies. Now, they were studying his game for weaknesses and devoting training camps to tackle his particular style. Torres’ anonymity vanished, but so, too, did his dominance. Torres dropped consecutive bouts via knockout to Brian Bowles and submission to Joseph Benavidez.

Following the first back-to-back losses of his over decade long career, Torres decided to make major changes. He turned to Firas Zahabi, the renowned trainer of UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. Torres traveled to Montreal’s Tristar Gym to prepare for his next fight. He defeated Charlie Valencia in the second round of WEC 51 and picked up the “Submission of the Night” bonus.

To prepare for his UFC debut against Antonio Banuelos at UFC 126 on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas , Torres returned to Zahabi for a full three-month training camp. The longer-than-usual camp was intended to quickly build on the adjustments and additions made to Torres’ game in preparation for the September bout with Valencia. It also allowed Torres to keep a tight focus on MMA rather than the trappings that come with fame and success.

“I think he was focused on too many things,” Zahabi says of Torres’ recent past. “The lifestyle of a champion can be distracting. In Montreal, it’s secluded. Distractions are kept to a minimum. When you have distractions, it kills performance.”

Torres’ performance will be under greater scrutiny than ever before as he moves to MMA’s biggest stage. As WEC champion, he fought in front of large crowds and in high-profile fights. That will help him as he makes the adjustment to a new organization. Still, there was never the scrutiny that comes from competing at a major UFC event. A victory over Banuelos and Torres could find himself challenging for the UFC bantamweight title or even coaching on “The Ultimate Fighter.”

With the stakes so high for Torres, Zahabi raves about the fighter’s preparation and ability.

“He has been training relentlessly,” Zahabi says. “It was a long, hard training camp and I feel like he’s very prepared. I believe that the old Miguel would have beaten Banuelos. The new Miguel should have a good time on Saturday night. It should be a good fight. I’m very confident Miguel will assume the dominant position on the ground and have the upper hand in the striking.”

Banuelos, a longtime friend and training partner of UFC hall of famer Chuck Liddell, has a lot in common with Torres. They have both been fighting professionally since a young age, and Banuelos was one of the WEC’s top bantamweight fighters back when the promotion still ran in Lemoore, Calif., well before Torres joined up. There will be no intimidation on the part of either MMA veteran. Banuelos is less submission oriented than Torres but utilizes a similar mixture of striking and wrestling.

Perhaps the greatest similarity between Banuelos and Torres lies not in their common MMA past or their similar abilities but in their penchant for exciting fights. Either Torres or Banuelos could serve as a poster child for the all-action reputation of WEC lighter weight fights. That reputation netted Torres and Banuelos the first bantamweight or featherweight pay-per-view main card bout in UFC history. At the biggest UFC event of the early 2011 calendar, they will have the opportunity to steal the show from the likes of Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin and Jon Jones.

Banuelos has fought in enough high-profile fights over the years for the Torres camp to formulate a carefully tailored gameplan. Banuelos has won four of his last five fights, but Zahabi sees vulnerabilities in his game.

“You’ve got to attack his weakness,” Zahabi says. “He’s a very circular-style puncher, and he likes to throw bombs. He’s not very good with double-leg shooting but can close the distance and is good in the clinch. He’s resilient in the submission game and adept at avoiding attacks on the ground. He’s not a slick jiu-jitsu guy but knows what’s going on.”

With the challenge outlined, it falls on Torres to back up the hype and pull out the win. Just like a few years ago when he debuted for WEC, he has the opportunity to win over a new base of fans. This time, his opponents are going to be more than ready for him. But the hope is he, too, will enter with a heretofore unmatched level of skill and preparation. The stakes have never been higher.

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