from mmajunie
Title fight or not, WEC 47's Miguel Torres wants a rematch with champ Brian Bowles
by Dann Stupp on Feb 10, 2010 at 5:10 pm ET
Miguel Torres hates to look too far into the future since he knows he has such a tough fight with Joseph Benavidez at WEC 47, but if victorious, the former champ wants a rematch with Brian Bowles.
And he doesn't care if Bowles, who makes a bantamweight title defense against Dominick Cruz on the same March 6 card, still has the belt or not.
If Torres tops Benavidez, he's asking WEC officials for the Bowles rematch – even if it means taking a pass on an immediate title shot.
"Whether Brian Bowles wins or loses, I want to fight him first," Torres told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) while in Columbus, Ohio, on a pre-WEC 47 media tour. "It's not that I have a personal vendetta. I'm just not happy with what happened to me against him. Nine out of 10 times, I beat him on paper. That was the one time."
Torres, of course, is referring to his August knockout loss to Bowles at WEC 42. Torres lost his belt and snapped a 17-fight win streak with the first-round KO, which many ranked as one of the year's biggest upsets. It's proven especially tough for Torres to swallow.
Now, both fighters return in three weeks at WEC 47, which takes place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus during the Arnold Sports Festival weekend. Bowles meets top contender Cruz in the headliner, and Torres meets Benavidez in a co-main event that likely serves as a No. 1 contender's bout.
"If it's Bowles (who wins), I'll push hard for the title shot," Torres said. "If he loses, and assuming I get past Benavidez, I'll pass on the title shot and push for the Bowles fight anyway.
"But I'm not looking past Benavidez. I mean, you think about things in your head and kind of lay them out. But he's a tough guy. He hits hard, and he's hard to hit. He's strong and powerful. I was telling [my camp] not even to talk about it (the Bowles rematch) because I want get past Benavidez first."
Torres in anxious for the rematch for a few reasons. For one, in 39 pro fights, he's lost only twice. He avenged his first career loss to Ryan Ackerman in dominant fashion, and he's eager to do the same with the Bowles loss.
Furthermore, Torres said his head just wasn't right for the fight, and his performance suffered because of it. As evidenced by the WEC 47 media tour, Torres is the WEC's go-to guy for media appearances, and in the lead-up to WEC 42, he trotted the globe attending WEC and UFC shows and doing countless interviews, luncheons and fan events to promote the fight.
For a guy who once simply ate, sleep and trained, the additional duties wore on Torres. He used to travel the world to seek out the best training and best training partners possible, but with such a hectic schedule, that changed.
"In the WEC, I got stagnant," he said. "I didn't change my game. Also, my opponents had access to video of a lot of my old fights. Brian Bowles had nine months to study it. A lot of people don't realize he didn't fight for nine months, so he had all that time training just for me."
Torres said he's since cut out most of the distractions (this week's tour notwithstanding), he's revamped his camp, spent time with Kurt Pellegrino's team in the Northeast, and has returned to a simpler daily schedule structured around his fight preparations.
In fact, he's so determined not to fall out of rhythm that – barring a loss or injury at WEC 47 – Torres would also like to fight at WEC 48, which marks the WEC's pay-per-view debut. The stacked April 24 card features two title fights and takes place in headliner Urijah Faber's hometown of Sacramento, Calif., a place that Torres said provides for an intense fighting experience.
"I'm totally open to [fighting at WEC 48] if I'm not hurt," he said. "I don't need a title shot anyway ... so if I win (at WEC 47) and Bowles and Cruz aren't ready, I'm willing to fight whoever else they find."
I don't think it's obsession at all. He lost to Bowles fair and square but let's be honest he was not doing what he should have been doing. He surrounded himself with a bunch of yes men and didn't train anything besides the same stuff because it was working. It's only his second loss and he already beat the last guy to beat him. Almost all fighters want a chance to redeem their losses and I gaurantee you when and if Bowles loses he will try and avenge that loss also.
I know alot of people read interviews about how someone has changed and is going to be more hungry and people jump on the wagon and buy into it, well i'm definately buying into Torres. He is going to tear it up and avenge that loss.
I like Torres, but the "9 out of 10" comment is LOL. Bowles dominated him and it wasn't a lucky fluke ala GSP/Serra. Bowles has power in both hands, good technique, great wrestling and slick subs. If Torres and Bowles meet up again it'll be a very even matchup in all likelihood.
torres is so busy getting sucked off by frank mir that he cant concentrate enough to keep his title.
The first fight wasn't close. I'm not saying Torres can't win in a re-match, but he'll have to make a big turnaround.
If Torres gets the fight to the ground, he wins. If he doesn't, Bowles does.
I think Torres whoops Bowles ass in the rematch. He made an error of charging at him... he can easily win the rematch.
The first fight wasn't close? I had the fight pretty even, maybe even with Torres slightly ahead, before he got caught.
That being said, I do favor Bowles in the rematch. It's gonna be a barn burner.
torres is obsessed with brians bowels?
JRW - The first fight wasn't close? I had the fight pretty even, maybe even with Torres slightly ahead, before he got caught.
That being said, I do favor Bowles in the rematch. It's gonna be a barn burner.
lol
There are only two strikes total thrown in the first 1:00
Bowles rocks him and knocks him down at 1:09.
Takes him down for GnP at 1:50.
Torres gets up at 3:00
Bowles knocks him out at 3:55
Bowles had a knockdown and a takedown before he knocked him out. Wasn't a close round.
I mean, I respect Miguel, but this guy put his lights out cleanly. Bowles has never lost a round afaik. Torres needs to take him seriously, hopefully he will now that he's lost to him. The whole 9/10 comment is lol.
It happens from time to time where a guy gets into someones head and they cant let it go. Hopefully it doesnt make him lose focus on his next fight looking for the rematch.
Mir obsessed with Brock
Swick obsessed with Hardy
BJ obsessed with GSP
SOme people are able to work through it, and others cant
Bowles is a tough fight for anyone, 10 out of 10 times. Torres doesn't beat him 9 out of 10.
I'm certainly willing to watch them fight again, but Bowles dominated him from start to finish last time. Torres shouldn't get a rematch unless he has a few great performances and/or Bowles somehow loses the championship.
Please don't post our entire stories here.
DannMMAjunkie - Please don't post our entire stories here.
Interesting. Why not? OP gave credit to yall. Would a link be okay?
"A lot of people don't realize he didn't fight for nine months, so he had all that time training just for me."
that's funny....cause if Torres hadn't fought in 9 months and lost, it would have been "it was too long in between fights"
9 months can be good or bad, but usually bad, imo
Bowles admitted that Torres had him hurt right before he rushed in. Torres won't make that mistake again.
GardnerD is obsessed w/ Miguel Torres