Torres no longer a one-man show
After suffering back-to-back losses, Miguel Torres knew his old coach had taken him as far as he could go in his mixed martial arts career.
It was just a matter of looking in the mirror and letting him know.
“For a long time, I was my own coach and it worked,” Torres said. “I kept doing it and it kept working, so I never stopped.”
He realized it was time for a change after losing his World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight title to Brian Bowles in August 2009 at the Hard Rock Hotel and then being submitted by Joseph Benavidez in his next bout.
Torres hooked up with Firas Zihabi, one of welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre’s primary trainers, at Tristar Gym in Montreal.
“I knew right away this is where I have to train to get better as a fighter and be a champion again,” Torres said.
Torres has won back-to-back fights, including his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in February, since teaming with Zihabi and will meet Demetrious Johnson at UFC 130 on Saturday at the MGM Grand.
Zihabi thinks it’s good that Torres decided to reach out to him when he did.
“I think we really met at a very crucial time. If you lose two fights in a row, you need something new, because what you’re doing is not working,” Zihabi said. “If you lose three in a row, you might lose total confidence in yourself, and that three in a row might turn into something worse.”
Torres did just fine with his training methods for much of his career.
He started 20-0, then followed his first loss with another 17-fight winning streak. When he lost to Bowles, Torres had successfully defended his WEC belt three times and was considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters.
The two consecutive losses made Torres realize his style, which consisted mostly of an outstanding grappling game coupled with a fairly wild striking style, wasn’t going to take him any further.
Zihabi was impressed by how far Torres was able to go on his own.
“I’ve got to be honest, I was extremely surprised (at his prior success) because he did things in such a different way. Sometimes, it seemed very uncalculated to me,” Zihabi said. “But still, I realized he had so many great assets as well. Incredible heart, incredible determination. He’s got incredible work capacity. He can train very hard for really long periods of time.”
Much of the work went into learning to wrestle and tightening up his striking game, particularly his jab. Torres, 30, admits he did very little, if any, wrestling because he was so confident in his jiu-jitsu. Zihabi changed that, but he also added a great deal of structure that Torres didn’t have when he was trying to be coach and athlete.
Torres compares the work they have done together to restoring a classic vehicle.
“It’s like you’ve got this really nice old car and it’s got excellent horsepower and looks really good, but every now and then, you’ve got to give it an overhaul, and that’s what Firas did,” he said. “We started off with the basics, working on the little things.”
To some, Torres’ new style might appear more conservative. Torres thinks it’s just smart.
“I get a lot of people on Facebook and Twitter that say, ‘You used to know how to fight, you used to know how to box,’ ” he said. “I’m like, ‘Dude, what are you talking about?’ It’s the exact opposite.”
Torres is even talking about game plans these days as he prepares to face Johnson, one of the fastest fighters in all of MMA.
“I get asked that question a lot about his speed, and my answer is, ‘How do you catch a mouse?’ ” Torres said. “With a trap.”
Zihabi is just the person to help him set it.
The fight is one of two that will air live on Spike TV (Cable 29) beginning at 5 p.m. The five-fight main card will air live on pay per view at 6.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.
