(image courtesy Josh Hedges/Zuffa)
Former Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres is on a mission to get what he considers “his belt” back. After going five years and 17 fights without a loss, Torres lost his belt to Brian Bowles at WEC 42 in August of ’09. At WEC 47, he begins a new phase of his career and faces a new challenge – coming back after a loss. Each week leading up to his March 6 match with Joseph Benavidez, Miguel will share his training and life stories with you here on Heavy.com.
When I last left you guys, I was in beautiful Columbus, Ohio doing some PR for the fights on March 6. Since then, I have made way up over to New Jersey to train with Kurt Pellegrino and his team. I’ve been training Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling with all of his guys. He’s got four fighters out of his gym that are Benavidez’ size, so I’ve been working with them a lot and things have been going great. They are outstanding wrestlers and boxers so they give me a great look.
I’m around 149lbs right now, so I’m right where I want to be. I’ve been working on my strength and conditioning with Sharon Wentworth and pushing my cardio hard. I’m doing the same cardio workouts that GSP does. Kurt has been doing all the same circuits that I do and he’s been pushing the hell out of me. It is a real benefit to have a great professional who is bigger and stronger there all the time making you not just train harder, but smarter and to be more technical. So training is going really well.
As great as the training has been, the weather here sucks bad. Four feet of snow and cold as shit all the time. But, looking on the bright side of things, it keeps me focused on my training because there’s nothing else to do. I’ve got no internet access at Kurt’s house, so that keeps me focused on the training too. I sleep, eat, and train…and watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the greatest show ever created.
I know the buzz right now is the Olympics, but I’m just not an Olympics kind of guy. Kurt had me watch some snowboarding one night, and it reminded me of skateboarding, not my thing. Ice Skating, that’s probably been the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Just like Blades of Glory, now that movie makes sense to me. All and all, winter is not my season, and that goes with winter sports.
So, looking at UFC 110, here are the Miguel Torres stone cold locks for the weekend:
– Cro Cop over Ben Rothwell because he’s a Croatian schwoog. (ed note: Rothwell has been replaced on the card, but odds are Miguel would still pick the Croatian Smashing Machine)
– Jardine is going to smash Bader by beard smother.
– I wanna say George Snufalufagus, but I think Joe is gonna beat him for sure.
– Wanderlei over Bisping via decapitation.
– I wanna go with family and say Cain, but Big Nog is Brazilian, so we’ve gotta be connected along the way somewhere. Too much experience. Big Nog has same bloodline in BJJ as me. Jiu Jitsu over Wrestling forever.
Not being home and being in Jersey has been real good for me so far. All I do is think about how I’m gonna approach this fight. Kurt’s a great wrestler and great Jiu Jitsu guy, so I don’t think I’m gonna see anything in Columbus that I haven’t seen here in Jersey – except maybe maybe some 300 pound women with 2% body fat (if you’ve never been to the Arnold Festival, it’s a trip). I can’t wait to show everyone that the last Miguel Torres they saw on television was not me. I’m a different person and a different fighter and they’ll see that on March 6.