Torres has a desperate housewife
WEC bantamweight champ Miguel Torres is 35-1. He just destroyed a high level opponent, Manny Tapia, without using most of his weapons. Most pound-for-pound lists have him amongst the top 10 fighters in the world. He's quickly becoming the face of World Extreme Cagefighting with good exposure on Versus. He's on top of the world, right? Wrong. Torres says he's not good at anything and has a long way to go. Worse yet his wife pays the price for his humility:
"Being the champ for WEC, I have a bullseye on my back. A win against me can change somebody's life," said Torres. "I know (my opponents are) training 10 times harder. I'm just pre-occupied with my opponents. He's probably training or watching tape. There will be times it'll be two in the morning at my house, I'll tell my wife I got to go running."
He's almost won over his wife, Jyllian (pictured with daughter Yelena), but she still has a little doubt about his true motives:
"She thinks I'm going out somewhere else, til i come back home covered with sweat and stink."
Click below to listen to Torres speak about his drive:
Torres further explained what drives him to stay on top:
"Everything can get better. I'm not perfect. Everyone is human, anybody can be outworked. I can't think that I'm good at anything. I don't think that I'm good at anything. I try to keep that in mind. It pushes me to learn more things."
Torres also said Urijah Faber's recent title loss at featherweight is also a motivating factor. Faber hadn't dropped a fight since 2005 before he was knocked from 145-pound perch by Mike Brown.
You can hear the entire WEC 37 post-fight press here.
NOTE: WEC did hand out post-fight cash bonuses. Fight of the Night went to Cub Sawnson and Hiroyuki Takaya. Brian Bowles got Submission of the Night and Bart Palaszewski got Knockout of the Night. All four fighters got a $7,500 bonus. It was also a night to bet the favorites. The host venue, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, booked all 10 fights. The favorites were 10-0.
Photo via CombatLifestyle.com
