Torres singleminded in purpose

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Miguel Torres is one of the world's elite mixed martial artists. Some of the best fighters in the world look up to the skinny bantamweight from East Chicago, Ind., and rely on him for technique and advice.

But this was no fight that Torres was dominating. He was sitting a few days before UFC 96 in a Nationwide Arena room filled with journalists who were slack-jawed at the performance he was giving.

He was ostensibly there to talk about his upcoming title defense against Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 40 in Chicago, but there was precious little conversation about what could turn out to be a surprisingly difficult fight.

One of the veteran journalists who attended walked away from the 45-minute session shaking his head and calling Torres "inspirational." Another couldn't stop repeating "amazing."

Torres was all of those things. And more. He spoke of trying to encourage students at his gang-infested high school to avoid trouble and pursue education. He explained how his only loss made him a better fighter. He detailed the work he's doing with world-class fighters in an attempt to improve their games.

But the most significant thing that came out of his mouth was the complete and total dedication he has to his craft and how much of his life he gives to his sport.

He lives at the gym weekdays and only goes home on weekends. His wife brings his daughter to the gym daily so they can spend time together.

His message is clear: You can't have a normal life and be a world-class anything. Something in life has to give and, in this case, it's the usual family life.

Torres is ranked fourth in the Yahoo! Sports rankings, behind only Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko and Georges St. Pierre. He's also quickly gaining a reputation as one of the sport's most sought-after instructors.

UFC interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir raves about Torres' knowledge and insight into the sport and has worked with him for years. So, too, has light heavyweight contender Stephan Bonnar.

But Torres' success comes at a cost. Many priceless moments at home between a father and daughter aren't going to be found in a cold and sterile gym.

It's a fine line to be walked. He sacrifices to make his family's life better, but he can't sacrifice so much that he becomes a stranger in his own home. It's a tough dance.

"I have to stay at the gym because when I go home, I don't feel right," Torres, 28, said. "I don't feel right (going home) because I have so much responsibility. At the gym, I have two assistants who help me take care of everything. I have one guy who makes sure I have all my meals, my protein shakes and makes sure my bills get paid. The other guy takes care of my gym. As far as running the gym when I'm training for a fight, they take care of everything for me.

"But I'm sacrificing a lot. For me to be where I am now, it took a lot of sacrifice. I can't forget what it took to be here. I've seen a lot of guys come up by sacrificing. When they get here, they want to party and want to have a good time, and they forget what it took to get them there."

Torres has never forgotten. His training and his commitment are unlike anyone else's. He doesn't train with timed rounds, and he has five or six opponents who outweigh him by 20 to 70 pounds. When the fighter he's rolling with begins to tire, the next guy replaces him.

"My energy can't drop or else I'll get beaten up," Torres said.

That kind of commitment is why Torres is so highly regarded and nearly untouchable as a bantamweight.

The cost is the intimacy of family life and seeing different things in his daughter's life. Some new parents take photos or video of every day of their new child's life. Torres has to be content with seeing her a few hours a day when he's in the gym.

He concedes it's not ideal, but the sacrifice is what has made him the star he's become.

"I'm never home and the gym is home," Torres said. "When I was coming up, before I got married and before I had my daughter, I was living in my gym. Staying in the gym keeps me in the right mind-frame. I wake up in the morning, I brush my teeth and I work out.

"My living room is mats and a cage and a heavy bag. I go to sleep and I walk in my living room and I see the gym. I go upstairs in my living room and I watch cartoons and the cage is there. I'm in my element. It's like a shark. You don't take a shark and put it on the beach; the shark needs to be in the water."

He understands what he's giving up but is patient enough to wait for the reward.

"My reward is knowing my family is going to be taken care of and that I can provide the best I can for them and give them a better life than I had," he said. "Parents all through history went without so their children would have what they need.

"It's no different than me. I have a pretty tough job and I'm taking it as seriously as I can so I can make something of myself for them. That's it."