Miguel Torres: Over-Hyped or Under-Prepared

After watching WEC 47, the most shocking thing was the way that Miguel Torres was throughly dominated by Joesph Benavidez.  There were a lot of other surprises outcomes (Palaszewski's come from behind armbar, Pettis's brutal knockout of Danny Castillo, and Cruz taking the title), but it all comes down to Torres and his last few fights.  I want to preface my next statement with I think the WEC is an amazing promotion.  They have some of the best guys around, and put on awesome cards almost every time. 

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Their champions are way over-hyped though(at least they were two years ago).   It all started with WEC 36 and Faber vs Brown 1.  I was sitting about five rows back on the floor for that fight, the hype was unbelievable.  I had brought my friend, Freddy, to his first fight.  I was buying into the hype and telling him about how great Urijah was and how he was going to roll through MTB.  I remember when Miguel Torres walked by our seats.  He had this look of arrogance about him that just put people off (at least I though that's what it was, Freddy thought no one even knew who he was).  Fighters were walking through the crowd all night that night.  They were all stopped by fans and asked for autographs, except Torres.  The night was a weird one.  First you had the awkward Sonnen/Filho 2 with Filho seemingly in another world the whole time.  you could hear him talking to someone from the crowd, but it did not seem like his corner and it sure wasn't Sonnen.  Then came Urijah's knockout at the hands of MTB. 

At the time, I wondered the same question that I am now do about Torres: Was Faber overhyped or just under-prepared? After watching his next three fights, I can say probably just under-prepared for the beast that is MTB, but what does this have to do with Torres and why am I bringing it up?  The WEC was a small show.  They for a long while concentrated their assets in Sacramento, built up the appearance of un-beatable champs, and stayed profitable.  Then they took that money they were making and bettered their divisions.   They signed every 135'er and 145'er trying to find some serious talent.  

So now back to Torres, his fight with Takeya Mizugaki was the tell tale fight for me.  Mizugaki was a highly ranked guy coming out of Japan and was supposed to give Torres all he could handle.  In a way he did.  As I was watching that fight I remember all I could think of is why the hell is Torres being so stupid.  He could kill this guy on the ground.  Take him down and take him out.  They went on to a five round war that most people were nominating for fight of the year.   I was not one of those.  To me, the fight was a microcosm of Torres: great fighter, really skilled both standup and on the ground, does not understand playing to your strengths or to his opponent's weaknesses.  You could even go back to his beatdown of Manny Tapia the fight before Mizugaki.  In retrospect, Tapia should have been able to hang in the same cage as Torres, but it took Torres two rounds to TKO him and really neither's standup was something that was impressive.

Then came the Bowles fight, and I had already stopped buying into the Torres hype train.  Unfortunately, I was with my buddies (all casuals) and I had sold them long ago on how good Torres was.  I was hearing plenty of noise as I was telling them this was my upset special for the night (a few of them like to gamble), and none of them believed me and put their money down on Bowles.  After the fight, all I heard about was lucky punch this and how he hit him in the 'right spot' and it would never happen twice. 

Fast forward to last night and his second round tapout loss to Joseph Benavidez.  Miguel did not play to his advantage or his style at all.  Miguel had a huge reach advantage (11 inches).    Not once did he try to pepper Benavidez with jabs to keep him at distance. Not once did he try to work some majic with his long legs and outstanding jui jitsu (you have to give Benavidez some credit though.  When he had Miguel down he was non-stop).  Let's not take anything away from Benavidez.  He fought a smart fight.  He was super quick on the takedowns.  And as soon as he got over his early nervousness (Benavidez seemed afraid to engage about the first 1:30) and when he decided he could hang with Torres, Benavidez outclassed the former champ. 

Torres trained for this fight with Mark Dellagrotte and Kurt Pelligrino.  The same crew that Kenny Florian trained with before his last title fight with BJ Penn.  Could that have been his problem: poor game planning?  I can't blame this one on Dellagrotte (although I am sure he did not help).  Miguel talks the talk well.  Everytime I hear him on MMA Live or giving another interview, he has a super-high fight IQ and understands what someone needs to do in a fight to play to their strengths.  Why does that not translate to the cage?  I have no clue.  Maybe he needs to go jump on with a big camp with a big name trainer.  A lot of fighters are too busy with trainers that tell them what they want to hear.  They tell them that they are making great decisions and have a great game plan even when they do not.  I believe this is Miguel's problem.  He needs to go to a camp like Greg Jackson's where he will not be coddled as a former champ and he will be told what he needs to do be a champ again.  Torres is a real talented fighter who should still be at the top of his division.  He needs to get back to his super-aggressive volume approach to striking (think Nick Diaz).  He needs to pull guard occasionally and work to set up his awesome jiu jitsu with his length.  He needs to use the many tools in his arsenal to his advantage.  He needs to stay away from his opponent's strengths.   As a fan, i hope he does.  As a student of the game, I am not sure he can. 

Some other after-card thoughts on last night's event:

Scott Jorgensen was openly campaigning for a spot on the pay per view next month after the fight.  Give him a fight there and let him build up his name to be the next title contender for the winner of Cruz/Benavidez 2.  Shalrous just dropped out of his fight with Varner and they have a main card slot open.

Lil Evil Jens Pulver has had a great career, and unfortunately his time has passed.  Don't let him ruin his image further by going to another fight promotion and further diluting his record.  If Frank Mir really has been dropped from his announcing duties for the WEC because of his Brock comments, give it to Pulver.  He is a sharp guy and would not ramble like you hear from some of these other guys (like Bonnar).  It will give him a chance to get paid and the time to do what he should be doing, mentoring younger guys.

The UFC needs more ring girls like Brittney Palmer.  Git rid of Chandra Powell and promote Brittney to the primetime stop, next to Arriany.

Back to Jorgensen for a minute, that guillotine move were he pressed him against the cage and used it to lift him in the air was sick!!!!  Best setup for a sub I have seen in a whil

Last but not least, Ohio refereeing needs to get fixed if they expect any major shows to make their way there.  Jerry Po (sp? ) had the weirdest standards for groin hit stoppages I have ever seen, and the times he stood people up, let's just say I was confused.