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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"When I fought Bowles, a lot of people were criticizing my style for leaving myself open a lot. I was being criticized by a couple of coaches that my style was too aggressive, I come forward too much and I leave myself open too much. And I always knew that, but I didn't really care because I was like, 'Prove it to me, or shut the (heck) up.' I didn't care...
The fight with Bowles, I ended up getting caught. But a lot of doubts started creeping into my mind that maybe I am too open, maybe I am too aggressive, maybe I am too crazy. So I tried to revert to a different style that wasn't mine. That whole training camp (for Benavidez), I was training for a fight that wasn't my style. And it was just frustrating because my style is to come forward. My style is to press my opponent. My style is to strike from any direction. The whole time against Benavidez, I was going back on purpose...
I'm really frustrated, not just with my performance (against Benavidez), but with myself in general in holding back and not fighting my last fight. My last fight really made me angry. Every second I didn't attack, I let my opponent's confidence grow. And it was very frustrating to watch that fight because I didn't fight. The Bowles fight, at least I went for it. I hurt him, I chased him, I got caught. I went for it, I got caught. The Benavidez fight, I didn't do (crap). I did not do one thing."
-A frustrated Miguel Torres talks to MMAFighting.com about getting back to his aggressive fighting style, that brought him 17 straight victories, against Charlie Valencia at WEC 51 in September.
Penick's Analysis: Torres was extremely gun-shy against Benavidez, and it was clear that the knockout loss to Bowles weighed heavily on him. I think Valencia's in for a rough night at WEC 51, because a pissed off Torres is not someone that many would want to be standing across from in the bantamweight division, and Valencia doesn't have the KO ability that Bowles represented. This should be a big fight for Torres on his road back up the bantamweight division.
RELATED STORY: WEC NEWS: Miguel Torres vs. Charlie Valencia on tap for WEC 51 in Colorado: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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