Miguel Torres has bounced back.

Torres, the former world bantamweight champion who was on a two-fight losing streak, dominated Charlie Valencia Thursday night, winning by second-round submission at WEC 51.

"My two losses showed me I needed room to grow," Torres said, crediting his new coach Firas Zahabi. "I'm only 29. I've got a long way to go."

Torres looked a little overly cautious in the early going, sticking his left hand way out and using his enormous reach advantage more for defense than for offense. But with about 10 seconds left in the round he exploded, got Valencia down and rained punches on him, clearly winning a round that had been close until then.

Early in the second Torres landed a big right hand and a couple of kicks to get Valencia down again, followed by some hard elbows on the ground. From there Torres took Valencia's back and sunk in a body triangle for control, and worked his way to the rear-naked choke that forced Valencia to tap.

Valencia is a good fighter, but at 5-foot-3 he's undersized in the 135-pound weight class, and he'd be a natural to move down to flyweight if the WEC ever adds a 125-pound class.

Torres is a great fighter who had gone through a dry spell but looks a lot better now. With another win, he could get a chance at winning the bantamweight belt back in 2011.