Miguel Torres has never been in the position before. Flattened on his back and unconscious inside a cage.It was rare enough that he emerged out a fight without his hands raised (he's lost only once prior in 38 fights), but Torres' bantamweight title loss to Brian Bowles Sunday night at WEC 42 was the first time he's ever been finished in over nine years of fighting.
Despite the surprising defeat, Torres told reporters at the post-fight press conference that he's looking forward to the new challenge of reclaiming his belt.
"I start from the beginning again, it's going to be fun," Torres said. "I was on top for a long time. Brian's a strong guy, he hits real hard – as you can tell. It's going to be a fun road back. I don't look at this as a setback at all. It's a new challenge in my career, and it's going to be fun to beat him up the next time I fight him."
The end of the bout came when Torres aggressively pushed forward with punches that rattled Bowles but also left an opening for Bowles to counter with a right hook. The heavy shot clipped Torres on the jaw and Bowles followed Torres to the ground with left hands to score the knockout.
"I got caught with a good shot," Torres said. "Brian hits really hard. I was off all week. I don't know if it was my diet or what it was but there is no excuse for that. Brian hits really hard, and as soon as I saw the shot coming I couldn't get out of the way of it. It was a big overhand right, and he just put it away. Real aggressive young guy and he's going to be a good champion."
Torres had entered the fight on an unheard of 17-fight win streak, and his name was often mentioned alongside the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva in discussions of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Dominance sometimes makes a fighter less goal-oriented and what Torres can at least take away from a loss is that there will be no shortage of motivation the next time he enters the cage.
"Now I have something to look forward to, something to train for," Torres said." When you're on top for a long time, it's hard to keep pushing yourself cause you're always on top. Now that I get back on the bottom and he has the belt I have something to work for now. It's going to be a good challenge for me."
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