Advertisement

Titan FC 31's Miguel Torres: 'When I fell from grace, it was a hard fall'

How did Miguel Torres go from the world’s top-ranked bantamweight and one of the sport’s biggest stars to a UFC castoff who also flamed out of the WSOF?

It’s an all too familiar story, he said, and he hopes the sport’s younger fighter can learn from his mistakes.

Torres (43-7) next meets former Bellator featherweight Desmond Green (11-3) on Friday at Titan FC 31. Their bout, which takes place at USF Sun Some in Tampa, Fla., co-headlines the CBS Sports Network-televised event.

For Torres, it’s a chance to continue his career turnaround. He turned pro in 2000 and won 38 of his first 39 fights. But he then lost his WEC title and stumbled through a 3-6 stretch while dealing with both personal and professional setbacks.

Now, after rebounding with three consecutive wins on the regional circuit, he returns to national TV and hopes to further distance himself from his past mistakes.

“I kind of got lost in the limelight,” he said. “I grew up not having friends. I became a world champion. … I didn’t have any friends, I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke, and I didn’t go out. No girlfriends.”

However, after winning the WEC title and gaining some notoriety with the fast-rising promotion, he got swept up in it all, he said.

“When I became world champion, I got clubs to open up for tables and bottles and girls, and (I was) traveling,” he said. “It was a lot of everything. It was a lot of excess. It kind of took me out of the mentality of what I had to be, and that was basically to be a warrior, to be a fighter, and to stay in my academy to do what made me a champion.

“When I fell from grace, it was a hard fall.”

Check out the full candid interview above.

For more on Titan FC 31, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.

More Featured Videos