Jose “Shorty” Torres is mentally prepared for the Brave CF Flyweight tournament
Jose “Shorty” Torres has had a unique path through MMA. Torres was a dominant amateur fighter. He turned pro and had an undefeated record, going 7-0 in Titan FC and winning two belts in one of the best fight organizations outside of the UFC.
His ultimate goal was to make it to the UFC, and he did. He won his first fight in odd fashion, with an accidental knockout against Jarred Brooks. In that fight, Torres did not seem to be on his A-game to start, but luckily walked away with the win. In his second UFC fight, Torres did not look like himself again. He didn’t look like the fighter who entered the fight on a 34-fight win streak. Alex Perez finished Torres in the first round, which then led to his UFC release.
However, like most things in the world, there is context to a story and the context is where Torres’ MMA career becomes unique. Torres talked to MyMMANews.com about his 2-fight stint in the UFC and the unfair treatment he endured, “I worked so hard to be in the UFC, since I was 16. I got to Titan and was a two-weight champ. I defended the belt multiple times. I bumped up on purpose because the UFC wanted to see more. So, I worked hard, literally just to make it to the UFC. A lot of things didn’t go my way, with last minute calls and very unfair treatment. And the last two fights, I wasn’t able to perform the way I wanted to because I was always worried about a weight cut. The fights were without any type of notice or respect. That is the sad thing, the UFC doesn’t respect contracts and that is very unfair especially when I did them a favor and took two last minute fights. So for me, it was a bummer.”
For those unaware of the short notice fights Torres is speaking of, Torres was asked to fight Brooks on 9 days notice and was asked to fight Perez on 20 days notice. For the Brooks fight, Torres needed to cut 26 pounds in 9 days. Luckily for Torres, he has the best weight management specialist in MMA, Lou Giordano, or LouTrition. Torres called LouTrition when he was offered the Brooks fight, which he initially turned down, explained Torres, “When I received my 9 day fight notice against Jared Brooks, I initially said no. I was like, “This is dumb.” I needed to cut around 26 pounds, it was technically more, but when I got on the scale, it was 26 pounds in 9 days. I called Lou and said this is so dumb, they told me this and that. He said, “Shorty, you have been training. You can make the weight. You are just fat. I need you to let me know if you are going to do this because you need to stay mentally strong and you need to believe in me.” I was like you know what man, fine. They aren’t going to call that much more. This division is dwindling. They said the only way I can get a fight is last minute. I took the fight and said screw it. 9 days and it was grueling, man. It took so much out of me mentally. It was funny because after I made weight, I forgot I had a fight. I was like; cool I made weight, oh yeah, now I am fighting.”
Luckily for Torres, he was able to sneak out of the 9-day notice fight with a win. After the win, Torres spoke to the UFC about his next fight, “They said in July that I was going to fight in December. I said cool, let me get fat and happy and keep helping fighters. I balloon up to 155-160, very easily. I fight at 125.”
The only problem was, as Torres was getting fat and happy, the UFC came calling with another short notice fight. This time he at least had 20 days notice to cut the weight and fight, but Torres talked about how the 20 day short notice fight was actually an even bigger struggle than the 9 day notice, “I got up to 155ish and then they called me and said I was going to fight Alex Perez in August, in 20 days. I was like, um; I just did a last minute weight cut. Can I get some sort of notice? They said, you either take this fight or you fight sometime next year. I was like well damn, I don’t know how I’m getting pushed back for saying no, but I guess I have to take this fight. I had 20 days though, so I was like lets do it. I had some things that started to hinder my camp; you know little injuries and stuff like that. But I started to mentally break down every day. More heat. More sauna. More heat. More sauna. My weight started to come off fast. But I believe the 20-day weight cut was harder than the 9 day since it was back to back. The first one was hard, but the second one was bad. I was on a 34-fight win streak from amateur to pro. I went into fight week on Monday wanting to just lose and go home. I just wanted to go home and get this over and done with. A winner or a champion isn’t supposed to think like that, but I was so mentally broken.”
After the loss and UFC release, Torres regrouped and signed with Brave CF and after a win against Amir Albazi at Brave CF 23, Torres will now enter the Brave CF Flyweight tournament. The tournament is winner take all, 3-round tournament. Torres is matched up against Sean Santella, a savvy veteran fighter who somehow isn’t in the UFC, just like Torres. Ironically, Torres and Santella texted before their fight was announced. Torres said, “Before our fight got announced, he texted me trying to find a fight because it is hard right now with COVID. He got re-signed to Brave and then they asked me if I wanted to fight Sean and I said, yeah I am cool with it. Business it business.” The matchup between Torres and Santella will be a good one. Both fighters are highly skilled and a fight of this magnitude is surely better than some fights you will watch on a UFC fight card.
For Torres, after the unfair UFC stint and needing to back out of his most recent scheduled fight because of the loss of his father, you would think the pressure would be higher than ever for him. However, Torres said, “I am now mentally prepared and I am ready to get back in it.”
A mentally prepared Jose “Shorty” Torres with a real fight camp is a dangerous thing. He has not lost a fight when he is given a fair shot to compete and be at his best. He talked about the fight with Santella and said, “Santella is a veteran. He has been able to outland and outwork a bunch of young guys in this sport. Those guys are supposed to beat him, but he is smart and knows what to do. He is a very dangerous opponent. So, going in there and trying to finish him is a going to be some hard work and I am very exited about it.” There is no official date for the fight yet, but Torres said a win over Santella would be, “Awesome.”
