Author – Drew Beaupre
With no previous exposure to Torres, I was happy to take a look at his record and see that while he hasn’t faced any high-level competition as of yet, his two most recent opponents were at least fairly experienced and had a combined record of 20-11. Submission wins in both of those outings brought his record to 10-1 and put him on a six-fight win streak dating back to his lone loss at iKON FC 5 in 2022.
Five of Torres’ six stoppage wins have come by way of submission. In the recent fights of his that are readily available online, it’s clear that he’s fairly comfortable working on the feet before he feels the need to bring things to the mat, although his striking approach is pretty punch-heavy outside of the occasional hard low kick.
Torres does a decent job of doubling up on jabs to keep his opponent on the back foot and has a good right straight, and he’ll start to open up with more diverse punches and combinations to both the head and body when he’s allowed to stalk his opposition and get them covered up against the fence. His striking defense could definitely use some work, but he seems to have a decent chin and doesn’t get dissuaded from following his game plan even when he gets cracked by big shots.
The 29-year-old’s primary answer to pressure is to clinch up with an opponent and try to get them to the fence. If a fighter really starts to press forward and try to tee off, he also has good timing ducking in on their hips as they’re coming forward. These attempts still usually end up putting his opponents against the fence unless they’re caught especially off balance, and on the cage, he’s happy to switch between double leg and single leg takedowns and rinse and repeat the process if he isn’t able to keep his opponent down initially.
“El Sabor de la Ciudad” is quick to posture up on the ground to land heavy ground and pound, and he’ll immediately look to take the back as soon as an opponent starts to turn away from him. He’ll look for guillotine chokes both on the feet and on the mat if an opportunity presents itself, and along with a pair of rear naked choke wins he also boasts a victory via Von Flue choke.
Torres is definitely at his best on the ground, but he struggles to keep opponents on the mat when so many of his takedown attempts come up against the cage. This position also makes it difficult for him to find space to take the back. I’d like to see him pull opponents off the cage with his takedowns more often, and also work on finish his double and single leg attempts in space instead of running his opponents to the fence.
The Spaniard definitely has a bit of power in his hands, but his striking is fairly one-dimensional until he really feels like he has a read on his opponent or they’re very clearly on the retreat. The striking defense is probably my biggest concern with him, but overall, I enjoyed watching him for the first time and will keep an eye on him going forward as the overall level of MMA prospects coming out of Spain continues to rise.