Former champ Torres in no rush back to top

With more than 50 fights on his resume before he turned 30, it isn't hard to believe Miguel Torres when he says he's not in a hurry.

Torres, the former WEC bantamweight kingpin, got back in the win column earlier this month with a unanimous decision victory over Nick Pace. After a controversial loss to Demetrious Johnson in May – which the majority of MMA media at the fight scored for Torres, but went unanimously to Johnson – was badly in need of a victory to make another push for a title shot. Johnson got a title shot with his win over Torres, and had the fight been scored the other way Torres likely would've gotten a crack at champion Dominick Cruz.

Torres will turn 31 in January, but after his win over Pace, in which he took virtually no damage, he told Heavy.com he isn't necessarily in a rush to get another quick fight to move toward his title goal faster.

"I've put in a lot of time," Torres said. "I've done years where I've fought eight or nine times in a year, so I'm in no rush."

In 2000, Torres' first year as a pro with fights going into a database of some sort, he fought nine times, going 9-0. In 2001, he went 8-0. And before all of that, he fought in his native Northwest Indiana in non-sanctioned fights against fighters several weight classes up – winning another 12 fights, but his recollection.

But it's been a decade since Torres was that active. In recent years, it's been two or three fights a year for him. A spot on the UFC's Fox show in Chicago in January would give him four fights in less than one calendar year. And while Torres said he would welcome another chance to fight in front of his home crowd not far from his gym in Hammond, Ind., he said he's more concerned with getting his fight game straightened out.

Torres moved his training camp to TriStar Gym in Montreal with Firas Zahabi after back-to-back losses to Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez. Before his fight against Pace, he mixed in some work with the new Blackzilians team in South Florida, even bringing Tyrone Spong and Mike Van Arsdale up to Montreal to help him finish his camp there. And his coaches believe he can keep improving.

"I've got Firas and Tyrone both seeing a lot of things I could've done better or could've done different," Torres said. "I feel like I did a good job, but I could've done a lot better, also."

For Torres, who held the WEC bantamweight title for 18 months and defended it three times before losing it to Bowles, it's all about getting that belt back. And that means he's willing to take his time getting there so he doesn't have to have another hard fall and make another hard climb back up the ladder.

"When I get to the top again I want to stay there," Torres said. "I don't want to rush.

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