“I feel that I wasn’t focused enough; I wasn’t into it as much as I should have been,” explained Torres. “I needed to become a better fighter. I think I needed to actually have a setback to understand that now you need to do certain things in order to succeed. I needed a negative in order to come out for the positive.
“I also think that I needed the experience,” continued the dangerous finisher, who has only been to the scorecards once in his 18-fight career. “I don’t have that much time in the organization, and all of a sudden, so many things are happening one after the other — so many fights, so many moments — and you’re going for it all, going for everything, but ‘Hey! Chill!’
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“You don’t need to get everything at all times. You don’t need to go for it all: you need to be smarter, find a more intelligent game plan, understand the time to strike; you don’t need to do everything at the same time. I feel like right now is the time to focus, and I need to understand that I’m new at this. (I need to) get more experience so I can become a better fighter, fight smarter, and know when to strike and finish fights.”
Torres has spent the last six months focused on those goals, and gets to put them to the test this weekend when he steps in opposite a veteran that has every desire to force him back to his old ways.
The 36-year-old Dober is one of the most consistent all-action fighters on the UFC roster; a 42-fight veteran who would rather face a dangerous opponent that is going to engage with him on the feet than a lesser foe that isn’t as interested in giving the fans their money’s worth, sometimes to his own detriment.
