Manuel Torres has finished five straight fights in the first round. That run includes a pair of first round KOs in the UFC that earned him performance of the night bonuses. However, following the second of those, Torres has taken over eight months off. That time away wasn’t by choice, but was the perfect time to fix a long, lingering issue he’s had.
“Any time I’m out for an extended period of time, it’s always due to injury,” Torres explained. “I just recently had to have nose surgery so that I breathe better, feel better. But I feel great – I’m ready to go.”
While it kept him out of sparring for a bit, the time away has been great for him. He now feels like he has more in the tank and that’s led to better training sessions overall.
“Once I had the nose surgery, I breathe better, I train better, my cardio is better. I feel great,” “[That was] about six months ago. I already been sparring a bunch, so it’s not like it effected me a lot.”
Now ready to get back in there, Torres is looking to continue to make his life a bit easier with another knockout and another bonus. He’ll look to do so at the expense of Scottish prospect Chris Duncan.
“Whatever I need to do. I’m going to hit him with my hands, my feet, my elbows, my knees, but I’m looking for the knockout,” Torres said. “Why not? Looking for it in round one.”
That fight with Chris Duncan takes place on the UFC Mexico City main card this Saturday night. The fight card begins at 7pm EST on ESPN+.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 28:48.
