From time to time I like to feature guest columnists on here, and this article is brought to us by Joe Pawlus. Think of the guy you know who is really just a kid carrying around the baggage of adulthood. Everybody knows that guy. He would rather be playing paintball than working...he would rather be doing anything more imaginative and athletic than an ordinary nine-to-five job. This is the kind of twenty-something fellow who still feasts on weekend video games and is always willing to play a late night game of pickup basketball in the park. The kid at heart. Now cram that dude into a hundred-and-thirty-five pound frame, and give him razor sharp mixed martial arts skills, an unquenchable thirst for competition, and the undying passion to succeed in life. Behold a loose facsimile of the WEC bantamweight title holder, Miguel Torres. Despite his playful exterior and easy interaction with others, Torres is a seriously focused athlete. The mixed martial artist willingly shares his tenacious philosophy of life with his sport, his friends and family, his martial arts academy competition team, and his general student population. “There’s no other way than to succeed. The way I grew up, for me there’s no failure. I can’t fall, I can’t stop,” said Torres. “There’s nothing else in my life but to go forward. Whatever gets in my way that hinders me, I’ve got to acknowledge it, I have to accept it, and I have to get past it and keep going...to keep moving forward. If I stop moving forward, I might as well be dead. I might as well stop living.” However, it may be because he refuses to step entirely into the adult world that Torres is such an entertaining and successful fighter, has a thriving martial arts school, and maintains an authentic and unique bond with children. Given his choice, the martial arts instructor would rather teach kids any day of the week. Torres said that children, “still have very active imaginations. They have no limitations in their minds, they haven’t been taught limitations yet. They are like computers that haven’t been programmed. There’s a point during adolescents that you start limiting yourself. Children don’t have that yet, so they have all the potential in the world to do anything.” Torres also believes that unlimited potential is part of having a very active imagination, and that an active imagination is what makes him such a dangerous competitor. “Fighters who still have the ‘inner child’ do the most damage in the sport. I have a very active imagination, and whatever I imagine, I can do. The only obstacles put in the mind are by the limitations of imagination. Since I have a limitless imagination, I can do anything.” The bantamweight fighter believes that practicing martial arts builds a strong foundation for children when they are young. He said that a strong foundation will yield a strong adult, and that practicing martial arts helps an individual build strength mentally, physically, and spiritually as part of a life-long experience. As a local fighter, the WEC champion was constantly surrounded by children before and after his fights. Now, with over fifty kids studying various martial arts under his instruction, Torres is developing serious plans for the future and the inevitable expansion of his academy. “I want to have the best kids’ program in the world,” the Champ admitted. “ I want to have champions training out of my gym. I want to be able to say I have a world champion training with me and he started here when he was seven years old.” With the way he has been cruising through the WEC bantamweight elite, Torres may soon have more than one future standout training at his facility. After capturing the WEC bantamweight title, Torres’s business experienced a huge increase in numbers. After defending his belt against Yoshiro Maeda, the world champ is now forced to seek a bigger facility to accommodate his growing student body. On August 1, Torres relocated to a building with over eight thousand square feet, and he is incorporating all of the tools and equipment it will take to train MMA fighters at a world-class level. Although Torres Martial Arts is open to everyone, Torres is looking for students who want to jump to the next level, no matter what their personal goals may be. When asked whether or not he thinks his personal intensity for the sport frightens potential customers away, Torres was candid. “I like to scare students away. I don’t want a student who’s scared. If I had my choice between a hundred students who don’t want to train hard and two that do, I’ll take the two that want to train really hard.” Even though he is extremely dedicated to his students and the task of teaching martial arts, it is clear that fighting, and the sport of MMA, made Torres who and what he is today. Miguel Torres was asked if given the choice, which it would be: teaching or fighting. “I would have to choose prize fighting. It’s short-lived and I will do it for less time, but I don’t think I would ever regret it. If I chose teaching, I think I would regret it. I wouldn’t be the teacher I am now if I didn’t become a fighter first.” by Joe Pawlus This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mike Brown is feeling pretty good after beating Uriah Faber to win the WEC 145 pound crown.  Mike has his sights set on some big fights in the future, including one against Miguel Torres.  In a chat with Fighthype, Brown said this about fighting Torres:

"Hell yeah! That will be a great fight. I want to show the level of fighter I am and Miguel is one of the best. It would be an honor to fight him."

And it would be an honor watching the fight.  Even though I don't think Brown has any answers for Torres.  But that's what people said about Brown against Faber too.  So who knows?

I will be doing the ring announcing honors at the Asylum Fight League amateur MMA show tonight at Fort Dix.  If you can't make the fights live, there's a next best thing.  GoFightLive.tv will be broadcasting the event LIVE tonight, starting at 8pm.  The broadcast is free, so be sure to check it out! Here's the direct link: http://gofightlive.tv/showEvent.do?event=346 Tune in to support the Troops, to support TheGARV and to support amatuer MMA in New Jersey at the Asylum Fight League.

Josh Koscheck used to be insultingly called "The Blanket" because he used his wrestling to hold down opponents for the win.  But it's obvious that Josh has added an increasingly good stand up game to his arsenal.  His hands are really good now.  Even against a striker as good as Thiago Alves, Koscheck (on short notice)  was able to hold his own.  And against Yoshiyuki Yoshida on Wednesday, he took a page out of Mike Tyson's playbook, landing a spectacular 2 punch combination that won him fight. Josh knew that Yoshida was prepared for his overhand right and Yoshida did a good job at first of blocking it.  But then Kos came up the middle with a straight right that rocked Yoshida's world and stood him straight up and put him out on his feet.  Kos then followed up with a right hook that put Yoshida to sleep. Here's a GIF of the KO.

Tough break (literally) for Corey Hill. In one of the UFC's most brutal moments, he snapped his leg when he throw a leg kick last Wednesday night in his fight with Dale Hartt. Hartt checked the kick and when Hill's shin connected on Hartt's, it snapped like a twig and left Hill's foot flopping around like a fish. Fortunately for Hill, it does look as though he can fight again, although it will take anywhere form 12-18 months for his injury to heal. The most amazing thing about this whole thing is how Hill kept fighting even after breaking his leg like that. It showed his true warrior spirit and I'm sure we'll see him fight again. Get well soon, Corey Hill!

Props to MMA Outsider for the vid.

The gossip mill has just cranked out a big one. A Korean website is reporting that Fedor had an affair with a Korean model (shown in pics below). It's no secret that Fedor is married and has a daughter, so this is not good news for him and his family. And of course, it is just a rumor. So take this spicy kimchi story with a grain of salt.