The long wall of cubbyholes greets shoes and guests as they enter the gym, and the large counter that looms up front serves as a place for parents to sit and a homework space for waiting siblings. This is one of the few places at Torres Martial Arts Academy that isn?t covered by a mat or cage, and just from glancing at all rows of cubbyholes, it?s easy to tell that the gym is packed and alive with martial arts.
Class has already begun and beyond a picket fence of NAGA belts, mannequins, and samurai swords are dozens of kids rolling around, learning armbars, sweeps and other jiu-jitsu skills. The mats are packed with students, with different classes and different instructors teaching and demonstrating a range of moves and techniques. One of the instructors takes time to quiz his class on some of the things they?ve been working on. The kids answer meekly at first, but soon their instructor coerces shouts and yells from them. The students sound confident, and that?s important here. In fact, it?s the most important thing, because at Torres Martial Arts attitude is everything.
?Attitude is everything when you fight,? says Miguel Torres. ?Attitude encompasses everything about your style.?
Miguel Torres is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and his path to the UFC was built on hard work and a dedicated attitude. This is true for many UFC professionals, but unlike other fighters who set aside all of their time for training, Miguel splits his time with running his own gym.
Torres Martial Arts became a part of Miguel?s life?shortly after he began teaching jiu-jitsu. From a few classes at a humble recreation center, the gym has grown into one of the best MMA training grounds in the Chicago area. The gym is now in its third location, and Miguel is looking to expand the gym into an even bigger location.
We sat down with Torres to talk about the gym he founded, and how he finds the time to juggle a business and a professional MMA career.
Why did you start competing and training?
Well I always wanted to fight. I always wanted to compete. I did karate when I was younger but my parents couldn?t afford lessons, so I played soccer. When I got to high school I was making money, I was working. So I started paying for taekwondo, but then I quit because it wasn?t a dominant style. My buddies were all wrestlers and they were always taking me down and I couldn?t stop it.
When I started training jiu-jitsu with my buddy we went to a gym at the community center. We had some rec. mats and a few heavy bags that we hung from the basketball hoops. It wasn?t much.
You started teaching near the beginning of your MMA career, was teaching something that came easy to you?
Yeah teaching always came easy. I knew I had something going on because when I started teaching we went from having five and six guys to having 20 guys. And I knew I was doing well when I could explain an armbar to anyone.
Did you have any goals when you started your gym?
When I first started teaching we only trained fighters. I wanted to make myself a fighter and I wanted to train other fighters. During that process I learned that everyone wants to be a fighter. If you sit around here, you?d be surprised at how many people come in and say that they want to fight. Females, males, kids, it?s the first thing out of their mouths.
What kinds of challenges have you run into running the gym?
When people come here and say they want to fight, I ask them what they do for a living. If they work with their hands I tell them that they might be better off training in jiu-jitsu instead of training for a fight. Because if you train for a fight you?re not going to make any money, you could break your hand, tear your ACL, hurt your neck. The real situation of life takes over.
Have you seen those situations play out?
Oh yeah. In the beginning I would train anyone. I didn?t care what you did. I was very young. So guys would be training and they?d break a hand sparring. Now your hand is broken, so how are you going to plumb? How are you going to make the rent?
But I?ve learned from everything that?s happened in this gym. It?s all trail and error. If you?d look at my fighting style early in my career I was an aggressive, pissed off dude. I would chase guys and hunt them down. That was just my style. Hit a guy over and over again, just relentless pressure.
Is that how your buddies taught you when you were coming up?
I got that from just sports in general. It comes more from my body type. I was always a smaller guy. Even when I was playing soccer I was playing against huge guys, and I wasn?t strong enough to hang with those guys. So I had to out hustle guys, I chased them. I pushed them to a limit where they couldn?t handle it anymore, and then I could make a play. I wasn?t the fastest guy, I wasn?t the strongest, but I hustled the most. And that became my fighting style. My style came from my hustle.
Running a gym and making your way up the UFC ranks must be overwhelming, does someone else run the gym when you?re away?
This is my business. This is what I do for a living. I consider myself a fighter, but if I wasn?t doing that I?d still teach and be involved in martial arts in some way. But I am a fighter, and that?s the line I have to walk right now. I had a hard time doing that when I was younger (trying to run a business and fight).
When I lost against Brian Bowles, I lost because I wasn?t used to traveling for the UFC and running a business, it was too much. It was too fast. For that fight I think I trained for like two weeks. Two real weeks spread over two months.
Most of these (UFC) fighters aren?t running a business too. Like the guy I?m fighting in April. He doesn?t run a business, he doesn?t teach, all he does is train. His only mentality is to train, and mine is that I have to take myself away from being a husband, father, and a gym owner, before I can get into that mentality.
How difficult is that for you?
It?s very hard. When you?re gone you think about a lot of stuff. Your kids are somewhere else, your business is somewhere else, your family is somewhere else, your friends are somewhere else, and you?re in an alien place and you?re alone. And even though you?re with your trainers all the time you?re still alone.
Does that feeling ever go away?
I mask it. I?ll play videogames, I?ll mess around on twitter and try and occupy my time. There are a lot of times when I?ll train for a fight and I?ll stay up to 5 or 6 in the morning because I can?t sleep. Just because I don?t know what?s going on back home. Two months is a long time to be gone, and every time I get back there?s a laundry list of things to do. But you learn how to deal with it.
Do you usually train in this gym?
I train here when I?m not training for a fight, and when I?m training for my training camp I leave. It?s hard to train here now. There are too many students. I can?t train myself here. It?s overwhelming. There are too many people, and everyone wants to talk when I?m training. And I?m not the type of person to say no, I?ll talk to anyone.
So I was trying to train and teach and run a business and my friends were coming over here with their phones and everyone was recording. It was overwhelming.? Everyone is supportive, so it?s not a negative thing but from my perspective it?s distracting.
You mentioned earlier that your fighting style has changed, what?s changed about it?
Now I have style. Everyone use to criticize me for not having any style. ?When I fought I used to always chase people down. When you do that so many times people start figuring you out. So it?s easy to defend against, either with a takedown or a big overhand right. So I would end up walking into a punch or a takedown.
When I started training with other people I realized I needed to change something. I started training with boxers and chasing them didn?t work. They had too much movement, their footwork was too good, and there was a method to what they were doing. My method was to make a guy do so much that it overwhelmed them, their method was finesse, aggression,? finesse?there were so many different elements to what they were doing.
Is that how you try and train your own fighters?
Yeah. I make all my guys who want to fight compete (in a tournament) first. They have to win first place five times in their division. If they come in second place it doesn?t count. They have to come in first five times.
What do you try to teach your fighters?
Attitude. This gym isn?t about how big or how strong you are or how many fights you?ve had. It?s about picking up the jump rope. It?s about putting in the work. I don?t stroke anyone?s ego, or kiss anyone?s ass. If you?re going to come in here, you?re going to work like everyone else and we?re going to spar.
****
At the end of or interview a small boy looked up from his homework to ask Miguel a few more questions.
Did you get kicked out of the UFC?
For a little while, but I?m back now. I didn?t do my homework and I didn?t eat my vegetables. They put me in timeout for about three weeks, but now I?ve done my homework and they let me back.
But you lost three times.
I did, but you learn a lot from those losses. In life sometimes you lose, but you learn from how you lost and you don?t lose that way again. You become a better person, and you keep moving forward.
?
?
Source: http://www.onlinesportfreaks.com/?p=1572
knocked up knocked up edgar cayce eagle rock music festival eagle rock music festival arbor apple crisp recipe
No comments:
Post a Comment