Jab, jab, jab ... that was the story of the night in Miguel Torres' UFC debut. After suffering back-to-back knockout losses in 2009 and 2010, the former WEC bantamweight champ is a more measured fighter now. The 5-foot-10 Torres peppered Antonio Banuelos unmercifully with his jab for 15 minutes and rolled to a unanimous decision victory, 30-27 on all three cards, in bout No. 1 on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 126.
"You know he's real tough. He took a lot of punches. I know I broke his nose," Torres said. "I know I broke his nose. I heard it crunch a couple of times. I didn't want to commit too much and get hurt because I know he's a dangerous fighter on the inside. I had to stick to my gameplan."
During a 17-fight win streak between 2004-2009, Torres (39-3, 1-0 UFC) built a reputation as a brawler and finisher. As the competition closed the gap at 135 pounds, Torres discovered it was time to start fighting to his strengths. He has excellent boxing skills with a mammoth reach for the weight class. The UFC matched him up with the diminutive 5-3 Banuelos, so Torres used his length to confuse and beat up the smaller fighter.
"I did what my coach wanted me to do. I fought to a gameplan," Torres told UFC analyst Joe Rogan. "Antonio's a very, very dangerous fighter on the inside. I wanted to get into a brawl, but I couldn't so I fought him from the outside."
According to FightMetric.com, Torres posted a 73-10 advantage in strikes. Torres made good on 66-of-181 punches. The former champ was 48-of-125 on jabs. Banuelos landed one jab the entire fight and was 9-of-120 on his punches.
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