Torres Believes Aggression Cost Him Decision Against Johnson

Miguel Torres (file photo) has lost sleep over the decision at UFC 130. | Photo: Sherdog.com

“I haven’t been able to sleep,” Torres said during a June 3 “Savage Dog Show” interview. “I just keep replaying things in my mind.”

All three judges -- Dave Hagen, Glenn Trowbridge and Tony Weeks -- scored the fight 29-28 for Johnson.

“Demetrious did a good job. He was real tough,” Torres said. “I just thought I was on offense the whole fight. I had him defending. I thought I landed 100 percent of the strikes. … I don’t take anything away from him. I just thought I did enough to secure a victory, but the judges didn’t see it that way and it is what it is.”

Torres said he knew he’d won the opening round. He thought the second was close but that he deserved it on account of his active guard. In the third, he swept Johnson and took full mount with roughly two minutes left. His corner instructed him to keep position and ride out the win.

“I was doing that,” Torres said, “and I started hearing people, ‘He’s just dry humping him, stand them up! He’s not doing anything!’ When you’ve got a really short guy like that and you try to throw elbows and try to hit him, he’s going to scramble to get out. I started hearing these things, and I was like, ‘Man, I don’t want to win another fight just by laying in the mount.’ … I went for attacks. I went for it and I paid the price.”

Johnson eventually escaped to his feet and hit another takedown, which might have swayed the judges. Overall, Torres feels the officials gave the win to the fighter on top rather than the fighter who was attacking the most. He explained that coach Firas Zahabi had warned him along those lines.

“My trainer, Firas, wanted me to hold position more and not attack submissions so much because going into it, we knew he was a good scrambler and he’s really short, has short limbs and a short, stocky neck,” Torres said. “I wanted to attack. I wanted to put on a show for the fans. I didn’t want to lay on the guy and not do anything. Maybe in hindsight I should have done that.”

Plenty of what-ifs have swirled through Torres’ mind since the loss. Now he wants to get back in the cage as soon as possible, and it sounds like he’ll change his approach for the next fight.

“It was frustrating, but like I said, I know what to do for my next fight,” Torres said. “People might not like it. It might be a little boring, but the biggest thing is to secure a win however I can. If that means laying on somebody or just holding them down, it’s going to have to be that way.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 1:00:08).