Fight Path: Invicta FC 6's Tecia Torres put on martial arts path in kindergarten

Throughout her college studies, Tecia Torres had her sights set on becoming a police officer or another member of the law enforcement community.

She moved through those classes at Florida Atlantic University, but when she graduated she came to terms with the fact she couldn’t see herself carrying a gun or potentially taking a life. While that decision didn’t necessarily bump her closer to mixed martial arts, it certainly opened up some training time.

“When I decide to have a career outside of fighting,” she told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), “I’ll have to do something else.”

But for the time-being, Torres is focusing her enforcement on fighting opponents, where she has no reservations. After an undefeated amateur career, Torres has started fast as a professional with a 2-0 record and takes on Rose Namajunas (2-0) on July 13 at Invicta Fighting Championships 6 in Kansas City, Mo.

She already has won twice in Invicta shows, though both victories have come by decision. She has focused her training on looking for stoppages, which is the next goal of her career.

It’s a career that has its roots long ago, when she started karate classes as a kindergartener with her sister so her mother would feel more comfortable that her girls would have something constructive to do. Her sister didn’t continue, but Torres dedicated her life to combat sports, moving through taekwondo to Muay Thai to jiu-jitsu to MMA.

The July 13 show, headlined by a matchup between Marloes Coenen (21-5) and Cristiane Santos, is her next chance to show that her full-time transition to MMA recently has been worth the move away from other careers for the time being.

“It’ll be my toughest fight,” she said. “But it’ll be her toughest fight, too.”

Home away from home

Torres grew up in a not-so-pleasant area of Massachusetts before the family moved to Florida when she was young. She jokes about liking it better.

“Oh, the weather,” she said. “But really, where we lived wasn’t too great, with some drugs and some other things going on, so I’m glad we came here to have a better life.”?

Her mother wanted the children to be active in something organized from an early age, so she signed up Torres and her sister for karate. From there, martial arts was the most significant part of Torres’ life.

She later played soccer in high school and was good at it as a natural athlete, but nothing else matched her dedication to martial arts and the school she stayed with for years.

“I tried to be the most dedicated student,” she said. “Other kids would take time for the summer, but I would be there. I would take my homework there. It was like a second home, and the instructor was like a second dad.”

Torres said, in part, it was some family discomfort following her parents’ divorce that led her to stay in the gym so long and continue working on her passion. The effect was that, like others in MMA who have a background in martial arts, she learned both the skills necessary but also the wider importance of a martial-arts lifestyle.

“I’ve had a regimen of training basically all my life,” she said. “It’s been discipline and experience that has really been important, especially when I was just getting started as an amateur. It gave me confidence.”

Finding success

Even though she was dedicating herself to martial arts, Torres didn’t learn much about MMA until she started dating someone who was involved in jiu-jitsu training.

Once she learned more about it, she started watching some fights and even doing some of her own jiu-jitsu training. It was a different look at what her passion had always been in martial arts.

“Back then, I just really knew the karate scene, and I was trying to compete wherever I could,” she said. “But it was nothing like we have now, where kids can look up to us and say, ‘I want to do that.’”

She continued training and earned her blue belt in jiu-jitsu, which was around the time she decided it would be a good idea to get involved in fighting. She already had compiled more than a dozen amateur Muay Thai fights, but something about MMA was even more appealing.

While continuing her undefeated streak, she was fitting in her training around her work on the administrative side of a cruise line business. That made for grueling hours and some days of dreading doing both.

That discomfort didn’t last too long. As she turned professional, in October 2012 at Invicta FC 3, Torres scored a win against Kaiyana Rain by decision and decided to make MMA her full-time commitment.

She won again in January at Invicta FC 4 by beating Paige VanZant, again by decision. Now heading into her third professional fight, Torres said she wants to move beyond the drawn-out fights, even though they’ve been victories, to score quicker wins and show more power.

“I’ve been able to pretty much dominate, but I haven’t been able to get that stoppage or knockout,” she said. “I’d like to have one of those one of these days, and I’m working hard at it.”

Catching up

Three years ago, David Mitchell told us his story of growing up in a California hippie commune called the Camp of the Rainbow. His father built his own boat and sailed throughout the world, and his mother came to fights wearing homemade clothes of various fabrics found through her travels.

Mitchell (12-2) has advanced since our column and is set to take on Mike Pierce (16-5) on Saturday at UFC 162 in Las Vegas.

In March, Justin Gaethje talked about his start in MMA on a break from his University of Northern Colorado wrestling season and his upbringing in a small Arizona mining town. He has won twice since, at World Series of Fighting 3 and 4, and improved to 9-0 awaiting his next opportunity.

For the latest on Invicta FC 6, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.