Tecia Torres says Rawlings was good opponent after layoff but expects top-10 foe next

HOUSTON – Tecia Torres already had a win over Bec Rawlings when they walked into the octagon in Houston on Saturday.

In their second meeting, Torres (8-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) once again came out on top and made easy work of Rawlings (7-6 MMA, 2-3 UFC) to earn a unanimous-decision win after a 10-month octagon layoff. The opponent she faced at UFC Fight Night 104, Torres said, was pretty much the same she remembered from the opening round of “The Ultimate Fighter 20” strawweight tournament in 2014.

The fight itself, however, seems to have showed a positive difference.

“It felt like a similar opponent; I just felt like I was way more dominant this fight,” Torres told MMAjunkie. “The first fight was only a two-round fight in the (‘TUF 20’) house. It was pretty back-and-forth, so it was closer than this one, but this one I didn’t see her beating me in any way, shape or form.”

The catchweight bout (Rawlings missed weight) was part of the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 104 event at Toyota Center in Houston. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FS1.

No. 8 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s strawweight rankings, Torres initially seemed less than enthusiastic about facing who she defined as an “all-around decent fighter” in her octagon return. But after the victorious effort, Torres said it was a good matchup to shake off possible ring rust.

“I think I showed that I’m still in the upper echelon,” Torres said. “And I think it was a good fight to come back on after 10 months (out of the cage), to get that dust off. And now my next fight will probably be a top-10 opponent, I’m assuming, and I’ll be even more prepared.”

Now back in the win column after a setback decision loss to “TUF 20” castmate Rose Namajunas this past June, the “Tiny Tornado” is now looking to return to the octagon within the next three months.

“I’m perfectly fine,” Torres said. “My hands hurt a little bit, but I think it’s just some bruises. We’ll do an X-ray just in case, but I feel good. I don’t really feel like I got hit at all. I’m sure I did, but I felt like I was making her miss a lot.”

While a quick turnaround against a top-10 opponent is her current expectation, the 27-year-old has a few other longterm plans she hopes to accomplish in due time.

“I’m going to get my master’s degree in May,” Torres said. “I graduated with my master’s in criminology. I’d like to go into the field of government one day. Right now my focus is fighting and finishing school, but my ultimate dream job would be something like (intelligence) analyst or something like that.

“If I could do both I’d like to, but I think I want to stick with fighting and focus on that for a while. I want to start a family too. There are a lot of things that I want to do. We’ll see how this goes. Tonight went well. I look forward to my next fight and being able to focus on that.”

To hear more from Torres on her display and future aspirations, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 104, check out the UFC Events section of the site.