"Brian Bowles just woke up a sleeping giant. My styleÂ…I pretty much coached myself and ran my own training camps. I hadn't lost in a long time, but after this loss, it's going to make me revamp everything. I just got off the phone with Mark DellaGrotte and I'm working with a couple different coaches to make my game step up. I always went for the kill. I'm the hunter. I've always been going out there to hunt people. I should have relied on my experience and made him come to me. So if anything, it's going to make me more of a dangerous fighter," stated former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres as he talked about upset loss to Brian Bowles on Sunday at WEC 42. Check out what he had to say about the fight, his future plans and much more.
PC: I have to ask you first and foremost, how are you feeling health-wise?
MT: Oh, I'm good man. I had to go to the hospital afterwards because of the TKO or knockout and they did a can scan and everything is good. I have no problems. I have a small cut under my eye and that's about it.
PC: What do you feel went wrong in that fight?
MT: I knew the only chance of Brian Bowles winning was for him to catch me early in the fight with a big punch. I knew I shouldn't have chased him. I thought I had him hurt enough where he was ready to go out and he caught me with a big shot man. He put his chin down and swung for the fences and caught me. That was my fault and he did a great job. His gameplan worked. It happens.
PC: It was a long road to get to where you were as a champion. Do you feel you have the dedication and desire still to climb back up the ladder?
MT: Ah man, it's only made me a more dangerous fighter bro. Brian Bowles just woke up a sleeping giant. My styleÂ…I pretty much coached myself and ran my own training camps. I hadn't lost in a long time, but after this loss, it's going to make me revamp everything. I just got off the phone with Mark DellaGrotte and I'm working with a couple different coaches to make my game step up. I always went for the kill. I'm the hunter. I've always been going out there to hunt people. I should have relied on my experience and made him come to me. So if anything, it's going to make me more of a dangerous fighter. This doesn't faze me at all. I know these things happen. It's happened to all of the great fighters in the world. We're just going to see in my next fight if it motivated me in a positive or a negative way.
PC: I don't know if you re-watched the fight yet, but you took some shots while you were out. Have you checked it out and has there been any contact with Josh Rosenthal?
MT: People told me about that. They said I took too many punches after the fact, but you know what man? I talk to all of the referees before the fight and I let them know that's the way I want to go out. I want to go out; I want to go out! I don't want there to be a question of if I was okay still or still awake. If I'm going to go out, I want to go out man. I respect Rosenthal for doing that! People thought it might have been too much, but for me, it's not enough. Every time I go out, I put my life on the line and if I'm going to lose a fight, that's the way I want to go out. I want to go out!
PC: When I spoke to Bobby Razak, he was filming you for his film "Sangre Nuevo." He said you were killing guys in sparring and that you looked phenomenal. For anyone that assumes you took this fight lightly, could you dispel that notion?
MT: Ah man, I trained hard for this fight. I train hard for every fight. The thing is I had a good gameplan going into the fight of staying away from Brian's right hand; making him miss and making him chase me. But the fight didn't turn out that way. I caught him with a good combination and I thought he was hurt enough to where I could take him and I shouldn't have chased him. That was my mistake. I should've known better.
PC: He rocked you with one of the first punches he threw. Watching it is a lot different from being in there. It appeared you recovered fully from that first blow. Was that the case or did you never fully recover?
MT: Oh yeah! That first shot he hit me with was a pot shot. It was a good cross. I recovered from it fully. It wasn't like it had me hurt later in the fight. It was the shot that I didn't see that hurt me. You know, it's the one you don't see; those are the ones that hurt you. Brian had turned his head sideways and I started chasing him. I never saw that hook coming. The first cross that he hit me with, I seen it coming and I took it on and was fine. I was fine after that.
PC: You were turning for an armbar and reaching for his ankle after he dropped you. What exactly were you working for?
MT: Man, that was all instinct after that man. That wasn't like I was trying to work on anything special. When I got hit with that right, I remember chasing Brian and then I remember the referee standing over me. I was like, "Fuck man, he caught me!" Anything I was doing when I was on my back was autopilot. Brian broke his left hand hitting me with those shots, so when he put me down, I was dazed when I went down, but he knocked me out and broke his hand, so it wasn't like he was hitting me with small shots.
PC: Anytime you win that many fights consecutively, it has to be a letdown to lose in that manner. What was the most disappointing thing about last night's loss?
MT: For me, I wasn't disappointed man. I look at it as a true chance to redefine my game at this point in my career. I want to show the world that a champ just isn't made through wins, but through losses as well. I'm not looking at this as anything negative in no kind of way in my mind. Even after the fight, when I went back to the locker room, I wasn't upset; I didn't feel like crying or anything. Brian did a great job. He executed his gameplan and now it's my turn to get back on track. I don't want an immediate rematch. I want to earn my shot back to get the title. I don't want anything given to me. I want to fight as quickly as I can to get back in there. Three hours after my fight was over, I was looking to get back to my training camp. I've never had a coach. I'm looking to get a strength and conditioning coach and a coach for striking and grappling. I'm not running my own training camps anymore. I'm just looking to do things bigger and better, you know what I'm saying? I want to be a smarter fighter and use my experience to my advantage. Yesterday I got sucked into Brian's game. I got caught in a young guy's game and I've learned from that. All of those wins in a row made me cocky and now it's time to get smart and that's what it is with me.
PC: It's been a fun ride and I'm sure you will get back on the horse and make another run for it. Good luck and I'm glad to see you're okay. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
MT: I want to thank all of my fans that support me out there and all of my friends and my family at home.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]