Former WEC Champ Miguel Torres Announces Retirement

Miguel Torres has announced his retirement from mixed martial arts after a 53-bout professional career.

The 36-year-old Chicago native revealed his decision in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening.

“As I sit here on the mat in my academy contemplating my life and all of the possibilities that can manifest from just mere choice, my heart feels too overburdened and overwhelmed to be able to seriously train for another fight. Wearing so many hats does not afford me the time to seriously do what is in my heart to do,” he wrote. “When this journey started it was to make a name for myself, show everyone that I was not an ordinary man, to show all the little guys size doesn't matter, to make my family proud of all their sacrifices, so my daughter would know her daddy did something special for her, and now things are different. Doesn't feel like my effort is for the love of the fight or competition anymore it’s just about a paycheck to buy unneeded things and taxes to a corrupt system. Have been bouncing back and forth from injuries the last 20 years, always training through the pain and fighting to build my brand and make my mark in the world. Any of my training partners, promoters, or any promotion I fought for was always aware of these things but the show still went on.

“Can no longer do it the way I have been. To not do it the right way or to fight small battles in the middle of training camps leads to ugly situations in the cage. It breaks my heart to write this but I officially announce my retirement from mixed martial arts.”

Torres had spent the last few years competing on the regional circuit, with his most high-profile bout coming in a first-round knockout loss to current UFC talent Desmond Green at Titan FC 31 in October 2014. Torres’ last appearance occurred at United Combat League’s “Havoc in Hammond 3,” where he defeated Lloyd Carter via first-round submission this past September.

At his peak, Torres was regarded as one of the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighters. He would lose just once in 38 bouts from the time his professional career began in 2000 until he was well into his World Extreme Cagefighting stint in 2009. Along the way, Torres captured WEC bantamweight gold and earned notable wins against the likes of Chase Beebe, Yoshiro Maeda, Manny Tapia, Takeya Mizugaki and Antonio Banuelos.

Torres went 2-2 during a brief stint in the UFC, where he lost bouts to Demetrious Johnson and Michael McDonald. He was then one of World Series of Fighting’s most prominent signings when the promotion launched in 2012, but he was upset in his debut by future titlist Marlon Moraes and parted ways with the organization after dropping his next bout against Pablo Alfonso. Torres exits the sport with a 44-9 career mark.