Jose “Shorty” Torres returns to the cage this week when he takes on SBG’s Blaine O’Driscoll in the co-main event of BRAVE CF 49. The three-round bout will take place on Thursday, Match 25, in the Gulf State of Bahrain.
Torres was preparing for a rematch with compatriot Sean Santella after the pair’s BRAVE CF flyweight Grand Prix quarter-final at BRAVE CF 42 ended in a draw. However, after Santella was struck down with an injury, O’Driscoll put his hand up for a shot against Torres. The Irishman is known for his striking ability, which for Torres is a welcome change after having fought several recent bouts against grapplers.
“It’s honestly been one of the best camps ever. It was focused on Sean Santella, but I have the skills for a standup game. I have the standup skills for Blaine, and it’s exciting to know that I am finally fighting a standup fighter, something I have wanted for years now, at least [since] 2018,” Torres said to LowkickMMA.
“I’m really excited for it. He is a pressure fighter. You know it’s going to be a brawl.”
This will be Torres’s third bout under the BRAVE CF banner, and fortunately for the Chicago-native, his training camp has been relatively untouched by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
“It feels great to be back in the BRAVE cage, it’s been about six months since my last fight, and I have been training ever since, ” Torres exclaimed.
“Luckily, the training hasn’t has been affected at all by Covid. I train with a very small group of people. Myself, Din Thomas, Gillian Robertson, and David Evans is the majority group,” he added.
” I travel to train all the time, and luckily for me, Florida, where I station my camps now, is pretty much an open state. So everything is practically the same.”
The BRAVE CF Flyweight Championship has had a somewhat interesting history of late. The promotion has attempted to crown an inaugural champion on multiple occasions. Still, no fighter has yet been able to lay claim to the vacant title for a variety of reasons. The ongoing Flyweight Grand Prix looks set to change that, and if Torres can get his hand raised against O’Driscoll, he will meet the winner of the Dustin Ortiz – Ali Bagautinov clash, which takes place at BRAVE CF 50.
” Shorty” is aware he will be the heavy favorite against O’Driscoll, but he is not letting his guard down, especially when he knows a title fight could soon be on the line. The 28-year-old has spent enough time in MMA to know the dangers thinking too far ahead can cause a fighter.
” I have my future opponent, which was Sean, and now it’s Blaine, and then next possibly Ali or Dustin Ortiz, and all three are very tough opponents. I have to go one by one, I can’t look past any opponent no matter if it’s last-minute, no matter what his record is,” Torres said.
“Even though I have a resume over this man, it does not mean I am better than him. We will find out March 25.”
Torres has worked too long and hard to let this opportunity to chase some silverware go by. So fans can expect to see “Shorty” come out as focused as he has ever been.