Miguel Torres' kickboxing debut

eseseses681

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I uploaded the video, if anyone didn't get to catch it live.

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Miguel lost, but he didn't look that bad [he didn't look great, but he didn't look that bad at all] and he didn't get KO'd against a dangerous opponent, so that was good. The big gloves really helped him use his defensive peekaboo guard well and he landed a lot of leg-kicks, which helped him out as the fight progressed (he'd really benefit from learning some more setups for them, though). The fight was also a lot more competitive than the scorecards would have you believe (it was also funny how they both kept forgetting this isn't shootfighting). Miguel's still got gas left in the tank, despite what a lot of people think. However, if he's gonna keep fighting, it'd probably be a good idea for him to take a page from Cro Cop's book and spend a year or two kickboxing professionally, forgetting about shootfighting for a while (that way he can get the hardcore kickboxing training he really needs while, since he teaches jiu-jitsu at his gym, his ground game won't suffer much, if at all).

It also showcased a lot of interesting things about Miguel's decline. The connection between Miguel's faded [though now underrated-] chin and the difference in effectiveness he shows when he's moving forward compared to backing up is something that's an integral part of his decline and something that was very apparent in this fight. The effectiveness Miguel showed in rounds 1 and 2 were a great example of this. The round-1 knockdown also showed why he's so tentative to move forward nowadays, compared to when he was in his prime and his chin was still made of steel. His slight decrease in speed hasn't helped this, but that's something that can be overcome (Miguel's not Yasuhiro Urushitani; his style isn't dependent on speed to be effective).

Huerta also looked good; his Karat
 
hey thanks for posting that, i wanted to watch this live but couldn't find a way to watch it.

pains me to say this, but miguel looked quite bad in this fight. i know it's his debut in kickboxing, but he was very tentative in the first round to the point that huerta could take risky moves like side kicks, spinning hook kicks and he even threw a front hook kick.

plus none of those low kicks that miguel threw looked like they had any heat behind them.

the first knockdown was quite brutal as well. feel kinda bad for him actually. was hoping he'd make a comeback so we could possibly see him fight in a bigger promotion once again since he's only 33.

as a side note, it bugs me a little that pbp commentators can't tell the difference between spinning hook kicks, spinning side kicks and spinning back kicks. everything is just a 'spinning back kick'. this happens in so many promotions, people are willing to learn the names of jiu jitsu submissions but not much about striking.

milletich didn't correct him either, maybe he just didn't want to embarass the guy.
 
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