UFC 130 Fight Card: 5 Things Miguel Torres Must Do to Beat Demetrious Johnson

UFC 130 is only a few weeks away, but already the card is shaping up to be one of the most solid nights of fights in recent history—only another great card to add on to what the UFC has already put on in 2011.

On the Spike TV card, which also features Rick Story facing Thiago Alves, Miguel Angel Torres will look to extend his streak in the UFC to 2-0 against Demetrious Johnson, who has a great wrestling base and has been known to be very explosive when he lays in some shots.

Torres is a former WEC Bantamweight Champion with great striking, long limbs and some very good Jiu-Jitsu, but without question Johnson poses one of the toughest threats to date for Torres.

So what does he have to do to beat Mighty Mouse?

Start Outside

Torres will be the lankier and the slimmer of the two between him and Johnson, meaning that his striking, if used effectively, will do well enough to keep Johnson at bay.

Torres' starting point can be on the outside with his striking—outside leg kicks, pinpointing any inside leg kicks he may want to throw at Johnson if he really wants to employ a "hit-and-run" strategy (because those inside leg kicks can be real doozies) and trying to land some hard jabs to hurt Johnson before he comes forward.

Torres has claimed that since moving to Tristar in Montreal, Firas Zahabi has him working smarter as a fighter and coming into fights with game plans.

This showed in his UFC 126 bout with Antonio Banuelos, who was criticized by Dana White for seeming to not try to press the action with Torres.

Johnson may or may not be the same case, but in order to keep Johnson from exploding on him with a barrage of lefts and rights, Torres has to slow Johnson down, and there's no better place to slow a fighter down than on the outside.

Defend the Takedowns

Now, I couldn't get the video of the actual fight between Kid Yamamoto and Johnson from UFC 126, but the story of that fight was basically the takedowns of Johnson, who was expected to have his attempts stuffed by Yamamoto.

It will be difficult for Johnson to take Torres down to begin with, but it won't be impossible.

Therefore, Torres needs to take some pointers from some of the boys at Tristar like GSP and pick up a thing or two about defending an explosive takedown like the ones Johnson possesses.

All he has to do is try to sprawl or keep a square base while pushing Johnson off whenever possible and keeping the fight in the striking realm, and if Johnson continues to try takedowns and continually fails, he may lure himself into a striking bout—which he may not want to do with Torres.

Don't Sweat It If He DOES Get Taken Down by Mighty Mouse

You can't fight intelligently if you plan on one part of the fight not happening.

If Torres banks on not being taken down by Johnson yet doesn't take the time to hone his Jiu-Jitsu skills, he will get finished with ease in this bout.

Torres must remember what brought him to Chase Beebe's WEC Bantamweight Title in the first place. While he does have one of the most potent Muay Thai arsenals in the sport, it was his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that earned him his fight with Beebe, his classics with Takeya Mizugaki, Manny Tapia and Yoshiro Maeda and what made many consider him at one time possibly one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in MMA.

Again, though, he has to make sure he has all bases covered, and that means he has to have a plan if Johnson is able to get him down.

Torres might have good takedown defense, but sooner or later, he will end up on his back.

It's up to Torres to make Johnson feel exactly why you never go to the ground with Miguel Angel Torres.

Work His Way Inside to Close the Distance.

This goes back a little bit to the point of working on the outside and landing shots on the outside with Johnson.

Once he's done damaging Johnson on the outside, he has to work inside Johnson's range with whatever he chooses to land on Johnson, but Torres will definitely need to control the aggression with which he pinpoints his strikes.

The minute he gets too wild and tries to mimic Clay Guida (in other words, fight aggressively to the point where you get too reckless), Johnson will expose that as a weakness and find a way to exhaust whatever is left of Torres' tank.

It's important for Torres to not try to go back to being recklessly aggressive; rather, he should find that mix of aggressive striking and technically accurate pinpoint striking.

Firas Zahabi should have no problem getting Torres used to being aggressive yet technical in his striking, especially on the inside, when he could deliver a blow to the head or the body that may hurt Johnson.

Once He Has Johnson Hurt, He Has to Pull the Damn Trigger

I said this was what Mark Hominick needed to do last weekend if he wanted to beat Jose Aldo, yet he let Aldo pound a baseball into the right side of his skull and didn't think about a finish until the fifth round, when he had mounted Aldo. Even there he couldn't get a finish—even if he was gassed, Aldo was defending himself.

It feels good to digress, doesn't it? That is why I openly do it in articles!

Anyway, Torres should be able to still know when he has a guy like Johnson truly hurt, and once he knows he is hurt, he should zoom in like a sniper and land his proverbial kill shots in on Mighty Mouse.

Any moment of hesitation could lead to a come-from-behind win for Johnson, so it's crucial for Torres to not waste time in going for the finish once he can sense that Johnson is hurt.