UFC 139 Results: Miguel Torres Uses Space vs. Nick Pace to Jump into Title Talk

A huge gap in size and experience proved too much for Nick Pace to overcome against Miguel Angel Torres at UFC 139.

Torres, the former WEC Bantamweight Champion, dominated "Lovely Face" to earn his second UFC victory and his 39th overall to throw himself into the running to challenge Dominick Cruz for the Bantamweight title belt.

Torres controlled the fight throughout with his eight-inch reach advantage, keeping Pace at bay with his long arms and using that same edge to launch some aggressive attacks at his young challenger.

Pace was able to take Torres to the mat once and to the cage several on several occasions, but each time, Torres kept his elbows, knees and fists active to soften Pace with short but effective pelts.

Pace, in just the ninth fight of his professional mixed martial arts career, struggled to narrow the distance, much less dictate the tempo, against the veteran Torres, who came into Saturday's event at HP Pavilion in San Jose with 43 bouts under his belt.

The native New Yorker fought sluggishly through the first two rounds, perhaps as a result of checking in at 141 pounds. Whatever the case may be, Pace showed himself to be at some times unwilling, and other times unable, to engage in any sort of meaningful exchange with Torres for most of the fight. Even when Pace upped the ante in the third round, he simply could never quite make his way past Torres' spindly legs and flying fists.

Torres still has a ways to go before he can reasonably challenge for the UFC Bantamweight belt, though Saturday's result—a unanimous decision by the judges against a young, up-and-coming fighters—is a big step in the right direction. He'll likely have to wait in line behind Urijah Faber, who defeated Brian Bowles during the main card of Saturday's event, before he gets his shot at glory on his new circuit.

As for Pace, it's back to the drawing board for the Tiger Schulmann trainee, who will be fighting for his UFC life in his next bout on account of picking up defeats in his last two outings.