Jose Torres: Rizin GP, Pantoja-Van, Merab Could Beat Jones, and More

2025-07-25

Jose 'Shorty' Torres battles Hiromasa Ougikubo at Super RIZIN 4 on July 27th as part of the RFF flyweight grand prix. Torres was a guest on Bowks Talking Bouts and touched on several subjects, such as: -recently making 125 pounds for the first time in close to four years for his last MMA bout -not being in this grand prix field as recently as three weeks ago, and how this short-notice tournament opportunity panned out -being contracted to Brave CF while also getting Rizin FF opportunities...

Jose 'Shorty' Torres battles Hiromasa Ougikubo at Super RIZIN 4 on July 27th as part of the RFF flyweight grand prix.

Torres was a guest on Bowks Talking Bouts and touched on several subjects, such as: -recently making 125 pounds for the first time in close to four years for his last MMA bout

-not being in this grand prix field as recently as three weeks ago, and how this short-notice tournament opportunity panned out

-being contracted to Brave CF while also getting Rizin FF opportunities and believing his last outing was a robbery

-fighting someone who many see as the likeliest to win the GP, and seeing him as the biggest, baddest guy in this tournament

-Ougikubo recording a prior win over current UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja

-top-to-bottom breakdowns of the entire grand prix field in terms of the easiest challenges and stiffest tests throughout the tournament

-facing a former Rizin grand prix champion in this year's GP

-thoughts on Alexandre Pantoja vs Kai Kara France from UFC 317 in the context of being a former UFC flyweight and being someone who has trained with Pantoja

-if Joshua Van deserves a UFC flyweight title shot next

-Kyoji Horiguchi returning to the UFC, and if the former UFC flyweight title challenger can inject some more life into the division

-Merab Dvalishvili also being someone he has a lot of training experience with, and if the UFC bantamweight champion is MMA's greatest of all time at 135 pounds post-UFC 316

-Patchy Mix having a lot of training experience with Torres and thoughts on Mix's inauspicious UFC debut at UFC 316

-being such a Pride FC fan, and if he saw the two-part effort that Darkside of the Cage put together on the rise and fall of Pride

-the effort that Rizin puts into his entrances feeling tantamount to Stone Cold walking out at WrestleMania or Bad Bunny at a concert

-his prior interaction with Canelo Alvarez around the Noche UFC card last year in the context of his thoughts on Canelo vs. Crawford

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