Manuel Torres | Fight First, Party Later

“God willing, this is what’s going to happen, said Torres. “I’m putting in the work, doing what needs to be done so I can celebrate with the family, those that are close to me, and we’ll do it afterwards.”

Saturday’s fight with Dober is not only Torres’ first appearance of 2025, but also the first time he’s made the walk to the Octagon after suffering a defeat.

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After earning his contract with a first-round stoppage win over Kolton England on the fifth season of Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS), Torres collected similar results in each of his first three appearances under the UFC banner, finishing Frank Camacho, Niklas Motta, and Chris Duncan in succession to advance to 15-2 and establish himself as an emerging threat in the lightweight division.

His run of positive results and electric finishes landed him opposite Ignacio Bahamondes last September at UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas, where Torres entered as the favorite, but left knowing he needed to make changes. Bahamondes, who has since picked up a first-round submission win over Jalin Turner and earned himself a place into the rankings, capitalized on Torres’ aggression, stinging him with long-range attacks on multiple occasions before ultimately sending him to the canvas and securing the finish.

“I feel that I wasn’t focused enough; I wasn’t into it as much as I should have been,” explained Torres. “I needed to become a better fighter. I think I needed to actually have a setback to understand that now you need to do certain things in order to succeed. I needed a negative in order to come out for the positive.

“I also think that I needed the experience,” continued the dangerous finisher, who has only been to the scorecards once in his 18-fight career. “I don’t have that much time in the organization, and all of a sudden, so many things are happening one after the other — so many fights, so many moments — and you’re going for it all, going for everything, but ‘Hey! Chill!’

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“You don’t need to get everything at all times. You don’t need to go for it all: you need to be smarter, find a more intelligent game plan, understand the time to strike; you don’t need to do everything at the same time. I feel like right now is the time to focus, and I need to understand that I’m new at this. (I need to) get more experience so I can become a better fighter, fight smarter, and know when to strike and finish fights.”

Torres has spent the last six months focused on those goals, and gets to put them to the test this weekend when he steps in opposite a veteran that has every desire to force him back to his old ways.

The 36-year-old Dober is one of the most consistent all-action fighters on the UFC roster; a 42-fight veteran who would rather face a dangerous opponent that is going to engage with him on the feet than a lesser foe that isn’t as interested in giving the fans their money’s worth, sometimes to his own detriment.

After stringing together stoppage wins over Terrance McKinney, Rafael Alves, and King Green in 2022 to force his way into the Top 15, the Denver-based lightweight has struggled to find success inside the Octagon, entering Saturday’s contest with just a single victory in his last four outings.

Now, his last two setbacks came in a three-round battle with Renato Moicano and a bloody brawl with Jean Silva that was halted due to a gnarly cut Dober had over his left eye, which tell you the level he remains at heading into this one, but a two-fight skid is surely motivation for the always smiling veteran to look to ruin Torres’ birthday plans by urging him to make the same mistake he did against Bahamondes.

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“The loco is gonna be there; rest assured, it’s gonna be there,” he said with a smile when asked about challenging the patience and maturity he’s been working on when he gets in there on Saturday night with a feisty Dober. “But I have to understand that certain things are going to happen in a fight. I’ve been working at this in my sparring sessions: to be smarter in the way you react to a strike.

“You absorb something, and you (think you) have to give it back immediately. Are you gonna go for it right away to counter? Are you gonna pay no attention to defense or strategy? You can’t be like that; you can’t lose all that in that moment.

“I want to not just be smarter but mature with the experience; to follow the strategy and understand that a mature fighter can take the moments like that, and not lose it all, not risk it all because something off the plan happened. ‘Loco’ is gonna be there, but it’s gonna be a way smarter version, and someone that is more mature, knows to keep the strategy so you don’t lose yourself trying to get something that you want.”

If he can display those improvements and implement those changes on fight night, Torres knows that a victory over Dober will go a long way towards rekindling the momentum he carried into UFC 306 and reminding people that he’s still someone to pay attention to going forward in the 155-pound ranks.

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“It’s going to be another accomplishment, another goal that was set and will be met; another opportunity to show people that I’m here, here to stay, and a more mature fighter,” he said of defeating the American veteran. “It’s gonna be more experience for me to continue to become the best and show people that I belong here, that I have evolved as a fighter, and become a better fighter.

“I want to be a champion, I want to be the best in the world, and that’s how you do it — you continue doing the work, and it’s going to start on Saturday.”

And then, there is only one other thing he wants to do.

“Eat some tacos, have a Coke, and enjoy with all the people that came to support me.”