Saipan’s Ultimate Fighter

As a sport, it’s not for everybody. It takes the physical intensity of all kinds of martial arts and the mental demands of chess.

But Saipan-born Anthony C. Torres, one of the 18 competitors in Spike TV’s Ultimate Fighter 2, wants nothing more that to see people getting into it.

The sport is mixed martial arts, a newly evolved discipline that combines the widest possible variety of fighting styles: from boxing and wrestling to kung fu, muay thai, and judo.

The 27-year-old Torres, who has been practicing mixed martial arts for over three years, describes it as the “most realistic, few rules, one-on-one, contact sport.”

“It is a very intense sport. It’s more than just two guys pummeling each other. It’s also a thinking sport. You are constantly developing a strategy on how to go about taking on your opponent. You have got to have a strong mind and body. But it’s also very exciting and I would love to see it become a mainstream sport,” said the youngest child of former Rep. Stanley Torres and his wife Ana.

Torres said he was honored to represent the Mariana Islands and Hawaii in Ultimate Fighter 2, a reality TV show that premiered in the mainland United States and Hawaii last week.

This season, nine heavyweights and nine welterweights—including Torres—will share a house and compete for two contracts with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. UFC world champions Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin will coach the two teams as they battle each other to become the ultimate fighter.

The elimination round was filmed in Las Vegas in May and June 2005. The championship match will air on Nov. 5, with four finalists fighting it out live on television.

Torres is keeping it a secret even to his family how he did in the competition. But he said the experience was worth the isolation he had to go through over the six-week period that the show was being filmed.

“For six weeks, we were disconnected from the whole outside world. No family, no friends, no loved ones, no TV… All we did was eat, sleep, train, and fight. It was a grueling, but [a] great experience. I learned a lot about myself as a fighter and as a person,” he said.

Although the show is not being aired on Saipan and Guam, his family members back in the Marianas are filled with pride for the name that Torres is making for himself in the contact sport.

His eldest brother, Stanley Torres Jr., said he was shocked when he found out about the show. “When he told us about his trip to Las Vegas in May, we thought he just went to some law enforcement training—something work-related. We were shocked, but also happy that he’s part of something like this,” he said. We can’t wait to get a copy of the show so we can watch it,” Stanley Torres Jr. said.

Their father’s feeling, however, was a mixture of pride and concern. “I never imagined that he would join this kind of sport. I knew that he’s into this kind of activity, but I didn’t know that he was that serious. I’m proud of him, but also a bit concerned. [Mixed martial arts] is a dangerous sport and I’m just praying that he won’t get hurt,” said Stanley Torres Sr.

The father said that Torres has always had an independent spirit. He has been living away from home since he was 14.

With a demanding job as a member of a SWAT-like unit at an Oahu prison, Torres now has little chance to visit Saipan, although not for lack of wanting. “I miss my family. Sometime in the near future, I hope I can come back and fight over there,” he said.