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| The shift of sport turned out to be for the better of Jomary Torres. |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--If it would have had it her way, Jomary Torres would have been vying for a spot with Perlas Pilipinas right now.
Torres admitted that she first indulged into basketball.
“I really wanted to play basketball,” the Zamboanga City native quipped. “Most men play basketball in our country. Since it is like our national sport, I was fascinated by it.”
But her status in life that time forced her to set her hoop dreams and even her studies aside.
“Instead of letting my grandmother work even more just to get me through college, I decided to stop going to school and find a job to help her out,” she said.
Moving to Taguig to work as a nanny, a chance encounter with Ruel and Rene Catalan made her shift to MMA.
“Coach Rene invited me and gave me an offer to consider. I tried training, and I have been there ever since,” she recalled. “I was a bit fat before. I only got fit here.”
She then decided to quit her day job to focus on MMA full time only to get a quick baptism of fire.
“I trained for two months and was surprised when I was told by my coach that I would be competing,” Torres stated. “I took on the challenge so that I could experience a real match, and thankfully, I won.”
After that win, Torres found herself in One Championship, quickly making an impression with a stunning submission of Rika Ishige last August before dominating Nita Dea three months later.
On Friday, Torres will stake her unblemished record against April Osenio in an all-Filipina battle at One: Global Superheroes at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
But her status in life that time forced her to set her hoop dreams and even her studies aside.
“Instead of letting my grandmother work even more just to get me through college, I decided to stop going to school and find a job to help her out,” she said.
Moving to Taguig to work as a nanny, a chance encounter with Ruel and Rene Catalan made her shift to MMA.
“Coach Rene invited me and gave me an offer to consider. I tried training, and I have been there ever since,” she recalled. “I was a bit fat before. I only got fit here.”
She then decided to quit her day job to focus on MMA full time only to get a quick baptism of fire.
“I trained for two months and was surprised when I was told by my coach that I would be competing,” Torres stated. “I took on the challenge so that I could experience a real match, and thankfully, I won.”
After that win, Torres found herself in One Championship, quickly making an impression with a stunning submission of Rika Ishige last August before dominating Nita Dea three months later.
On Friday, Torres will stake her unblemished record against April Osenio in an all-Filipina battle at One: Global Superheroes at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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