By David King
COMMENTARY | Despite his years of training mixed martial arts, Joe Torrez is yet to get his big break inside the cage.
The
27-year-old MMA fighter sports a subpar 1-5 professional record, but
while his training has often failed him inside the cage, it saved his
life a couple of hours into 2014 when four men evidently forced their
way into his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with intent to harm Torrez,
his fiancée, his two-year old son, and a few other guests.
That was about 15 minutes after one of the suspects allegedly called
Torrez' home threatening, "I'll kill you and your family ... I'll go to
your house."
According to
Torrez' lawyer, C.J. McElhinney, one of the attackers brought a street
made shank along for the ride, while another grabbed a knife from the
kitchen
Unfortunately for them, their
weapons proved to be ineffective against Torrez' MMA training. He
quickly dispatched them, killing one of the attackers, severely breaking
another's jaw, while the remaining two tucked their tails between their
legs and ran for dear life.
Those two were rounded up shortly after by authorities, and all three
surviving suspects will face aggravated battery and aggravated robbery
charges.
"Rather than let himself be a victim, Joe fought back, and he fought back for his life," McElhinney said during a 30-minute interview with MMALockup.
"In the ensuing struggle, regrettably, one of those intruders lost his
life, and another suffered what can be described as a severely broken
jaw."
"Joe was in great
shape, he'd been training for a fight. I think his MMA training --
without a doubt -- was the edge in that fight. Being able to defend
yourself and having that confidence is a huge advantage in any kind of
fight, and I don't think they were prepared for what came in response."
However, instead of being
commended for his valiant efforts while defending his family, charges
might be coming at Torrez depending on the outcome of an investigation
being conducted by the Dona Ana County sheriff's office.
For now, Torres remains a free man, and he's wisely decided to move his family away from Las Cruces.
"Joe is holding up remarkable well. After this all happened -- I've
known Joe for a long time -- I could tell that Joe had been though a
very traumatic experience. I could just tell from his demeanor, his
bearing, he was shaken up … I advised him that he needed to leave the
area because these people are going to be looking for retribution. He
took that advice, so he has left the state. He's at a safe place with
his family. Now he's just very nervous, very fearful that he's going to
have to defend himself against an unjust charge, an unfounded charge, so
that's weighing heavily on his mind."
Hopefully, reasonable minds
prevail, and Torres doesn't end up getting punished for doing what most
of us hope we'll have the courage, strength, and ability to do if we
ever find ourselves and our loved ones in similar situation.
David
is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and boxing practitioner who has watched and
studied MMA for the past 9 years. Send him your questions @davidkingwriter and check out his blog.
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