When Filipina mixed martial artist Jomary “The Zamboanginian Fighter” Torres made her ONE Championship debut back in 2017, she made such a big splash that it didn’t take long for her to be in the conversation for a world title shot.
The soft-spoken atomweight did all her talking in the ring, as she stunned fan favorite Rika Ishige in her promotional debut, followed by wins over Nita Dea and a tremendous 40-second TKO win over Team Lakay’s April Osenio.
That impressive start however, feels like it happened ages ago, as Torres has lost four of her last five outings, and her most recent one ended in a No Contest following an accidental low blow from former title contender Jenny Huang.
Once possibly just a win away from a shot at gold, Torres now finds herself on the bottom of the rankings.
Still, at just 23 years old, Torres still has a lot of time left to bounce back, and Catalan Fighting System head coach Rene Catalan has nothing but faith in his student.
“It’s a good challenge,” Catalan told ONE Championship, “not just for her but for the team to persevere.”
“We’re still positive. We want to remain positive so we can further motivate Jomary and the team to train even harder so they can barge into the rankings soon,” he continued.
Catalan, a top contender and former world title challenger in his own right, revealed that it was Torres’ lack of discipline that led to her downfall.
Following the big win over Osenio, Catalan explained that Torres began to lose focus.
“There are times when she missed training, because sometimes it’s already 3 am and she is still on her phone,” Catalan revealed. “She lost her discipline, the things that she was previously doing. Her focus wasn’t there, the focus that we saw in her training initially.”
When at her full potential, Torres has shown that she can be as dangerous as they come in the women’s atomweight division. For Catalan, all that “the Zamboanginian Fighter” needs to do is to re-discover her drive and her hunger in the sport.
“For as long as she remains focused and disciplined, I think there’s a big chance for Jomary to get back on track and maybe put herself in contention in the near future,” Catalan stated.
So far, Catalan says that he’s beginning to see shades of the old Jomary Torress that won three straight.
“She’s still young and I can see her focus in training is back. I have been telling her that I need to see the Jomary Torres of old, and so far I like what I am seeing,” Catalan shared.