Days after his most recent win that also gave him a 2-0 record in the Dana White Contender Series, Torrez Finney had plans to spend the next few weeks with a bit of time off while also considering the best opportunity for his MMA career.
In a matter of days, things have changed for the former JCHS athletic standout.
Finney, who last month extended his professional fighting record to 9-0 and 2-0 in the Dana White Contender Series, will now get an unprecedented third fight in that series, going against Abdellah Er-Ramy on Oct. 1. Like the other two bouts in the series, there will be the potential for a UFC contract with a win.
Next month’s fight is one that Finney almost was not in a position to take.
“I got a call from my manager,” Finney said. “He was like, ‘Have you signed a contact yet?’” And since Finney had not yet signed on for another promotion, he was available, and just like that, had a third shot lined up in the Dana White Contender Series.
“One of the guys who is also higher up in the UFC, Hunter Campbell, is big on me and wants to get me an opportunity,” Finney said. “It’s wild how this whole thing went. I wasn’t expected to fight again in three weeks but will go back in the cage on Oct. 1.”
Finney concedes that, if he was a bit older, he would have likely taken the existing offer that was in place before the contender series came calling.
“If I was older, I probably would have taken the deal,” Finney said. “But I’m 25, so why not go for it? It’s a risk, but it’s also a calculated risk. So why not go for it.”
The Oct. 1 fight will be less than six weeks since Finney’s most recent win. Fighting again so soon isn’t a worry for Finney.
“I’m treating the last fight as a hard sparring session,” Finney said. “You’re always going to have bumps and bruises from a fight. I’m feeling good, feeling healthy and have done some sparring already.”
Er-Ramy is from Morrocco and trains in Spain. He’s 7-1, but in Finney, he’ll now be having to adjust from one style of fighter to the other after the previous opponent withdrew from the fight.
“He’s got good skills. What helps me is that he was prepping for an opponent who is a striker,” Finney said. “So, for him to get a whole different opponent, that can be hard. For me, though, it’s all about execution.”
