Torrez Finney has yet to meet his match in the professional MMA ranks. After last week’s win by unanimous decision against Cam Rowston in the Dana White Contender Series, the former JCHS athletic standout is 9-0.
The wait for a UFC contract, however, is still yet to come.
Finney, who last fall also fought in the Dana White Contender Series in an event where a win would possibly result in being offered a UFC contract, came away from last Tuesday’s bout minus a contract offer from White, the UFC CEO, despite another win.
“That’s the main thing. I will never feel bad about winning,” Finney said. “I knew about whether or not I would get the contract or not in the back. My management team was on the phone with Dana halfway through the show, so I pretty much knew what results would potentially be.”
Finney won his previous contender series bout with a two-round victory.
“I’ve been on the show twice and won twice. There are always things I can do better with my performance,” Finney said. “I wouldn’t say it was a perfect performance, but it was a really good performance against a really good opponent. We’ll definitely grow from it and get better.”
For now, Finney is balancing his options going forward. In a perfect world, he would line up a third fight to bolster his resume even more. The challenge, though, is being able to line up that third fight.
“Dana did say in his post-fight interview that if I go out there and get three fights, they’d be looking to sign me straight-in,” Finney said. “But that’s a hard thing for me to get. It’s not easy to find opponents.”
Could Finney look elsewhere to move up the fighting ladder?
“For me, it’s not so much that I get a contract, but that I am able to continue to fight,” Finney said. “UFC is not only show in town. There are a lot of really big promotions, and we’ll definitely weigh our options.”
And that UFC door isn’t considered closed, either.
“That door is never closed. It’s more of when the right time is to walk through it,” Finney said. “I think there’s obviously a lot of opportunities out there, so I want to make sure I play what’s on the table really smart.”
