Mike De La Torre said he feels that he is peaking at the perfect time ahead of his UFC 210 featherweight bout with Myles Jury, a fight that will headline the event’s Fox Sports 1 prelims.
“I’m 100 percent confident,” the MMA Lab product told MMASucka. “Everything’s falling into place. I have really good training partners for this camp.”
The 14-6 fighter will seek to improve his UFC record to an even 3-3, 1 NC on Saturday night. Coming off of a submission loss to Godofredo Pepey, De La Torre’s next bout could very well be do-or-die for his UFC stint. Despite his back potentially being against the wall, the 30-year-old feels good about the match-up against a game opponent like Jury.
“I don’t really feel pressure right now,” De La Torre said. “I feel good. It’s like any other fight. All I’m worried about is going out there and performing to the best of my abilities. If I do that, I’ll walk out with the win.”
While De La Torre is keeping a cool head about the situation, he said that he is well aware that this is a must-win fight for him.
“I think this is the last fight on my UFC contract, I’m pretty sure,” he said. “I need to get that win. We’ll see what happens on Saturday. Hopefully, I get [the win].”
Jury, the man that stands in the way of De La Torre’s third UFC victory, boasts a potent 15-2 record. The TUF 15 veteran started off his professional MMA career at 15-0 before losing back-to-back bouts against Donald Cerrone (unanimous decision) and Charles Oliveira (first-round submission).
Jury, while still a top prospect, has not fought since December of 2015. De La Torre refused to bank on Jury coming into the Octagon with ring rust, despite the thought crossing his mind.
“He’s been out for almost two years now, but I’m not betting on that too much,” De La Torre said. “I think it’s a great match-up for me. He’s the perfect opponent for me to build my name and get back on the winning track.”
The featherweight knows that he’s currently on the outside of the division’s rankings and looking in, but believes a win over Jury would immediately put him in the mix of the top-15.
To accomplish that, he’s been avidly working on improving his striking and timing, and plans to aggressively take the fight to Jury.
“He’s the perfect opponent to test out my new skills on,” he said. “I feel light, I feel good. I’m fighting in the U.S., so I don’t have to worry about much right now. I think I have everything to my advantage right now, I just need to seize the moment.”
He will get his chance to do so in less than one week.
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