New UFC middleweight Torrez Finney is an enormous fan of The Rock.
Finney earned a contract after changing into the primary fighter to earn three wins on Dana White’s Contender Collection, selecting up a first-round TKO of Abdellah Er-Ramy at DWCS Season 8, Week 8. All through his MMA profession, the 25-year-old would log off his post-fight interviews by paying homage to The Rock’s well-known WWE tagline, “For those who odor what The Rock is cooking,” by altering it too, “For those who can odor what Torrez is cooking.”
Rising up enjoying professional wrestler on the again yard trampoline, it was meant to be.
“Nicely, I’m an enormous skilled wrestling fan,” Finney advised MMA Combating. “I’m massive into WWE, clearly, even AEW. I’ve watched these issues. Now I don’t watch them as religiously as I used to rising up. However rising up, man, with all my cousins, we used to get on the trampoline. If anyone is aware of something about [that], the trampoline is the WWE ring for lots of children. And once they inform you to not do these issues at house, we absolutely didn’t hear.
“So we did all of that stuff at house and we’re there on the trampoline leaping up and down. We do all WWE strikes, and I feel that’s part of, a little bit bit, what helps me have the ability to converse in that promo sort means. We used to try this. We used to have our toy mic and we’re like, ‘Man, I’m coming in your birthday, and I’m coming to take that belt — when I’ve that belt with me and all my cousins and we had been enjoying like that.”
Finney was a child when The Rock, actual identify Dwayne Johnson, was making his preliminary run within the sports activities leisure juggernaut. However with a number of returns to WWE, Finney received to expertise the arrogance and star-power Johnson would exude on the microphone.
So when it got here to preventing for his first MMA novice title, Finney knew precisely what to do as soon as he received the chance.
“I’m an enormous fan of The Rock now, my favourite wrestler is The Undertaker,” Finney stated. “I’m an enormous Undertaker fan, however I like The Rock. I like his promo reducing and I might simply sit there and watch that and I used to do a few of that sort of stuff in highschool. … However after I was stepping into preventing, I stated, ‘Man, I would like to think about one thing [to say],’ and it was my second novice struggle. I received the title and one in every of my buddies was like, what you gonna say after the struggle? And I stated, ‘I received one thing. Ever since I used to be a child, I wished to do that.’
“[After] my second novice struggle, I stated, ‘I’ve been wanting to do that my whole life,’ and I am going ‘For those who can odor,’ and I stated, ‘what the champ is cooking,’ as a result of I used to be a champion at the moment.”
Since then, “The Punisher” has gone on to win all 10 of his professional bouts, together with his first two outings on Contender Collection. After ending Yuri Panerov in October 2023, Dana White elected to not award Finney a contract, asking him to get extra expertise first. Finney returned in August to win a call towards Cam Rowston, the place White ripped Finney saying that he would get “completely decimated” within the UFC.
Finney has all the time remained true to himself. Because the wins stored piling him, so was the joy for his post-fight interviews. When he makes his eventual octagon debut, Finney might have the prospect to say his signature after the most important second of his skilled life.
“I simply stored it rolling as a result of children and folks was like, ‘Man, I’ve been wanting ahead to that,’” Finney defined. ”They look ahead to that, ‘For those who can odor.’ I even have followers, they look ahead to that, ‘For those who can odor what Torrez is cooking.’
“So it’s actually cool man. And yeah, it’s humorous like how the stuff you’d do as a child is now being gravitated and translated to what you do as an grownup now.”
