I’ve never punched anything (OK, I kicked an office chair once) and it’s probably not good for me. But, then again, as a writer/editor who spends large portions of time staring into computer screens, I don’t have much of an anger outlet.

I don’t explore ways to inflict pain for a living (although some might believe columnists are hurtful creatures). However, if all of us were able to take a timeout and beat on something (not someone) once a day, incidents of things like road rage might decrease.
(I can see the public service announcement now: “Violence – It’s the Answer.”)

There is hope for people like me, though. Apparently this attribute, this cage calmness, can be learned without intervention from an anger management specialist.

Torres is an example.

On June 1, Torres and Yoshiro Maeda teamed to produce one of the year’s most entertaining bouts. Torres took a TKO victory on a doctor’s stoppage after the third round when Maeda’s eye was swollen shut.

Torres, meanwhile, was bleeding significantly after a few of Maeda’s well-placed shots, which not only did the cutting, but also rattled the champ.

Once that happened, the fight was a display of perpetual punishment, but perhaps only because Torres lost his resolve and abandoned his strategy when he felt blood trickling down his nose. The resultant exchanges were exhilarating to watch even if they weren’t in the best interest of a man who was defending his title against a capable adversary.

So, Torres vowed to remain calm in last week’s fight against another solid striker who hoped to take his belt. The product, then, was Torres’ steely facial expression and smooth dissection of Tapia.

We’ve seen this kind of thing before from the world’s top fighters. Like, when Fedor got slammed on his noggin by Kevin Randleman, but kept that head in the match and won by kimura just seconds later.

Or, when Silva was taken down and controlled momentarily by Travis Lutter before securing a triangle choke, hitting him with some sharp elbows and getting the submission.

The examples are countless in this dangerous, chaotic sport.

And those examples lend hope to pasty, frail writers who nearly lose it when the dog pukes on the new carpet.