Before Dominick Cruz, Renan Barao and T.J. Dillashaw, there was Miguel Torres.

Torres, who celebrates his 35th birthday on Jan. 18, was for a time regarded as the sport’s premier bantamweight. He entered World Extreme Cagefighting with a stellar 32-1 record in September 2007, submitted Jeff Bedard with a first-round triangle choke and took aim at champion Chase Beebe five months later. Beebe did not last four minutes, as he tapped to a guillotine choke at WEC 32 and surrendered the promotion’s 135-pound title to Torres. Wins over Yoshiro Maeda, Manny Tapia and Takeya Mizugaki followed before the Carlson Gracie-trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt bowed to Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez in back-to-back bouts. Torres reached the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2011 and compiled a 2-2 record -- it included a disputed decision loss to current flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson -- before departing.

Though Torres has become something of a journeyman since, with losses in four of his past seven bouts, his slide has done little to diminish his accomplishments. He last fought under the Rebel Fighting Championship banner on June 27, when he submitted to a second-round brabo choke from Kleber Koike Erbst in China.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of January:

JAN. 1

Guy Mezger (48)
Eiji Mitsuoka (40)
Charles Diaz (39)
Robbie Peralta (30)
John Lineker (26)
Herica Tiburcio (23)

JAN. 2

Mac Danzig (36)
Luis Santos (36)
Emanuel Newton (32)

JAN. 3

Rodney Glunder (41)
Vlad Popovskiy (24)

JAN. 4

Kimo Leopoldo (48)
Vladimir Matyushenko (45)
Shane Carwin (41)
Donny Walker (36)
Jose Maria Tome (34)
Derek Brunson (32)
Raphael Butler (32)
Jin Suk Jung (32)
Jung Min Kang (30)
Warlley Alves (25)

JAN. 5

Ruben Villareal (46)
Mike Bronzoulis (37)
John Gunderson (37)
Kaline Medeiros (37)
Takahiro Suzuki (29)
Douglas Lima (28)

JAN. 6

Kalib Starnes (41)
Wilson Reis (31)

JAN. 7

Thiago Santos (32)
Levan Makashvili (27)

JAN. 8

Tara LaRosa (38)
Andre Santos (35)
Ertan Balaban (33)

JAN. 9

Pete Spratt (45)
Jake Shields (37)

JAN. 10

Mickey Hughes (37)
Matt Brown (35)

JAN. 11

Rafael Cavalcante (35)
Muhammed Lawal (35)
Eddie Alvarez (32)
Peter Sobotta (29)

JAN. 12

Ikuhisa Minowa (40)
Young Bok Kil (31)
Angela Hill (28)

JAN. 13

George Allen (49)
Leigh Remedios (40)
Justin Hawes (37)
Dennis Siver (37)

JAN. 14

Akbarh Arreola (33)
Matt Riddle (30)

JAN. 15

Alexandre Franca Nogueira (38)
Nobuhiro Obiya (35)
Yuki Nishigo (31)
Andrew Craig (30)
Efrain Escudero (30)
Alexander Gustafsson (29)
Michael McDonald (25)

JAN. 16

Paul Buentello (42)
Hyun Gyu Lim (31)

JAN. 17

Gary Goodridge (50)
Ariel Sexton (34)
Dusan Dzakic (29)
Brian Grinnell (28)
Alexander Sarnavskiy (27)
Arnold Allen (22)

JAN. 18

Neil Grove (45)
Jeff Monson (45)
Yoshikazu Fujiishi (38)
Luis Ramos (35)
Miguel Torres (35)
Carlos Diego Ferreira (31)
Marcin Held (24)

JAN. 19

Aritano Silva Barbosa (37)
Dustin Poirier (27)
Timur Valiev (26)

JAN. 21

Francisco France (33)
Edson Barboza (30)
Patricky Freire (30)
Willie Gates (29)
Shane Campbell (28)

JAN. 22

Min Soo Kim (41)
Jorge Antonio Cezario de Oliveira (36)
Luigi Fioravanti (35)
Tomasz Drwal (34)
Ji-Hoon Kim (34)

JAN. 23

Tito Ortiz (41)
A.J. Matthews (28)
Christos Giagos (26)

JAN. 24

Akira Maeda (57)
Jamall Johnson (34)
Jimmy Spicuzza (31)

JAN. 25

Ron van Clief (73)
Jorge Gurgel (39)
Paulo Thiago (35)
John Quinn (33)
Mike Easton (32)
Dominique Steele (28)

JAN. 26

Dan Bobish (46)
Carmelo Marrero (35)
Rafaello Oliveira (34)
Chico Camus (31)

JAN. 27

Tony Sylvester (38)
Klay Konrad (34)
Anthony Pettis (29)

JAN. 28

Tim Boetsch (35)
Jesse Fujarczyk (33)
Brandon Saling (30)

JAN. 29

Stephen Palling (49)
Kazuyuki Miyata (40)

JAN. 30

Rob Kimmons (35)
Jessica Penne (33)

JAN. 31

Akira Shoji (42)
Kengo Watanabe (40)
Maciej Jewtuszko (35)
Shunichi Shimizu (31)
Renan Barao (29)
Kirill Sukhomlinov (28)
Dhiego Lima (27)
Cesar Arzamendia (25)