(born May 20, 1983), is an American mixed martial artist. He initially gained exposure by competing in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He now fights for Bellator Fighting Championships. Huerta makes his acting debut as Miguel Caballero Rojo in the live action motion picture Tekken.
Early life
Huerta is of Mexican and Salvadoran descent. He had a long and difficult early childhood right up to his teen years, overcoming many challenges and has been described as having the "life that Hollywood producers make movies about". Born to Lydia and Rogelio Huerta in Los Angeles, California, he spent the first 6 years of his life in Texas. His father became heavily involved in drugs and alcohol and began an affair with another woman that led to a separation with Lydia.
Huerta's mother became physically abusive, and when Huerta came to school with bruises covering his body, Child Protective Services intervened, placing him in a foster home for a short time. In 1990, Lydia lost the custody battle for Huerta and fled the United States with Huerta, age 7, to her parent's home in El Salvador. Shortly upon arriving, Lydia abandoned Huerta leaving him in the care of his grandparents at the time of the El Salvadoran Civil War. She returned a year later to only leave him on his father's doorstep in Texas. That was the last time he saw his mother. Huerta openly talks about his mental and physical abuse endured by his father and stepmother in that year. The next year he was relocated to Mexico and left with his father's parents living in poverty. They would often send him out into the streets selling picture frames to tourists to make money. For a brief time, his father and stepmother came back into his life where they moved to the Rio Grande Valley and enrolled him half way through the year into grade 3. When he was 12, his father left home and soon after was kicked out. He lived on the streets for many years and survived by joining a youth gang. He often slept in alleys and on rooftops, but was encouraged by his friends to remain in school where he could eat a provided breakfast and lunch.
He occasionally stayed with friends and just before his freshman year, his life began to turn around for the better. Maria King, his friend's mother, obtained legal custody of him and the three moved to Austin, Texas where he attended Crockett High School. For one of the first times in his life he found himself in a stable environment and became quite popular in school and joined many of the school's sports teams including football and wrestling. It was there he met Jo Ramirez, his English teacher, where she learned about his troubled childhood in a conversation discussing his future ambitions. Furthermore, Bryan Ashford, the school's wrestling teacher, took a special interest in Huerta and continued to supported him in division wrestling. Ramirez, already a mother of seven, adopted Huerta in 2002 at the age of 19.
Ashford coached Huerta and with the help of Ramirez, aided him in applying for a collegiate wrestling scholarship. Huerta attends Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota with one year remaining in a Business Management bachelors degree and resided in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Huerta worked for a time as a bouncer and construction worker.
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
In Huerta's pre-UFC career, his first loss came as a result of a dislocated jaw early in the finals of the SuperBrawl 36 tournament against Ryan Schultz on June 18, 2004, his third match of the day.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Huerta was originally slated to make his UFC debut against Hermes Franca at UFC 61, but was forced to withdraw from the fight as the result of an elbow injury. He won his first six fights in the UFC, the first at UFC 63 against Jason Dent, which was declared "Fight of the Night".
His next fight was against UFC newcomer John Halverson at UFC 67. The fight ended by TKO after 19 seconds of round one after Huerta landed a knee to the shoulder/head area of a grounded Halverson, knocking him down where Huerta finished him with punches. The end of the bout was controversial as knees to the head of grounded opponents are illegal under UFC rules. It was later shown in a replay that Huerta's knee was actually to the shoulder rather than to the head.
Next he fought in a three round war with Leonard Garcia at UFC 69. winning via unanimous decision. After the fight, in May 2007, Huerta became the first mixed martial artist to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine to showcase its first story on the rising popularity of mixed martial arts.
Huerta won his next two fights against Doug Evans and Alberto Crane before he faced and submitted Clay Guida by rear naked choke in the third round on December 8, 2007 at The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale. Huerta was visibly frustrated at losing in the grappling exchanges from Guida's wrestling offensive, spending a large part of the bout on his back fending off ground and pound from his opponent. Late in the second round he was stunned by a punch to the face while trying to get to his feet, but managed to survive until the end of the round. Early in the third round, Huerta looked to engage Guida on his feet. Huerta stunned Guida with a knee to the face while attempting a kick when Guida looked to shoot and after a brief flurry, took his back and proceeded to submit him very late in the fight for an impressive come-from-behind win.
Huerta then lost his next fight by unanimous decision (all judges scored the bout 30–27) at UFC 87 against Kenny Florian.
On January 9, 2009, Huerta announced an indefinite hiatus from MMA to further pursue opportunities in acting.
In order to complete his UFC contract,Huerta returned on September 16, 2009, but lost to Gray Maynard at UFC Fight Night 19. After a back and forth fight, he would end up losing a split decision in his bout against Maynard, with the bout scored 28–29, 30–27, 30–27.
Bellator career
On Huerta's personal Twitter account, he announced he was in talks with Strikeforce.
Instead of Strikeforce, Huerta signed with up and coming promotion, Bellator Fighting Championships. He is one of eight men to compete in the second season lightweight tournament with the winner receiving a title shot against Eddie Alvarez.
His first fight in the tournament took place at Bellator 13, with Huerta defeating his opponent Chad Hinton via submission (kneebar) at 0:56 of the third round.
His second fight in the tournament took place at Bellator 17. Huerta lost the semi final to Pat Curran by unanimous decision. (29-28 from all three judges). Huerta lost 3 out of his last 4 fights
Training
Huerta trained for his UFC fight with Kenny Florian with Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting. For his Bellator debut, he spent time in Thailand and put together a training camp with MMA fighters such as Yves Edwards (UFC), Shad Lierley (International Fight League), Jared Hess (Bellator), Dave Menne, and Jeff Clark out of the Phil Cardella / Relson Gracie Academy in Austin, Texas.
Mixed martial arts record
Professional record breakdown [show]
Date Result Record Opponent Event Method Round Time Notes
2010-08-03 Win 22-4-1(1) Negro The Streets KTFO 1 1:04 Yeah, dude got KTFO
2010-05-06 Loss 21-4-1(1) Pat Curran Bellator 17 Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00 Lightweight Tournament Semi-Final bout
2010-04-08 Win 21–3–1(1) Chad Hinton Bellator 13 Submission (Kneebar) 3 0:56 Lightweight Tournament Opening Round
2009-09-16 Loss 20–3–1(1) Gray Maynard UFC Fight Night 19: Diaz vs. Guillard Decision (Split) 3 5:00
2008-08-09 Loss 20–2–1(1) Kenny Florian UFC 87: Seek and Destroy Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00
2007-12-08 Win 20–1–1(1) Clay Guida The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale Submission (Rear naked choke) 3 0:51
2007-08-25 Win 19–1–1(1) Alberto Crane UFC 74: Respect TKO (Strikes) 3 1:50
2007-06-23 Win 18–1–1(1) Doug Evans The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale TKO (Strikes) 2 3:30
2007-04-07 Win 17–1–1(1) Leonard Garcia UFC 69: Shootout Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00 Fight of the Night
2007-02-03 Win 16–1–1(1) John Halverson UFC 67: All or Nothing TKO (Strikes) 1 0:19
2006-09-23 Win 15–1–1(1) Jason Dent UFC 63: Hughes vs Penn Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00
2006-04-29 Win 14–1–1(1) Joe Camacho Raze MMA" Fight Night TKO (Punches) 2 2:43
2006-02-17 Win 13–1–1(1) Dan Swift Extreme Challenge 66 TKO (Punches) 2 0:51
2005-10-15 Win 12–1–1(1) Lee King IFC: Rumble on the Rio 2 Submission (Rear naked choke) 1 0:50
2005-09-14 Win 11–1–1(1) Matt Wiman FFC 15: Fiesta Las Vegas Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00
2005-07-30 Win 10–1–1(1) Brad Blackburn IFC: Rock N' Rumble TKO (Corner Stoppage) 3 2:19
2005-03-05 NC 9–1–1(1) Melvin Guillard Freestyle Fighting Championship 14 NC (Overturned by Commission) 3 5:00 Guillard greased in between rounds.
2005-03-05 Win 9–1–1 Kenny Jerrell Freestyle Fighting Championship 14 TKO (Punches) 1 2:15
2005-03-05 Win 8–1–1 Steve Kinnison Freestyle Fighting Championship 14 Submission (Choke) 2 N/A
2004-12-03 Win 7–1–1 Naoyuki Kotani Xtreme Fighting Organization 4 TKO (Punches) 1 1:29
2004-11-12 Win 6–1–1 Jake Short Extreme Challenge 60 Submission (Rear naked choke) 3 0:37
2004-09-24 Win 5–1–1 Matt Brady Extreme Challenge 59 TKO 1 3:12
2004-06-18 Loss 4–1–1 Ryan Schultz SuperBrawl 36 Submission (Verbal) 1 1:47 Huerta suffered a broken jaw and verbally quit
2004-06-18 Win 4–0–1 Mike Aina SuperBrawl 36 Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00
2004-06-18 Win 3–0–1 Harris Sarmiento SuperBrawl 36 TKO (Strikes) 3 2:12
2004-03-26 Draw 2–0–1 Joe Jordan Extreme Challenge 56 Draw 3 3:00
2003-08-02 Win 2–0 Jeff Carlson EC – Best of the Best 2 – Day Event DQ N/A N/A
2003-08-02 Win 1–0 Shane Lavafor EC – Best of the Best 2 – Day Eve
Source:Roger Huerta
No comments:
Post a Comment