Did Roger Huerta just hit rock bottom?
by Zak Woods on May 7, 2010 10:52 AM EDT
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When Roger Huerta signed with Bellator it was Eddie Alvarez or bust for the former UFC fighter. Last night the bust occurred as Huerta dropped a close decision to Pat Curran in the lightweight tournament semi-finals.
Rock bottom would probably have been if was knocked out in the first round but it still feels pretty close. The loss definitely knocks Huerta back to square one and he is still a flawed fighter whose best win is against Clay Guida (a flawed fighter himself) not to mention it was a come from behind victory.
But Huerta is still young, he's only 27, and still has some time to work on his deficiencies. But for a fighter who was once considered to be a future top-ten lightweight, the future is extremely bleak. In fact, he may become an old wives tale for UFC fighters: "don't be too tough in contract negotiations or you'll end up like Roger Huerta!" "Don't get too Hollywood or you'll end up like Roger Huerta."
So what does the future hold for "El Matador"?
Bellator officials said that Huerta will likely be inactive until season three. The promotion could tap another wayward lightweight in Jorge Masvidal to fight Roger. Whomever won that bout would see an uptick in their divisional trajectory.
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Rock Bottom is a bit too much...
But this definitely hurts, and hurts bad. I haven’t seen the fight yet – I’ll watch it tonight – but he certainly was the favorite and brought in for a reason…
As you said, he’s still young and still has time to work on the holes in his game, but he needs to get all focused up and do that soon, if he ever wants to escape being the cautionary tale you speak of…
by E. Spencer Kyte on May 7, 2010 11:59 AM EDT reply actions
I caught the third round of his fight and conditioning looked to be the issue at that point.
Ulitimately, I think Roger’s made some poor decisions regarding his career. The UFC has a pretty good ability to spin losses, I’m not so sure how Bellator spins this one. That said, Bellator has supposedly invested a ton of money in this guy, so they are going to milk him for every penny.
my dog, Countach, knows how he feels
watchkalibrun.com
Poyznus.com
Hoya Saxa
by David St. Martin on May 7, 2010 12:28 PM EDT reply actions
this isnt that bad. it went to the judges and he lost.
I thought he won 29-28 but I’m not arguing with the decision, he could have done more. Not the end of the world…
I get my ass kicked for money, all you gotta do is talk motherfucker.... Rampage Pride GP03
by DrewMoney$$$ on May 7, 2010 1:20 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Huerta to me has to decide what he wants to be in life is it an actor or an mma fighter he can’t be both. He needs to join an elite camp and leave out all the hollywood bs that I think got in his head and made him make the dumb decision to leave the UFC. Now it’s put up or shut up time, he’s still young and can learn from this but, he has to decide now where he wants his rest of his career to go.
I agree with this
Huerta problem is he hasn’t committed himself to what he wants to do. Reminds me Arlovski dropping the Brett Rogers fight because he had one hand in MMA and one hand in boxing.
no matter what they say, this isn't good for Bellator
Huerta should have walked through the competition in this tournament. Bjorn Rebney is put in a bad spot, he all but, bet money that Huerta would win the tournamet and go on to face Eddie. What do they do now?
If Russia attacked Turkey from the rear, Do you think Greece would help?
I was under the impression that relation between Masvidal and Bellator were not good. He was originally slated to be in the tournament again, but then fell off the bracket.
They have 1 fight left on the contract, but from the article it sounds like they are trying to freeze him out as long as they can, ala the UFC to Roger Huerta. So I doubt’s it going to happen anytime soon. Plus, there is a real legitimate chance Huerta would lose that fight as well. Expect him to get a gimme fight….if there is such a thing at this point.
Norm 78
Huerta signing with Bellator was supposed to be all gimme fights. That is til he faced Eddie. Huerta, hypothetically, should run roughshot through the Bellator roster. This lose hurts Bjorn Rebney and Bellator more then they will publicly let on.
If Russia attacked Turkey from the rear, Do you think Greece would help?
i like that suggestion Zak
Huerta needs to fight a legit fighter, and no offense to Bellator, but, their roster isnt overflowing with legit top caliber guys. Masvidal Vs. Huerta would be a good matchup and entertaining fight.
If Russia attacked Turkey from the rear, Do you think Greece would help?
This is the problem with the way ppl view MMA
Why isn’t anyone here giving credit to Curran for proving himself? Is it because he hasn’t been on TUF or had the UFC hype machine behind him? What bothers me most is whardiek’s ridiculous notion that Huerta needs to only fight legit fighters. What does that mean? These are all legit fighters with good pedigrees, they just haven’t been discovered yet. Norm 78 is thinking in the promoter’s sense of “giving easy matchups”, but what Bellator did, wasn’t just sign a bunch of scrubs for Huerta to beat up on, they signed prospects to challenge him.
Yes they expected him to win, he has a vast amount of experience, but they were prepared for him to lose. That’s what’s so great about this tournament setup, it isn’t about building up names and protecting fighters so that they only lose to other “name” fighters to create the illusion that they can’t be beaten. The world is full of fighters who can compete on a high level which it’s why it’s ridiculous that ppl assume that because a fighter is a built commodity that they can’t be beaten. If the UFC were to ever have a tournament setup for thier fighters, you would see alot of surprises there too. But careful matchmaking assures that only the guys with names rise to and remain at the the top.
Thank you Bellator. This is how the sport should be run.
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