Where Is Roger Huerta?
by Kelvin Hunt on Sep 14, 2009 1:20 PM EDT
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PrintSI's Josh Gross explains it:
The embattled UFC lightweight, who has refused to sign a contract extension with Zuffa and is eyeing opportunities in acting and modeling, asked his management to put a moratorium on media appearances. He might do a few things in the days leading up to the fight, but Huerta's representative Jeff Clark told SI.com on Thursday that the fighter felt distractions hampered preparation for his last bout in the UFC against Kenny Florian. He wasn't going to let it happen again.
The loss -- Huerta's first in the UFC -- forced him to rethink how he prepared for fights. For most mixed martial artists, that implies changing things up, getting out of the norm. Huerta, however, was already doing that, and instead he focused on a return to his roots: spending this training camp in Minneapolis, Minn., with his longtime trainer and former UFC middleweight champion Dave Menne.
The 26-year-old Huerta has only been out of the gym for a day, for a voiceover gig for the movie Tekken three weeks ago. Walking around at 163 pounds, "El Matador" appears to be in the best shape of his career, said Clark. Against Maynard, in the most important fight of his career, Huerta will need to be.
Huerta has been missing in action leading up to this fight with Gray Maynard at UFN 19. I wonder why Gross said this is the most important fight of Huerta's career if he's going to pursue acting and modeling? Hmmm...
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does this fight even really mean much, other than another notch on Maynard’s belt…but if he loses, how bad would that be for the UFC?
I’ve always thout that Roger had a lot of potential. I think a win for either guy helps their career a lot. Both are legit talents at lightweight.
Right
But if Huerta wins…does he still pursue acting and modeling while putting MMA on the backburner?
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Good question. I think if he gets the “W” here, and considering that Zuffa is making a promotional push into Mexico, they’ll take care of him enough financially to warrant him focusing more of his time on training and fighting. The thing is, he can still do a little of that other stuff on the side. But if he wins this fight I think we’ll see Zuffa make enough of an investment in him to have him active again in the lightweight ranks. This fight won’t be easy, though. He’d better bring his A game. Maynard implements a great strategy to complement his strengths as a fighter.
Shit
Huerta bettter bring his A++ game…he’s been out of action for a LONG time…and it’ll be a factor…not to mention Maynard is a beast.
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