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Roger Huerta (born May 20, 1983 in Los Angeles, California), is an American mixed martial artist of Salvadoran and Mexican descent.^[1] He competes in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Roger makes his acting debut as Miguel Caballero Rojo in the live action motion picture Tekken, due to be released in 2009.

Early life

Roger Huerta 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".^[2] Born to Lydia and Rogelio Huerta in Los Angeles, California, he spent the first 6 years of his life in Texas.^[3] His father became heavily involved in drugs and alcohol and began an affair with another woman that led to a separation with Lydia.^[4]

Roger's mother became physically abusive, and when Roger came to school with bruises covering his body, Child Protective Services intervened, placing him in a foster home for a short time.^[1] In 1990, Lydia lost the custody battle for Roger, and fled the United States with Roger, age 7, to her parent's home in El Salvador. Shortly upon arriving, Lydia abandoned Roger 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.^[1] Roger 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.^[1] 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.^[1]

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 Roger in 2002 at the age of 19.^[5]

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^[6] and resided in St. Paul, Minnesota.^[7]

Huerta worked for a time as a bouncer and construction worker.^[8]

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.^[9]

Ultimate Fighting Championships

Roger 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.^[10] He won his first six fights in the UFC, the first at UFC 63 against Jason Dent, which was declared "Fight of the Night".^[11]

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.^[12]

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^[13] to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine to showcase its first story on the rising popularity of mixed martial arts.^[14]

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.^[15]

In order to complete his UFC contract,^[13] Huerta returned on September 16, 2009 but lost to Gray Maynard at UFC Fight Night 19.^[16]. In a back and forth fight where Huerta showed improved sharpness on his feet, he was edged by a judges split decision in his bout against Maynard, with the bout scored 28–29, 30–27, 30–27 (in favour of his opponent).

Bellator Career

On Roger's personal Twitter account, he announced he was in talks with Strikeforce^[17]

Instead of Strikeforce, Roger 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.^[18]

Mixed martial arts record

Date	Result	Record	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time	Notes
2009-09-16	Loss	21–3–1(1)	Gray Maynard	UFC Fight Night 19: Diaz vs. Guillard	Decision (Split)	3	5:00
2008-08-09	Loss	21–2–1(1)	Kenny Florian	UFC 87: Seek and Destroy	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00
2007-12-08	Win	21–1–1(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
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 (Strikes)	2	2:43
2006-02-17	Win	13–1–1(1)	Dan Swift	Extreme Challenge 66	N/A	2	N/A
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
2005-03-05	Win	9–1–1	Kenny Jerrell	Freestyle Fighting Championship 14	TKO	1	N/A
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	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
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 Event	TKO	N/A	N/A

References

External links

• Official MySpace of Roger Huerta
• Professional MMA record for Roger Huerta from Sherdog
• Roger Huerta on UFC.com
• Sports Illustrated article on Roger Huerta