CHICAGO, Ill. (March 15, 2010) Roger Huerta, the top free agent in MMA and
one of the sports brightest young stars, announced today that he has signed
an exclusive contract with Bellator Fighting Championships and will compete
in the promotions upcoming Season 2 lightweight tournament.
The 26-year-old Huerta (20-3-1) comes to Bellator in the prime of his career
after a 3½-year run in the UFC, where he rose to international prominence
with wins over top talents like Clay Guida, Leonard Garcia and John
Halverson and became the first MMA fighter ever to be featured on the cover
of Sports Illustrated.
Huerta, also known as El Matador, joins a well-rounded 155 lbs. tournament
field that also includes Season 1 runner-up Toby Imada, former Olympian
Ferrid Kheder, undefeated Canadian phenom Mike Ricci, European stalwart
Janne Tulirinta, the undefeated Chad Hinton and former All-American wrestler
Carey Vanier. Each tournament fight will be broadcast live in prime time on
FOX Sports Net every Thursday night beginning April 8th and replayed in
special highlight shows on NBC and Telemundo every Saturday night beginning
April 10th.
If Huerta can win the April-May-June lightweight tournament, he would win
the chance to challenge the worlds No. 2-rated lightweight and reigning
Bellator World Champion Eddie Alvarez in a title bout this fall.
The chance to be a part of this years Bellator tournament was an
opportunity that I just couldnt pass up, Huerta said. I think Bellator is
the next big thing in this sport. I love the tournament format and the
awesome talent that they have at 155 will give me a chance to prove myself
as one of the top lightweights in the world.
Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney, meanwhile, called Huerta one of the
most exciting and accomplished lightweights in the world.
Roger is truly a young man who has defied the odds to achieve greatness,
Rebney said. Adding Roger to our 155 division and tournament is a great
signing for Bellator that provides us the ability to showcase him on
national television upwards of three times before summer (provided he wins).
His personal story is inspirational. He has not had an easy road, but has
fought hard and persevered. Its hard not to root for a guy who has
triumphed over adversity like he has.
Huerta suffered through a heartbreakingly difficult childhood. He was born
in Los Angeles to Lydia and Rogelio Huerta, but the couples rocky
relationship and struggles with substance abuse and mental illness soon
began to take a toll on their son.
When Roger was around 5 years old, Lydia discovered that Rogelio was having
an affair and took out her anger on Roger, subjecting him to emotional abuse
and regular beatings that left him covered in bruises. Soon, this was
discovered by his teachers and Roger was placed in a foster home.
Despite being stripped of custody, Lydia somehow managed to flee with her
son to her native El Salvador, where she lived with Roger for more than a
year as that country was embroiled a brutal civil war. Eventually she
returned with Roger to the U.S. and dropped him at Rogelios house in
Dallas. Roger never saw his mother again, but his troubles were far from
over.
Over the next six years, he bounced back and forth between his fathers
drug-infested house in Texas where he was again subjected to regular
beatings, this time at the hands of his fathers new wifeand Mexico, where
he lived with his impoverished grandparents and was forced to sell picture
frames and rosaries on the streets for hours a day.
At around the age of 12, he was kicked out of fathers house and found
himself homeless, sleeping on rooftops and in alleyways and running with a
notorious local youth gang. He stayed in school, thoughmostly for the free
breakfast and lunch.
By high school, he had left the gang and began living with the families of
classmates in Austin, Texas. He became one of his schools most popular
students, excelled at sports (particularly wrestling), and, with the help of
his English teacher, Jo Ramirez and his wrestling coach Bryan Ashford, won a
wrestling scholarship from Augsburg College in Minneapolis.
It didnt take Huerta long, though, to realize that his brawler-style
fighting skills were better suited for the cage. He became fascinated with
MMA after watching an Augsburg teammates amateur fight and soon began
training with former UFC middleweight champion Dave Menne.
He took his first professional fight in 2003 while still a teenager, just a
few months after he was legally adopted by Ramirez, the English teacher who
helped change his life. She will be among the millions watching when Roger
makes his Bellator debut next month.
My one and only goal right now is getting through the lightweight
tournament, Huerta said. Im in the best shape of my life and I just cant
wait to get back in the cage. I see nothing but good things to come for me
and for Bellator.
For more information, visit Bellator.com <http://bellator.com/> , follow
Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at Facebook.com/Bellator
<http://www.facebook.com/Bellator> .
About Bellator Fighting Championships
Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional company
with offices in Los Angeles and Chicago. Bellators founder/CEO, Bjorn
Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment professional
with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and
its athletes. Bellator Fighting Championships executive team is comprised
of top industry professionals in the areas of live event production,
television production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship
creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising,
publicity and commission relations.
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