Roger Huerta

Roger Huerta (born May 20, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist currently fighting in the lightweight division.

He initially gained exposure by competing in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Bellator Fighting Championships and later ONE Championship.

Huerta was born in Los Angeles, California.

He had an arduous childhood with life continuing to be difficult throughout his teen years.

Despite adversity, he has overcome many challenges, ultimately living what has been described as a "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 parents’ 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 only to leave him on his father's doorstep in Texas.

That was the last time he saw his mother.

Huerta openly talks about the mental and physical abuse he endured from 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 halfway through the year into 3rd grade.

At 12 his father left home, and soon after Roger was kicked out by his stepmother.

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 David Crockett High School (Austin, Texas).

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 coach, took a special interest in Huerta and continued to support 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 University in Minneapolis, Minnesota with one year remaining in a Business Management bachelor's degree and resided in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Huerta worked for a time as a bouncer and construction worker.

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.

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 and finishing 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 appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine, for a story on the rising popularity of mixed martial arts.

Huerta won his next two fights against Doug Evans and Alberto Crane.

He then faced Clay Guida in the 2007's The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale.