Bellator Set to Announce Signing of Roger Huerta

by Anton Tabuena on Mar 14, 2010 9:44 AM EDT in MMA News

According to MMAJunkie, Roger Huerta (20-3-1) will be participating in Bellator's Season two Lightweight Tournament:

Sources close to the situation confirmed to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the popular lightweight received his formal release from the UFC this week, which opened the door to finalize a deal with the upstart promotion.

Bellator has called a video press conference for Monday at 3 p.m. ET that will stream live at Bellator.com.

Huerta will be part of the 8-man tourney, which already includes talented prospects, Toby Imada (23-13), Jorge Masvidal (19-5), Chad Hinton (6-0), Mike Ricci (5-0), Ferrid Kheder (16-5), Janne Tulirinta (12-3), and Carey Vanier (7-2). Should he come out victorious, Roger will then earn a shot at Season 1 winner, and current Bellator lightweight champ, Eddie Alvarez.

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I highly doubt it

but I hope he fights April 8th since I’m going to that show.

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by _Felix_ on Mar 14, 2010 9:41 AM EDT reply actions

I hope this is true

because I’m on the Bellator press release list and they always ask us if we want to interview the fighters in their headlines.

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by Brian Hemminger on Mar 14, 2010 10:00 AM EDT reply actions

Where do we see Bellator? What station picked this up and When?

by AceHogg on Mar 14, 2010 10:17 AM EDT reply actions

Google is your friend

But I looked it up for you. You can watch it on FOX Sports Net, Telemundo and a 30 minute Highlight on NBC every Saturday night.

by CSKit on Mar 14, 2010 10:55 AM EDT up reply actions

Damn.

This is going to be a fun tourney. I typically could just catch the results of a bellator show, and not miss it. But I think I should tune in this time.

"You guys are jerking eachother off with some pseudo deep bullshit." - Kid Nate

by Kaleb Kelchner on Mar 14, 2010 10:31 AM EDT reply actions

Knew he was going to leave the UFC but going to Bellator is a surprise.

I’m curious if Huerta is going to keep fighting or if he’s going to become a “movie star” now. He can do both but he won’t be able to do both well.

by NateDouble on Mar 14, 2010 10:39 AM EDT reply actions

I am scratching my head on this one. I just don’t see how Bellator can offer anywhere near enough money to pick Huerta up. I would have thought strikeforce for sure but oh well.

by b2tharad on Mar 14, 2010 11:04 AM EDT reply actions

You must have not seen the pretty penny the winners of last years tourneys made. Very smart move by Huerta.

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by xFenixKnightx on Mar 14, 2010 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions

key word is winner

That is a tough field though…Imada and Masvidal are no joke. The UFC has guaranteed money and sponsors would be greater in Zuffa.

Serious head scratcher.

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by Matthew Roth on Mar 14, 2010 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions

lets not forget Eddie Alvarez also

by Shocbomb on Mar 14, 2010 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions

good for him that Imada and Masvidal are already matched up,

so he’s only going to have to go through one of them.

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by Anton Tabuena on Mar 14, 2010 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

He can get sponsors

Its going to be on a wide range of television outlets, and lets not forget bellator is good viral marketing.

by TheBiggertheyare... on Mar 14, 2010 4:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Good prize money to win a tournament you should be a favorite in…

Not to mention, you’ll be on TV.

It’s a good option.

by MickDawg on Mar 15, 2010 6:16 AM EDT up reply actions

I used to be a big Huerta hater but he really impressed me in his performance against Maynard.

Too bad he’s leaving, because there are a ton of good matchups in the UFC for him: Emerson, Guillard, Stevenson, Lauzon, Miller, Pellegrino, and Uno would all be awesome fights.

Maybe there’s more money potential in the UFC, but maybe Bellator’s baseline guarantee to him was better.

by MMAEruption on Mar 14, 2010 11:23 AM EDT reply actions

The Bellator season/tournament system actually works out pretty well for someone like Huerta, who has his hands in lots of other stuff. A season lasts 3 months, then a break, then 3 months. So he can train hard for those 3 months (assuming he advances) and then have time to do whatever other stuff he feels like doing.

by Phildo on Mar 14, 2010 11:32 AM EDT reply actions

TOTALLY UNRELATED: Problems w/ Firefox

I didn’t know where to post this, but is anyone else having problems with the new version of Firefox? It doesn’t display the page correctly.

by JimJoe on Mar 14, 2010 11:56 AM EDT reply actions

I’ve got the new FF and it’s working fine.

by NateDouble on Mar 14, 2010 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Clear your browsers cache

I was having the same problem with Chrome, and that fixed it.

Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade

by Damon O. on Mar 14, 2010 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions

That fixed it

thanks

by Shaun32887 on Mar 14, 2010 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Repairing FireFox

Control Panel – Programs and Features – Right Click on FireFox – Uninstall

DownloadGoogle Chrome

by CSKit on Mar 14, 2010 1:56 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Pretty sick.

Bellator is really fun and it just got more fun.

by Jonathan. on Mar 14, 2010 12:04 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Wow

I would have put money down that it was going to be Strikeforce, but this makes sense:

1) Bellator would definitely want him for it’s Latin market.
2) I believe the UFC still has a window to match any offer for another six months so Strikeforce may have had their hands tied. They’re not going to feel as threatened by Bellator having Roger.

by John Nash on Mar 14, 2010 12:08 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

Huge signing for Bellator

But I still gots my fake money on Masvidal.

Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade

by Damon O. on Mar 14, 2010 12:45 PM EDT reply actions

Damn

I forgot about Playground after losing too much RL money.

by CSKit on Mar 14, 2010 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions

masvidal

will finally get a chance to back up his words about the ufc lw’s

by cagefightonacid on Mar 14, 2010 2:51 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Yessir

Right after he gives Imada the Kitaoka treatment.

Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade

by Damon O. on Mar 14, 2010 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions

I hope Roger wins

And makes it to the finals. Eddy vs Roger has foty written all over it.

by J smooth 420 on Mar 14, 2010 12:48 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

yes

I was thinking that too. I’m looking forward to Alvarez/Neer too

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by Brian Hemminger on Mar 14, 2010 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Does anyone know how they seat everyone?

Is it luck of the draw or does someone matchmake?

by #1 piggy on Mar 14, 2010 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Was anyone able to watch Bellator last season?

I wasnt able to. I looked all over for it. I know this year i will be able to watch it every thursday nights.

by #1 piggy on Mar 14, 2010 12:49 PM EDT reply actions

I did

but it was hard to find and it usually wasn’t a new episode

by cagefightonacid on Mar 14, 2010 2:53 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

what channel were they on last yr?

by #1 piggy on Mar 15, 2010 12:13 AM EDT up reply actions

espn deportes, believe it or not… no english commentary but the production is actually decent, way better than elitexstrikeforce

by cagefightonacid on Mar 16, 2010 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions

the most significant thing about this

Is it will give us a good measuring stick to compare the UFC lightweight field with Bellator’s. And if Huerta wins (and I would give him excellent odds of doing so) then we can see how the vaunted and highly ranked Eddie Alvarez fares against one of the fighters at the top of the 2nd tier UFC lw’s.
Huerta is behind Maynard and Florian and clearly well behind Penn, but he finished the formidable Clay Guida even though he struggled with him.
I would expect Alvarez to beat Huerta but it should be a close fight.

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by Kid Nate on Mar 14, 2010 1:11 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

This is what I was thinking

If Huerta did beat Alverez, that would speak volumes for UFC’s LW class.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" - Ben Franklin

by donkeypunch on Mar 14, 2010 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions

You said it – I really wonder (i.e. doubt) how well alot of these non-UFC LW’s would due in the UFC LW division

by jhf884 on Mar 14, 2010 7:56 PM EDT up reply actions

I think Alvarez is a worse wrestler then Guida, but has better striking. Huerta should smoke him. I firmly beleive he is greatly over rated.

Some people think I am a dumb, ugly human being, but really I am a beautiful ape, with exceptional verbal skills.

by szucconi on Mar 15, 2010 1:45 AM EDT up reply actions

What happened to the UFC having a matching clause until November? I thought that’s what held up him signing with Strikeforce. Did they waive their rights?

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by Tim Burke on Mar 14, 2010 1:13 PM EDT reply actions

I really like what Bellator has done. Maybe they should sign fedor and get on CBS?

by BJJDenver on Mar 14, 2010 1:37 PM EDT reply actions

They're aiming to have the latino superbowl of MMA

by cyke on Mar 14, 2010 2:57 PM EDT reply actions

Pisses me of timewarner in maine doesn’t have fsn or telemundo ontop of already missing any fights on hdnet makes me wanna switch services but we don’t have much choice here

by ldglass on Mar 14, 2010 6:13 PM EDT via mobile reply actions