Recently Marco Huerta, an amateur MMA fighter, was arrested after a couple in their 50s was attacked at their home in front of their grandchildren. Police in El Paso, TX, arrested the 31-year-old Huerta and stated, per CBS 4 Local, that the attack was random and without provocation.
The assault occurred on the morning of December 29th on the east side of El Paso. It was then that a 57-year-old man and 56-year old woman were returning from a trip with their young grandchildren. As the man opened the gate to their home, he was attacked.
Police say Huerta stabbed and punched the man. When the woman tried to stop Huerta, Huerta allegedly knocked her down and stomped and kicked her in the head. Despite being attacked the woman was able to call 911 to report the incident. Police said that the assault happened within view of the children.
Huerta was arrested soon after the incident. The couple were transported to hospital with serious injuries. Huerta was taken to the El Paso County Detention Facility and booked on two counts of aggravated assault.
Huerta’s three-fight amateur MMA career was contained to the promotion 915 MMA and their Border Brawl series of events.
According to KFOX14 Huerta has an extensive list of past criminal convictions. This includes seven past assault charges dating back to 2011.
In 2012 Huerta was convicted of assault, criminal mischief, and terroristic charges. For those offenses he served a year in jail and was mandated to take anger management classes. He was banned from the YWCA in east El Paso and prohibited from interacting with five women.
In March 2018, Huerta plead guilty to making abusive calls to 911 and was sentenced to 20 days in jail.
Screaming Eagles Martial Arts founder Eric Smith spoke to ABC7 KVIA News about Huerta. He claimed that Huerta told him he had beaten all the martial arts masters in El Paso and then challenged him to a fight. Smith said he accepted the challenge and then beat Huerta with one punch to his right bicep.
Huerta trained under Smith for a short period of time after their fight.
Bushido MMA owner Hugo Sida also spoke to KVIA about Huerta, who he trained for a short period. “He wasn’t training to get better or to help people. He was training to, wanting to hurt somebody,” he said. “You could tell he had a lot of anger inside.”