Roger Huerta 'desperate' for a rematch with Kenny Florian

by MMAmania.com on Sep 17, 2008 7:41 AM EDT

roger huerta

Quoteworthy:

"After the fight I was confused and in shock. I kept thinking it was a bad dream and after three days the loss really hit me hard, so hard that I had to go back to Rio Grande Valley to be around family and friends.... Fighters are human beings and people don't realize that fights between close people cause emotional problems. I always wear my heart on my sleeve, that's who I am. I am an emotional person and although I fight with emotion I was mentally unfocused for the fight.... Kenny was very professional, he fought on a points system and he did that really well. He wanted to win that way and he did it well.... I would like to go back to the way I used to train, with the people I used to train with. Those guys were like brothers to me, not just trainers."

Roger Huerta reflects on his most recent -- and only -- professional loss inside the Octagon to Kenny Florian at UFC 87: "Seek and Destroy" in front of his adopted hometown fans in Minneapolis, Minn., last month. "El Matador" lost on all three judges scorecards and reveals that if he could do it all over again he would "possibly prepare differently" and he would "fight differently." Florian earned number one contender status with the win; however, opted to keep busy and fight Joe Stevenson at UFC 91: "Lesnar vs. Couture" on November 15 rather than wait until 2009 to challenge BJ Penn. Huerta could be a long way away from a rematch unless Florian is unsuccessful against "Daddy," otherwise his schedule would appear to be booked for at least the next six or seven months.

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imo he would lose the rematch as well kenny has just hit that peak in his career where everything has come together so he will just outpoint anyone who is young and under prepared! It takes years to get to that level

by ukmma on Sep 17, 2008 7:48 AM EDT reply actions

i would like to see roger against sherk or stevenson

by mikeybear on Sep 17, 2008 8:44 AM EDT up reply actions

I think sherk and stevenson would demolish him!

by chefdaddy on Sep 17, 2008 8:47 AM EDT up reply actions

Huerta is not good enough of his back to be matched up against Sherk or Stevenson

by john on Sep 17, 2008 8:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Sherk should be thrown out of the UFC for his 2 Steroid issue’s, he is not human and thats just not right. His fight against BJ without steroids did not work out to well for him so Im sure he will take them again…..Sherk has always been one of my least favorite fighters. I think Huerta would demolish Joe Stevenson.

by Spyder on Sep 17, 2008 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions

you’re on crack spyder. Huerta is a second tier fighter that has potential. Sherk and stevenson beat him…but finish, and in a rematch, Kenny lets go a little more and finishes. Not because Huerta’s a push over, but cause Kenny finishes fights!

by kevin doesn't know shit on Sep 17, 2008 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions

What Huerta forgot to do the first time was the nipple twist…big mistake!

by Buster Bluth on Sep 17, 2008 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree with what you say about Florian finishing him off in a rematch, I love Kenny, since TUF he has always been one of my faborite’s……HE FINISHES FIGHTS!!!!. Im not on crack, as far as Sherk goes, he is not human and I cant stand him.

by Spyder on Sep 17, 2008 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions

agree, pellengrino would expose Huerta too.

by kama kaze on Sep 17, 2008 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions

I think kenflo wins a rematch, but i don’t believe he would ko huerta. I always liked the way kenflo FINISHES FIGHTS!!!, but he looked scared to go toe to toe with huerta even when he had him hurt. he was strictly point fighting, which really sucked cause I think kenflo counter-punching a hurt fighter is his best chance to finish a fight. But as soon as huerta started throwing anything fenny was on the run again. If there is a rematch I hope kenflo changes his plan a little bit to stand in and show he can beat him in almost any style.

by CLETIS on Sep 17, 2008 6:35 PM EDT up reply actions

I have been a Huerta fan for a while now, and was routing for him to beat Kenny..But leading up to their fight, I changed my mind on who I wanted to win..I still am a big Roger fan, but his comments to the UFC leading up to the fight were “way out of line”…

I thought a loss would straighten out his personality a little bit, and it seems like it is working already…

by Stagger-Lee on Sep 17, 2008 7:49 AM EDT reply actions

Mania, you missed the point of the article. THe big thing that I took from the article is that he seemed to blame the loss on his training camp and his new training partners which is a much bigger story then Huerta simply wanting to fight Kenny again!

just my thoughts

by john on Sep 17, 2008 7:58 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree with John here. Huerta trained for this fight with Greg Jackson’s camp. There’s an interesting story here that needs to be dug up.

by Timebomb on Sep 17, 2008 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions

I’d be really interested to hear the story behind that one too. There must be something else because he was in that training camp FOREVER. He had 6-8 months of preparing with various people. He seems to be in some sort of transition phase. So much of how he fought was emotional and instinct and he can’t seem to blend in the technical part completely yet.
But if he thinks Dave Menne will bring him to where he needs to be – I think he’s seriously mistaken. Even though he lost, I still thought he was moving in right direction. The kid needs to move to NM and keep training with Jackson and GSP and borrow his Canadian Olympic wrestlers while he’s at it. Hell- maybe he can’t afford Jackson, GSP, and Phil Nurse etc. If Jacob is charging 35k for a training camp, how is Jackson charging?

by DSmith on Sep 17, 2008 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions

Who are his new training partners that he is blaming? Is it Jackson’s camp? I know that he was training with GSP a lot. Is he blaming him?

by jay on Sep 17, 2008 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions

I believe he is blaming Jackson’s camp which I guess includes his new but buddy GSP!

by john on Sep 17, 2008 8:25 AM EDT up reply actions

He was and always is in great shape for his fight/fights, he just plain got out classed by a better fighter that night, I think it is a little bit arogent of him to get beat and blame someone else for it. He should accept the loss and continue to move on with his career.

by Spyder on Sep 17, 2008 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

SPYDER. your statement sums up my exact thoughts. roger has a swollen ego and needs to come back down to earth. outclassed indeed.

by b.w. on Sep 17, 2008 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions

It looked like he was expecting Kenny to try to finish him, as was i. I dont think anyone in their camp expected kenflo to dance away from him when things got tight. I don’t know that any camp saw that coming. A finisher point fighting caught everyone off guard. Maybe he thinks no one trained him as if that was going to be an issue.

by CLETIS on Sep 17, 2008 6:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I dont think he is blaming people I think he is stating that this became more of work than fun which created stress he may not have been used too. He states that they were more like trainers rather than brothers, Roger may be used to train with buddies and with all the new camps he may have felt he didnt have a bond with the guys. He has to realize why he is doing it to better his game. To evolve sometimes you have to put friendship aside and seek greener pastures.

by hk on Sep 17, 2008 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t dislike Huerta at all. But I like Florian. He’s the nerdy little soft spoken guy who lets his fists do the talking. However, IMO, the term “hellbows” might be one of the dumbest things since “swickotine”. Best elbows, I’d give to Loiseau in his prime.

by chefdaddy on Sep 17, 2008 8:01 AM EDT up reply actions

I cant disagree

by john on Sep 17, 2008 8:44 AM EDT up reply actions

Truth.

by OJR on Sep 17, 2008 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Florian is one of my favorite fighters and I had no problem picking him to win thiat fight. He is what MMA is all about.

by Spyder on Sep 17, 2008 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Good post Chef. I agree with you. I’ve really started to like Kenny. He’s well spoken, fights hard and seems to be pretty humble. I respect him more for taking a fight against Stevenson when he could have pulled a Karo.

by RealDrew on Sep 17, 2008 11:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Roger you lost…. people lose all the time in life. You can blame many but most times to find the source of the problem, you only need a mirror.

Look at what you did wrong (or didn’t do well) and use it as a tool for improvement.

by DJ on Sep 17, 2008 8:34 AM EDT reply actions

He sounds a bit like a crybaby.

by UFCAddict on Sep 17, 2008 9:01 AM EDT reply actions

yep, i dont feel sorry for him. He had a hard childhood, but he needs to put that behind him and dont worry about kenny, worry about the next tough lw he’ll have to fight.

by b.w. on Sep 17, 2008 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly. People get too hung up on their losses, and like you said, they need to move on to their next opponent. The only way I would ever want to watch a rematch is if one of them was the champ and the other was the #1 contender… both highly unlikely in this lifetime.

by UFCAddict on Sep 18, 2008 9:32 AM EDT up reply actions

he was definitely not focused in that fight.. his worst performance so far in the UFC without a doubt…

by RoB on Sep 17, 2008 9:05 AM EDT reply actions

he had a pretty crappy ten minutes with guida that was probably his worst performance even though he won

by onthebutton on Sep 17, 2008 1:36 PM EDT up reply actions

“I will never lose again”

Sorry Roger, you are delusional.

by DirtyML on Sep 17, 2008 9:12 AM EDT reply actions

didnt kenny say roger put something on his body witch made him very slick. thats why he couldnt end the fight. whats roger got to say about that?

by the still operator on Sep 17, 2008 9:27 AM EDT reply actions

maybe he thought that some of GSP’s super powers would rub off on him for the kenny fight. also, it seems he’s giving kenny a little jab when he says kenny played the ‘point system’. for all the pre fight talk he was kickin’ it sure doesn’t come off well afterwards. kenny is a badass, he should realize this and just give kenny his daps. beyond that, he can’t seriously blame his training partners…a crew that’s unarguably one of the best on earth.

by Phil Baloni on Sep 17, 2008 9:31 AM EDT reply actions

i thought the “points system” statement was sour grapes as well.

by b.w. on Sep 17, 2008 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Am I the only one who’d rather see Florian-Penn before Penn gets another shot at GSP? Seems like Florian’s stand up is better.

by FilmDrunk on Sep 17, 2008 9:42 AM EDT reply actions

Huerta lost b/c he didn’t nipple-tweak.

by Pat on Sep 17, 2008 9:50 AM EDT reply actions

Yea, he fought on a point system, translation: he ran the whole fight. I know, he fought a fight to score points and go to the card. I guess if that is the way you want to fight then you go for it. When I see an MMA fight I want to see fighters get after it, not run the whole time and try to score points on the card, reserve that for boxing, that is why boxing sucks. I would much rather see Penn fight GSP, that would be a fight. I am not interested in watching Florian run from Penn the whole fight.

by E on Sep 17, 2008 10:26 AM EDT reply actions

Roger is no where near ready to fight Florian again. He needs 2-3 more wins before that can happen. Edgar, Pelligrino and the like would be great.

by DSmith on Sep 17, 2008 11:09 AM EDT reply actions

both edgar and pelligrino would be amazin fights too see

and worthy match-ups for huerta, good pick DSmith

by ufcaddict on Sep 17, 2008 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions

copycat

by UFCAddict on Sep 18, 2008 9:33 AM EDT up reply actions

Oh shit! I thought that was you. Oops, work it out gentlemen.

by DSmith on Sep 18, 2008 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions

he was trying to be too much like GSP – did you guys notice how many failed superman punches he attempted? plus his entrance was almost ~~exactly~~ like GSPs

he got frustrated and wanted to brawl – i dont think leaving greg jacksons camp is the the answer..all of his fighters are winning lately, and in devastating fashion

(GSP, Marquardt, Rashad)

It’s a winning camp, Roger is just too immature/impatient imo

by jerrolds on Sep 17, 2008 11:58 AM EDT reply actions

noo, it is the right move to leave Jackson’s camp.. that was not Roger Huerta in that fight, I don’t know what he was thinking but his technique looked bad and he didn’t move forward like he usually does.. if the old Huerta fought Florian it would be a much better fight.. Huerta fights on emotion just like Ortiz the only difference between those 2 is that Huerta lets it go and doesn’t give a shit about getting hit when moving forward, and that’s how he won all of his UFC fights so far and we saw how he looked when he held back and tried to be patient..

by RoB on Sep 17, 2008 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions