in
a title bout this fall.
“The chance to be a part of this year’s Bellator tournament
was an opportunity that I just couldn’t 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. It’s 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
couple’s 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
Rogelio’s 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 father’s drug-infested house in Texas – where he was again subjected
to regular beatings, this time at the hands of his father’s new wife—and
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 father’s
house and found himself homeless, sleeping on rooftops and in alleyways
and running with a notorious local youth gang. He stayed in school,
though—mostly 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 school’s
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 didn’t 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 teammate’s 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. “I’m in the best shape of my life
and I just can’t wait to get back in the cage. I see nothing but good
things to come for me and for Bellator.”
