One of MMAâs original stars Roger Huerta is making his return to the cage tomorrow night, and he believes it will kick off a run to gold.
The California native famously starred on the cover of Sports Illustrated in May of 2007, marking the first time an MMA fighter had graced such a platform. He helped to catapult the UFC into more mainstream coverage with his exciting fight style.
Roger Huerta inks four-year deal with PFL
After his UFC star began to fade, Huerta made the switch to Bellator, where he struggled to recapture his hype before leaving for other options. He ended up fighting around the world before returning to the promotion in 2021, but was cut after losing four straight.
Since then, he has remained training and preparing for a comeback fight. He told media including Bloody Elbow ahead of his fight in Glasgow this weekend that he penned an heartfelt message to PFLâs Director of Fighter Operations in Europe Dan Hardy, who offered him one last chance at a run in the promotion.
âI hit up Dan and first off I wrote up something and then went âah, put that awayâ and went about my day,â he explained. âIt took about three months to actually hit send, so I sent it to him and he said âlet me figure things out and see whatâs up.
âSo he said basically âthereâs not a position to get you back on to Bellator, but we have something for you over here at PFL, hereâs the contractâ. So I was like âsure, whatever,â and Iâm now here to showcase what I can do.
âFor me, itâs not just this fight. We signed a four-fight deal and Iâm going to go ahead and honour that and Iâm grateful I was even able to get that from Dan. This is just, I guess, a roadmap to where I want to get to.
I was curious so looked it up roger is 41. They changed the rule on soccer kicks in one after he took that one correct? That shit was nasty. The ref had to ok it or something after that before you could kick your opponentâs head off lol