Roger Huerta vs. Gray Maynard Possible for UFN 19 in September
A lightweight matchup between contenders Roger Huerta and Gray Maynard could be featured on the Spike-televised UFC Fight Night 19 card on September 16 at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.
Sherdog’s Loretta Hunt reported on Thursday that the 155-pound bout is being planned for the event, which will serve as the lead-in for the debut of The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights featuring Kimbo Slice.
Huerta (20-2-1) had been unbeaten in 17-straight fights dating back to 2004, including 6-straight UFC victories over the likes of Clay Guida and Leonard Garcia, before suffering a unanimous decision loss to Kenny Florian in August 2008. “El Matador” has not fought again since the loss, just the second of his 24-bout career, instead pursuing a career in acting. If the bout against Maynard is finalized it would be the final fight on Huerta’s current contract with the UFC.
Maynard (7-0), a semifinalist on The Ultimate Fighter 5, has emerged as a lightweight contender by winning five-straight fights inside the Octagon since debuting in mid-2007, including wins over Jim Miller and Frankie Edgar among others.
Huerta-Maynard is currently the only rumored bout for UFN 19 and is likely to be promoted as the card’s co-main event.
Click here for the latest UFC Fight Night 19 rumors.
Tags: Gray Maynard, Roger Huerta
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Sweet I hope Huerta will be the guy to stop him.(If it happens)
But so it says this would be his last fight on his UFC contract so would he go back to try for an acting career?
Nice. Pretty sure i called this fight a few days ago on here somwhere.
Nobody cares anyways so heres how i see it going.
Last time Roger fought a good wrestler he got takin down reapeadedly and beat up for most of the fight.(guida) I dont see Gray as any less of a wrestler than Clay so i think the same thing will happen here. Gray does have a new found set of boxing skills thow which may lead to him wanting to stand and trade with Roger. Which is where he is in most trouble. I think Gray takes this fight no matter where it goes but feel that he could realy put a hurting on Huerta if he takes it to the ground. Hope Gray gets a title shot after this.
first off, Maynard is no Guida, Maynard is not as intense, he doesn’t push the pace as hard as Guida ans he plain and simple is not a “bad-motherfu*ker” like Guida AND Huerta still finished him after taking that beating from him.
Huerta has decent takedown defense and awesome submission defense and has a strong chin. He has waayy better stan-up then Maynard. Maynard can problably take him down and try to control him there,but Huerta has a wrestling backround and is decent off his back. Maynard is a good up-incomer BUT Huerta has fought the top guys and simply can outclass Maynard if they fight.
Ok marvel sinse i can see were polar opposites on this one it will make the fight that much more interesting. The fact that you think Roger will outclass mayb=nard is hilarious. Dude GRay hasnt even been in trouble in any of his past 4 fights wheather it be on the ground or the matt. look at who he fought recently.
Fighters records before they fought Gray
Jim Miller 13-1 only loss was to edgar
Rich Clementi 32-13
Frank Edgar 8-0 and since has beat sherk and Franca
Roger hasnt fought anybody recently but when he did he loss to Kenny was getting a whuppin from Guida and fefore that he hadnt foguth any world beaters.
He has a good record and alot of wins but you r in for a rude awakening when he fight Gray dude.
Gray Maynard beat Edgar who isn’t all that good, that was just a match of who can out wrestle the other guy best. Now Huerta isn’t elite either,but he’s more well rounded than Maynard, Maynard hasn;t fought some real tough competition yet, Miller and Clementi are no Guida or Florian.
Edgar inst that good. OK. So i guess Sherk, Fisher, Griffin, Franca and Miller all must realy suck then right. If hes not that good then who is dude? You make alot of Great points on here marvel and say some good stuff but by far that was not one of them.
carls,
dude your right, i honestly didn’t mean that Edgar “isn’t that good”, he is and i like the guy as a fighter, i was just trying to make a point of Maynard not being all that impressive, he beat Edgar,but Edgar beat Griffin and Sherk,two top guys, Maynard hasn’t, that’s what i was trying to point out, but i do admit that i was wrong in saying that Edgar isn’t all that good.
K cool man. This fight is gonna be good no matter how you shake but what of the difference maker is in my mind is that i dont think Roger is gonna be menatlly prepared for this fight. After doing all thses movies and stuff(Tekken Pandorum)plus other projects and offers, he cant be 100% focused on fighting. Where I think Gray is. This fight is gonna be that much better for me dude just cause their is so much pride riding on this one now, and I think GRay is going to scome through for me.
Uuuuhhhh….Who won that Huerta vs Guida fight? Pretty bad analogy man.
If this fight happens i’m rooting for Huerta, the guy is an awesome fighter and i would love to see him face off with Diego Sanchez in the future…Mexican vs Mexican would be huge for mexican fans and would be interesting to see. They could possibly have that fight in Mexico, just throwing it out there
Sorry Marvel as much as i respect Huerta from what hes gone through, I just dont like the way he acts. ” to be honest im just never going to lose” like who says that? Plus Ryan shults beat him anyways. Good fighter yes but I wont be rooting for him. Nice call on the fight in Mexico. If Roger Sticks around.
Carls, yeah dude i have to agree roger saying “i’m never going to lose” is a little “i just want to be remembered as the best, is that too much to ask for?” haha damn couldn’t help myself
.
I agree with FR, if maynard sticks to his wrestling, he will likely dominate huerta.
FR it is interesting that dana and the ufc have set up a fight between maynard and huerta since like you said, maynard is the potential #1 lw. I’m guessing dana and huerta had a serious talk. Like “if you win, you resign and make a run @ the title. If you lose, good luck with Calvin Klein!.” I mean there has to be something like that in the works if in his last fight they’re giving him maynard. Maybe i’m over analyzing but either way, i like huerta and i think this will be a good match.
This is an interesting choice for the UFC to put Huerta in his last fight. Going up against Gray (essentially the #1 contender in the LW division in alot of peoples books), if Roger were to win what now… He doesn’t resign and goes about his modeling career/movie career never to hear from again, and that leaves Gray to move back up in the division.. If Gray were to win then so be it move forward.. Its an odd matchup in my eyes, but hey I would watch the fight most definitly and if Gray were to go back to his wrestling he could do well against Huerta but we shall see… Unless something drastic has changed this will be the last time we see Roger in the UFC, shouldn’t have been sooo vocal in FIGHT! magazine but owell…….
He may be the #1 contender to fans but to UFC it doesn’t seem like that to me that don’t give him that much top contenders becuase he doesn’t finish people except his 2nd fight w/ a KO. But after this they will because Kenflo was offered a title shot after he beat huerta
MAYNARD WINS BY UD!!!
Who cares about huerta, dude wants to be a model instead of fighting, nothing i want to see in my favourites
Ive definetely gotta go roger for this one, gray isnt even in the same league, his last for fights were boring, close decisions to alright people, some were better than others like clementi sucks. Possibly he can get a decision by constantly taking him down, but i doubt it. Huerta quiting mma to pursue an acting carrer is makes me not really be a fan of his but he beat the real #1 contender besides florien, and thats clay, clay beat sanchez, anyone who says otherwise doesnt know what their talking about.
And you justified that YOU dont know what your talking about by saying Grays last for fight were close. Besides the fight with Rich he handled everyone else and was never in trouble in any of his fights. Oh and please explain to me how Guida won that fight against Sanchez. I’l give you a draw but he didnt win.
I say Diego Sanchez won. First round complete domination. maybe a 10-8 but to be fair 10-9, second round he dominated stand up guida got 2 takedowns and sanchez got 1. I think and at the end w/ a barriage of elbow gave him that round and last round sanchez dominates standup but not very long and guida had him down most of the time and pretty good GnP espiecally at the end. I’m a very big fan of Guida but i gotta say Sanchez did win.
So you’re basing your decision on the fact that Gray wins by decision rather than KO. Sounds like sound strategy. Gray is oh maybe the only guy in the UFC to beat Frank Edgar. Lets also not forget Clementi was on a 6 fight win streak(which included beating Anthony Johnson) before losing to Maynard, so saying clementi sucks is not true.
Also when and HOW is Guida the number one contender??? He’s had great fights yes but he’s only 5-4 in the octagon with his only notable wins over Nate Diaz and Mac Danzig.
Again I know what I’m talking about and I can tell you that Guida did not win that fight. Guida scored takedowns but Sanchez still controlled Guida from his back. I’m a fan of Guida(and not of Diego, I think he’s too cocky) and the best case for him in that fight was a draw after a 10-8 first.
Finally about the fight, Huerta is very good at winning but there is not one thing he does that puts him light years ahead of anyone in the division. Florian made him look average by utilizing a smart game plan and if anyone knows how to game plan for MMA it’s Gray’s camp leader.
Thank you Chrisl. Glad someone here knows what their talking about.
I think i might change it so i want Maynard to win it’ll make him very close to a tile shot. i used to want roger to win but he wants to act instead so HE GOIN DOWN
Holy Crap ……. not only did farrah fawcet die today .So did micheal Jackson !!!!!
yes sir rip
Holy Crap ….. there is an off topic area in the forums where you could create a post to talk about that, as long as you are a member.
o I’m sorry
This fight reminds me a tiny bit of almost any BJ Penn fight, in that if Penn comes to the cage ready to go, he doesn’t get beat. From what I’ve seen of Huerta, when he’s on his game, he doesn’t lose. Ideally, for both the sport and the UFC, Penn would beat Florian and Huerta would return in good form and defeat Maynard, setting up a future Penn-Huerta title fight wherein the fanbase would watch both fighters, Penn in particular, to see who has the better camp and who comes to the cage on fight night “ready to go”.
This of course depends entirely on if Huerta is returning to resume his MMA career, or just complete his contractual obligation, and if Penn can resist the “big island” lifestyle and stay focused on MMA.
I agree with some that said that Guida is a more intense competitor, and possibly a more effective in-cage wrestler, than Maynard. That being said, Huerta beat Guida, so it follows that Huerta, when on-point, could beat Maynard much in the same fashion.
But therein lies the question.
Will/can Huerta be on-point after a year layoff? Is his desire to compete the same as it was when he became the Sports Illustrated MMA poster child, or is his heart in Hollywood or in front of some fashion photographer’s camera?
Does he think his future is with Tommy Hilfiger or Dana White?
I think a Huerta-Maynard bout, if it gets signed, comes down to Huerta much more than Maynard. If Huerta can shake off the rust and dust of a prolonged period of inactivity, and re-lights his MMA fire, then Maynard most likely becomes just another Huerta victim. After that, who knows? Does he stick around, sign a bigger better deal, and start calling out the Penn-Florian winner, or does he get out of Dodge while he’s still relatively hot in other circles and tests those waters?
I honestly feel there is a lot more longterm “soap operatic” interest in what happens AFTER a proposed Huerta-Maynard fight than before, but I’m sure opinions will wildly vary…
Jcohl you’re forgetting one major part of the Guida-Huerta fight… Huerta was getting his tail kicked the majority of that fight before he staggered Guida and then took advantage of it just like a good fighter does. So Huerta better not come in with that same mentality against Gray.
Huerta has shown a lot of vulnerability in the Florian and Guida fights. If he were to truly commit to his training he could be a phenom. The problem for Huerta is that he’s good at most things but not really great at anything. He really has to commit to training to have a shot at beating Maynard because Gray will come ready to rock and he’s hungrier for the title than Starvin Marvin(from South Park) is for food.
sorry for the redundancy there haha
I fixed the redundancy for you.
thanks!
No problem, I do that stuff sometimes, certainly can’t do it all the time though.
It wasn’t so much that I forgot about the tone of the Huerta-Guida fight, chrisl, it’s just that in my mind Guida beats up most everyone he faces, win or lose. Sure, Diego got the win, some would say a draw, whatever, but he took a bit of a beating in the process. Of course Diego dished out a Hell of a lot more, and subsequently earned a win, but going into a fight with Guida you just have to know you’re going to get rumbled a bit regardless of the outcome.
And I agree that Huerta isn’t world-class in any one dicipline, and needs to improve his training camp if he wants to de-throne BJ Penn. I just think he has enough skill to get past Maynard, if he comes ready to fight.
I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m fighter-bashing Maynard, who I think is an excellent LW.
Man you Gray haters are gonna be in a world of surprise when Huerta gets beat up for 3 straight rounds no matter where the fight is. And it wont matter what shape or mind set Roger is in either. Any help here Gunslinger?
roger beat guida so i still think he’l beat gray, guida won that sanchez fight clearly,first round 10-9 to sanchez, 2nd and 3rd clearly 10-9 to guida, he actually beat diego on standup in the third round and was on top pounding on him for all of the 2nd, the ONLY other is a draw giving the first 10-8 to sanchez, i rest my case.
timosy,
Guida was pretty much dominating that fight until roger got lucky I’m a fan of him but i gotta say he got lucky after 2 rounds of domination
Yes, Huerta did get the W against Guida, but it was a come from behind victory, so it’s not a good argument from either side to bring up that fight. If you want to argue that fight shows how good Huerta is, the other side can say that he got beat up all the way until he rocked Guida and choked him out (which is true). If you want to argue that fight showed a weakness for Huerta against a good wrestler, the other side can say that Huerta still won the fight (again, true). It’s a good fight to evaluate where Huerta stands, but I don’t think if you’re trying to argue one way or another about that fight, that you can ignore either side of the argument about his performance in the fight.
timosy,
First I give Sanchez 10-8 for shear domination and teetering on the edge of a finish. Second I give Sanchez 10-9 for strikes from the bottom, he did more damage off his back than Guida did from top. All Guida did was take him down and hold him, and not get submitted, while Sanchez attempted submissions and threw strikes from the bottom that did a lot of damage. Third was close and I would give to Guida, but not “clearly” as that round could easily have gone to Diego as well, depending on how you judge the fight.
This is Dana’s doing for sure. He wants Maynard to lay on top of Huerta and make everyone go to sleep. That way Roger loses again, good for contract negotiations (for the UFC), and if he goes elsewhere he will be coming off 2 straight losses and not make the money that he would have 2 years ago.
I’m not sure if Dana White ever wants to see a “sleepy” fight during a PPV, but there is something to be said for him pulling for a Maynard win.
nightmare,
it doesn’t really matter how or when you win as long as you win. The fact that guida dominated huerta then got choked out in the third round not only says something about guida’s lack of “killer instinct”, but huertas resilience. This could easily happen in the maynard fight. I think dana wants maynard to win but not by laying on him. Like White Boy said, it’s good for business and if roger wins, he’ll be in a good position to get a good contract.
I don’t understand why some of you guys keep talking about Roger wants to “GO Act”. If you were asked to make say 100k a year fighting getting your brains and body bludgeoned or say 100k and episode acting witch would you chose? I absolutely love MMa and I would act for more money isn’t that what it’s all about? Anyway Roger should win this bout, Gray has a chance but I believe Huerta takes it.
Every true fighter that I have seen interviewed would gladly admit that they would fight for enough money to pay the bills. To say that is saying that Huerta isn’t really a fighter anyway, right?
Huerta has complained about the money that fighters make, and by going to act he has actually sought to do something about, having found another way of making money. It’s easy for fight fans to harass a guy for not fighting, but at the same time, I can’t really blame a guy for taking an opportunity to make more money. I’m not sure what would be best for Huerta long term, to keep fighting for the UFC or to pursue an acting career. Acting has a higher potential upside for a great actor, but being in Tekken probably isn’t going to pave the way to stardom. Maybe he gets one or two movies and makes some quick cash, say 100-200, maybe even 300k in a short period of time, and then nothing else, but to do that he threw away potential millions in the UFC. Or maybe he stays a fighter, goes on a losing streak, gets cut by the UFC and only ends up making a few hundred thousand dollars more, and throws away tens of millions he could have made in Hollywood. It’s a really tough position to be in, and it’s even harder for us to judge when we don’t know how good of an actor he is, or what real possibility he has for income in that industry.
So you’re saying that it really comes down to what he WANTS to do? Imagine that.
I guess that sums it up. Either way he takes a risk, one direction may have a higher upside, but also a potentially higher downside, so in the end, it’s whatever Huerta wants to do. I think that it is somewhat fair for fighters and fight fans to criticize him for not wanting to fight. However, Huerta’s plan is that he will leave his fighting career mid track, go act for a few years then come back and try to be a champion fighter at a later date. That is likely a flawed plan for many reason, and very easy (and understandable) for fighters and fight fans to criticize.
How do you see the fight playing out Justin?
I think Maynard will win. His stand up is better than Guida’s and is less likely to get caught on the feet like Guida did, and Maynard has some good strong power, and good defense. His wrestling is at least as good as Guida’s, so he should be able to get take downs and work towards a decision on the ground. I think that Maynard’s ability to decide where the fight takes place is a huge asset in the fight, and will likely be the deciding factor that gives him the win. That and I have to believe that Huerta’s attention is at least divided and he won’t be able to come in at full potential, while Gray is focused on fighting, and training under Shawn Tompkins and Randy Couture.
Very true words, Justin.
Huerta has a lot of options, and of course should choose whats best for him. If he’s a sportsman, then he’ll concentrate on MMA. If he’s in it just for the paycheck, or the spotlight, or the imagined fame, then he should move on to Hollywood and seize whatever opportunities are presented to him.
I don’t think anyone can fault him for whatever he chooses to do with his life, and I wish him the best in whatever road he takes.
The sport of MMA is most definitely NOT what its “all about” in terms of money.
If anyone gets into this sport to become rich, then most likely they should move on to something less hazardous to their health and with greater earning potential. While there is nothing wrong with participating in a professional sport and enjoying a decent living thru said participation, true sportsmen and competitors know that it’s about competition, achievement, and recognition in your field of endeavor, NOT just the paycheck…
alright everyone who disagreed that guida won against sanchez, possibly you were right but there is a few different ways of looking at it, anyway i do definetely agree that roger got lucky against guida but its still impressive, and justin you make a good point that roger probably wont be giving his full attention to this fight due to his acting carrer , therefor i wouldnt be suprised who won either way. but if roger comes in as good as he did against florien i think he can win.
maynard by cleveland rape!
^^^^^^^^^^^^
I’m very concerned about what this means
crazy Ohio guys… enough said
me too fr, gunny please elaborate, but not too much I am not into man-on-man loving.
back to the topic at hand. roger has a very little chance of winning this, he got manhandled by the “caveman” and then capitalized… kenny dominated roger, he made roger look average in their matchup… gray is a more talented “caveman” so i give gray the edge. roger has no buisness calling out the kenny-bj winner. if bj beats kenny, kenny is the guy who controlled roger, what makes roger think he has a shot against bj? i think those lights the photographers use may have killed a few too many of roger’s brain cells.
BigChris,
huerta called out the winner of bj vs florian? where did you hear this dude?
Dude if this is true, “el matador” is on some ****. I’m a huerta fan, but like you said, he’s got no business doing that.
my bad i read one of the comments wrong earlier. I guess huerta hasnt called out the kenny-bj winner. but like i said he has no buisness doing that anyway.
UFC would not release RH to another organization the kid is young and going to be dominant one day. Regardless he would be a big star in another org and it is doubtful he cares too too much about the UFC as can be seen by his branching out into new things. The UFC is in no way the be-all-and-end-all of RH’s career.
And hey he can also make money having himself in video games.. cuz he isn’t a nub and clearly owns his own likeness. DuRRrRrRrrrrrr
Let me just say this and I’m done with this topic. Guida versus Huerta IS the wrong fight to look at here. Mainly due to the fact that Gray is: more disciplined than Guida, when the bully puts you down sometimes not even he can get up
, also Gray is more like a laser guided precision bombing and Guida is more a kamikaze. However, it was watching Florian’s fight w/ Huerta that we saw that some of things Guida exposed Huerta on revisited. Thus these things become more than just an isolated incident of a walking Geico advertisement pushing a guy around the octagon and become actual holes in his arsenal.
That said the fight comes down simply to this… does Huerta focus on the problems that Guida showed and that Florian truly exposed on him or does he underestimate his opponent and end up on the receiving end of a three round Ohio-style beatdown?
Personally, I think Maynard is hungry for more and will be more focused than ever. I think his striking is cleaner, his takedowns and GNP speak for themselves, and he’ll use a version of the game plan used by Florian rather than the Bonzai charge tactics of Guida. I think his technical edge is what wins Maynard the fight BUT if Huerta knows one thing it’s how to win. So if Huerta can take Gray out of his element and force Gray to fight his kind of fight(er brawl) then the El Matador will “olay!” the Bull(y) around the octagon for 3 rounds.
Sorry I couldn’t resist the pun there at the end…
Love your breakdown of the fight man. Although the pun is great dont count on it happening.