Roger Huerta Turns Down UFC Contract To Pursue Acting Career
Roger Huerta
Popular lightweight Roger Huerta has turned down a new five-fight contract from the UFC and will instead, at least temporarily, pursue an acting career, the fighter has confirmed to Sherdog.
“I’m not burned out [with fighting],” said Huerta. “I have one fight left with the UFC and I want to honor that. As soon as they tell me to fight, I’ll fight my last fight on the contract. I saw that you have to dedicate as much as you do to training for a fight as you do for an acting role and I’m intrigued by that. I’m 25 years old. I see Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture and they didn’t really hit their primes till their thirties. I’m only going to be young so long and I know that movies and agencies and what not want the young look.”
Huerta (20-2-1) rose to popularity with an exciting unanimous decision victory over Leonard Garcia at UFC 69 in April 2007 and a subsequent appearance on the cover of Sport Illustrated, a first for the sport. After compiling six-straight victories in the UFC, including a hard-fought third-round submission of Clay Guida in late-2007, controversial comments left “El Matador” inactive for most of 2008 before returning to lose to top 155-pound contender Kenny Florian in August.
Huerta, who, according to the report, declined a February matchup with Joe Stevenson, also confirmed that he’ll return to the UFC when he resumes his fighting career and won’t negoitiate with competing promotions.
“The UFC is my home and it is my family and eventually I’ll come back,” said Huerta. “Pursuing the modeling and acting thing, that’s kind of where I’m at right now. The fighting will always be there. I’ll always have that in me. The truth is I’ve been fighting my whole life for everything, and this to me, is something else.”
Tags: Roger Huerta
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if some1 offers u 1mil to star in a movie or 60k to fight i guess its the smart thing to do, shame tho!
I didn’t see anything about him getting offered that much to be in a movie…though I suppose if he gets to that point I don’t blame him for taking it.
i was just useing an example but people do gets stupid ammounts to be in movies,
on i diffrent note were is KOuch these days?
good question about KOuch, I’ve been wondering that myself, maybe his with DolfanG on the “no more top commentator so I’m leaving” list…doubt it though.
he’s*
I guarantee you he takes a pay cut to act when the sponsor money dries up.
I’m not sure this is a good move. He’s a popular fighter, but if he doesn’t fight people will forget about him. Also, he talks about “fighting will always be there” there’s a lot of things that could happen to take that away from him. I’m also not sure how Dana and the UFC will take getting snubbed for fights and now the contract like this. I hope things work out for the guy, but I just feel like this is a bad move.
I agree. Fighters these days not named Randy Couture have such a small window of opportunity for success these days. A long enough absence and I think he is done. With that being said, he may end up making more money in Hollywood and if that’s his M.O. then more power to him but I think he is kidding himself by thikning he will just take a few years away from the fight scene and if the mood should strike again down the line that he can just come back in without having missed a beat. That is clearly an unfounded idea.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I mean, how many professional athletes in other sports (not named Josh Hamilton) just take a couple years off, and then come back without missing a beat. The other thing is, he clearly has no interest in being champion, he’s in a good position right now where he could win a couple fights and be fighting for the title, if he goes away and comes back, he’s got to start out on the under card and work his way up again. Maybe he knows he can’t beat BJ, Kenny and some of the other top LWs though, and that’s why he’s taking the time off, hoping they retire or fall off and then he can come back an be the best.
and*
this sux. dont b a fool huerta u really wanna star in the scorpin king 3? unless there making a mexican bond spin off bad move
I have the Fight! Mag with his famous qoutes about pay and the UFC in it, and I swear he stated that he wanted to act and expand his money making oppritunities by doing so and I imagine he believes this is the way he see’s himself making the dollars to have the type of life he has always wanted and essentially used his fighting talent and “story” as a stepping stone to stardom
WHATS UP WITH THE AVATARS COVERING UP THE COMMENTS? SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS
Go to Fedor “has no technique” page find the conversation Justin and I had download that shhh and run firefox
Or upgrade to IE 7.
Or wait a week and I’ll have it fixed (hopefully)
Even if Kris gets it fixed you should still get firefox.
thanks guys
You’re welcome!
i think it is what it is…Huerta sees or has an opportunity to make money in an easier capacity, so he’s going to do it. great fighter, exciting, but we are all opportunists. i’d rather make money slinging whiskey, than shoveling dirt, he’d rather make money modeling/acting, than getting beat up. and as stated previously, only particular fighters are making the big paydays. i think he’s good enough to not be forgotten, but leaving and coming back as strong and hungry, that’s another story.
If he’d rather stand around looking pretty than fight, one might need to consider whether the term “fighter” actually applies…
I think he’s just taking a few years off , and waiting for Florian and The Prodigy to get passed their primes. Or he’s pulling a Penn and coming back to save the LW division once Bj gets bored.
Hey i don’t blame him he is a very sexy guy he has such dreamy eyes too
It is a shame he is such a good fighter and has all the potential in world.
Dude i can understand the decision. He has the ability to be a model, but acting…good thing he’s young he has YEARS to develop his acting skills. I think huerta had potential but trust me dude, once he leaves he aint coming back so he’d better win. I think fisher is going to send him to hollywood with his second ufc loss.
LOL Couture #2
Awwww thats to bad
I’m sorry but I think the people in his ear are giving him to much bad advice. Granted he is young, has the looks, and can do whatever he wants but don’t let it convince you can be a big time actor right away. He is not Cung Le, who can make a living doing movies because of the Asian demographic. Now, if he is being offered 100k or more for a small part in a movie, why not take it, I know I would. I just don’t think he should give up fighting until he can get consistent work in Hollywood. Besides, he got a lot of work because of his affiliation with the UFC, what’s happens when he doesn’t have that crutch anymore?
good luck with all that crap
sorry. referring to roger.
Big loss, big potential
Hate to see him
hate to see him go
glad he’s leaving if he’s leaving for that reason im starting to hate some of these new mma fighters who just leave for movies and other jobs…they obviously have no heart for the sport…..Cung le is just like this …you cant be a champion and just not fight for over a year….it doesnt matter anyways cung le is overrated imo and the anderson silva vs cung le dream match everyone wants to see is a stupid idea because cung le would get destroyed ko’d in the first round, huerta at least is leaving while he is not a champion, cung le is worse if your a champ at least defend your title not just go make movies and act like your the next jackie chan or van damme when your not even that good anyways
Gun I get what u are saying, but Cung Le is a lot older than Huerta, and has fighting for a very long not time, pretty much as long as u have been alive… And if he wants to do a movie here and there to set up financial stability for him and his family, I think that’s a bit different…. But I definately see where u are coming from Gun
Gunslinger, you are right about Cung Le. He holds a title so I believe that’s different. He can’t leave or lose the belt. Huerta is the future of MMA in Mexico. In 2-3 years it’s going to blow up there. He should make some cash while he can in movies. Then when your mind is ready, come back and take the ont fight for the peanuts Dana will be offering. Fight the one time contracted to Dana, then jump ship to Affliction Mexican Invasion 2010. I guy can dream can’t he?
Not to argumentitive but with Affliction having reports that they have only sold 1500 tickets to their Jan 24th show I hightly doubt that Affliction will have a Mexico invasion even in a year.. But u can dream
I think a jump to Bellator (sp?) is more likely than Affliction. Also, he’s going to fight out his last fight on the contract, then bail to make movies, not the other way around. He will be a free agent when he’s done with movies and modeling, actually he will be a free agent April 2010 when the non-compete portion of his contract with the UFC is up.
Is bellator going to around then??? Don’t make me bring up Rings, Justin
Valid point, FR. My only point was with Bellator getting a lot of Hispanic fighters, and being carried on ESPNDeportes, they would be the more logical place for Huerta to go, outside the UFC, and also the more logical pick for a “Mexico invasion” by any company not named Zuffa.
Hey that’s what I do imake valid points and talk shhh
Sorry for your Panthers tonight Justin
Thanks…its miserable…as you can tell by the fact that I’m here, not watching the game. Who the heck gets two weeks off then gets obliterated by Arizona, and turns the ball over six times?!? Delhomme should have been pulled after pick number 4.
Ya man, this is brutal simply put… And the turnovers are dumb decisions by the Jake but whatever…
Who is Huerta going to face for his last match in the UFC?? And is he going to be an undercard bout…
I bet they put him against a newcomer on the under card.
That’s it I’m not pulling for the Panthers anymore until next season!
I’m going to go watch one of the “Classic UFC” DVDs I won from Kris to cheer me up, I think.
Hahaha
ya go cardinals!
Thanks, Gun…guess that’s what I get for giving you a hard time about OSU losing to Texas.
Just got done watching UFC 5, its amazing to watch that and see how far the UFC and MMA has come since then. Watching Shammy v. Royce I kept thinking “If only he knew the rubber guard.” There were so many opportunities for it.
ya that was my plan!…but doesnt really matter anyways my dolphins lost all already too….justin i cant remember what rules didnt they have in ufc 5?
The only rules for UFC 5 were no intentional eye gouging, no biting, no rounds, 20 min time limit in quarters and semis, and 30 for final and the Gracie v Shammy superfight.
huerta is good but i dont see him being the biggest face of mexican mma..i think efrain is gonna do that with the ultimate fighter and being undefeated right now efrain has a bright future in mma if he can keep winning though huerta will be a big name too but i see efrain being bigger as he will be younger by the time mexican mma blows up
i will ask a girl i know..she is mexican (i have a thing for her in case anyone cares) ..but anyways she is big into mma and i think she could answer my question on who she feels would be a bigger part to mexican mma in the future efrain escudero or roger huerta….
i was really looking foward to watching him fight but if he makes it big with the acting then that will be cool but the ufc is gonna miss one of the most exciting fighters i know i will
and its about a tie between huerta/escudero if anyone cares
Good info, take her out too gun I don’t care if there is 3 feet of snow there do something step to the plate kid
ohio is covered right now i was stuck im my house all week end
Yeah we got hit really bad here in Erie too. Had to actually shovel, not brush, my car off this morning.
Yeah, living up there is overrated, a moderate climate is much better (aka North Carolina).
Not sure there’s really many positives to living here except that the cost of living is low or if you like the snow. I’ll gladly pay a premium to live in North Carolina.
ya the door locks on my car were frozen, I had to hold the door closed with one hand while I drove with another..it was pretty fun…agh the perks of ohio….we may have snow but it so easy to live in ohio, I wouldnt mind leaving here though eventually maybe end up say in new mexico(not for any paticular reason or anything lol)