The Disappearing Man: Roger Huerta

Never has anyone disappeared with such visability, but it’s hard to call Roger Huerta’s exit from MMA anything else.

After a loss to Kenny Florian (11-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC, #2 IWMMAR), the seemingly invincible Huerta (20-2-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), once on his road to a title shot and already one fo the most visible lightweights in the sport, dropped off the face of the earth to pursue an acting career and a relationship with the chick from That 70′s Show.

Without a fight in eleven months, it remains to be seen whether Huerta is still the fighter that went to war with Clay Guida (25-10 MMA, 5-4 UFC), that beat the respectable Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu technician Alberto Crane (11-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) and turned the tide on Doug Evans (6-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) to lock up the win. It remains to be seen whether he’ll maintain the popularity he once had, as the first fighter to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, now that he’s not on the devastating tear that he once was.

With a rumored bout with Gray Maynard (7-0-0-1 MMA, 5-0-0-1 UFC, #10 IWMMAR) for Ultimate Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City, Huerta will certainly have to make a point of shaking off the ring rust, though he may not have much time for that against an opponent like Maynard, who makes a point of controlling the pace and the position.

Huerta’s early career in MMA is one that is less relevant than his UFC career, because it’s only with the backing of Zuffa that his penchant for exciting fights and all of the charisma he could spare (both of which had a lot to do with the winning of his fanbase) meant anything. As a standard bearer for the organization, though, his unblemished record in the Octagon meant something (and had a lot to do with his status as one of the big names at the front of the division). Unfortunately, with a new guard in the division well established in the year that he’s been gone, he has to make a place for himself.

What may be the best thing for Huerta is where his defeat came from. Kenny Florian is no joke, and the fact that Florian has finished everyone else on his road to the title makes it statistically arguable that Huerta is still one of the most respected fighters in the division. Of course, a win over Gray Maynard would make that unarguable (and a loss would make that argument much more difficult).

It’s hard to expect a fighter who fought five times in 2007 before his 2008 loss and subsequent hiatus coming back after a year long layoff without issues, and Maynard is not a fighter anyone wants to have an off night against, so it will be a serious test of the legitimacy of Huerta’s return (which should be questioned, because leaving for a year to go to Hollywood is not something that, realistically, should make him more popular; but that’s just my opinion). If Huerta does come back, though, and puts the first loss on Maynard’s record, he’ll definitely be seen, as he was when he left, one of the top fighters in the division.