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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Roger Huerta is officially a member of Bellator Fighting Championships' second lightweight tournament, as the organization made the signing official with a press conference this afternoon at Bellator.com.
Huerta will make his Bellator debut on the second season premiere from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino Hotel in Hollywood, FL, though an opening round opponent has not been determined yet. Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney said that Huerta's first opponent should be known in the next four to five days.
For Huerta, the decision to sign with Bellator came down to the tournament format for him. "Us fighters control our own destiny," said Huerta. "I need to keep winning to keep going in the tournament. I'm not overlooking anyone in this tournament."
"I'm going to bring the best out of them and I'm going to bring the best out of myself… This tournament is perfect and at the end of the day this tournament gets me a shot to face the Champion, Eddie Alvarez… It's like March Madness. The best team is going to win. It doesn't matter how you start at the beginning of the season it's how you finish. I'm really excited to be a part of this and a part of this tournament."
Another factor for Huerta in signing with Bellator is the amount of times he'll get to fight this year. After fighting just twice total in 2008 and 2009, Huerta repeatedly discussed regaining his hunger for fighting following his loss to Gray Maynard in his final UFC fight last year.
"It was where he almost tried to break my arm," Huerta said, in regards to the moment the competitive hunger for fighting returned. "It left with a sour taste in my mouth and a chip on my shoulder… There wasn't enough time left in that fight so I wasn't able to retaliate."
With two straight losses finishing out his UFC career, Huerta is now looking to get back to the promise that he showed early in his career.
"This is a second chance for me as a fighter, as an MMA athlete," Huerta stated. "I've got to climb back up the mountain. You can't discount the guys I'll be facing just because they're unknown. I want the best out of them and they'll get the best out of me… The hopes that have been out there for me as a fighter, you're going to see it now."
Huerta is ready to get back to being one of the top lightweight fighters in the world, and said his recommitment to training is going to give fans what they want out of him. In addition, he left one clear warning for the other seven lightweights beginning this tournament on April 8th.
"If you liked watching me fight back then, you're going to really like watching me fight now. To my opponents… be ready."
[Roger Huerta photo by Wade Keller (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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