Roger Huerta was the favorite to win Bellator’s big Lightweight Tournament after signing with the organization before this season. The goal: title fight with Eddie Alvarez. Instead, the former Sports Illustrated cover boy lost in the semifinals. Then, when booked against Eddie Alvarez when tournament champ Pat Curran (the man who defeated him in the semis) had to step aside due to injury, Huerta once again suffered a loss, this time via TKO (doctor stoppage).
What happened next, according to his interview with Ariel Helwani, is pretty straightforward:
Huerta had to take step back and reevaluate his MMA career, so he packed up and traveled east to Thailand, Southeast Asia and Australia.
“I wanted to see where I was at in life,” Huerta said. “Where I fit in in this whole work that I do, which is fighting, and see what I really, really wanted to do and why I lost the last couple of fights. Just to reevaluate a couple of things and change for the better.”
Huerta, now rejuvenated after the five-month long trip, is ready to resume to his MMA career — wherever it might be.
“[MMA retirement is] not in the cards,” the 28-year-old said. “I’m still fairly young and I still have some good fights in me.” (Credit: MMA Fighting)
(Photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com)
