Jul-31-2008

‘El Matador’s March to UFC 87 – Week Four

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By Roger Huerta

We’re getting close to fight week, and my mom and some other friends have been a little bit more nervous than I have for this fight. So I kinda sat back and told everyone ‘It’s all right, we’ve done this rodeo before. We’ve been here and done this. This fight is like any other fight. The only difference is the hype behind it.’ That’s the way I feel. To me, it’s just like any of my other fights, but at the same time it’s the most important fight of my life because it’s happening right now. All my other fights were just as important as this one because if I didn’t win them, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. My job’s on the line every time I step in there.

Earlier this week, I was telling my friends Craig Cohen and Jeff Clark that I did everything that I could to prepare for this fight. I traveled to a different country when I went to Montreal, Canada to train with one of the greatest fighters, Georges St-Pierre, and his team up there. I went to New York to train with Phil Nurse, to Denver to train with Trevor Wittman, Nate Marquardt and a lot of other guys there, to LA with my strength and conditioning coach Justin Hagen, checked out New Mexico to train with those guys, and I took Donald Cerrone with me from Albuquerque to train with him; Leonard Garcia flew in, and I did everything I possibly could to prepare for this moment, August 9th. Everything. By the time I step in there, I’ve got a lot of confidence that I’ve done everything in my power to beat my opponent, Kenny Florian, a guy who’s well-versed in the game, very intelligent, and a threat to my career.

I’m not even questioning myself leading up to this fight. I admit, I questioned myself a little bit before the Clay Guida fight. I had done so much and I was worn down. I was sitting back and praying ‘God, I’ve got one more before the year ends. Please, help me out with this one.’ This one’s definitely different. I had eight months of sitting back, studying the sport and everything it has to offer, training with phenomenal athletes like Georges, Nate, Cerrone, and even Leonard, an opponent that I fought at one time and who put me on the mat. Now he’s here in Minneapolis- St.Paul helping me train for this fight. How beautiful is that? And the thing is, it’s not weird at all to be working and sparring with him now. He’s become my brother, and he’s been very supportive and very helpful and I’m just thankful for everyone who’s helped me train for this fight. I’ve seen how many people are pulling for me and everybody’s on the same page, going for the same goal, and it’s amazing to have these people around me.

Let’s just hope Kenny is training as hard as I have. I’m taking this fight very, very seriously and I respect him as a fighter and as an opponent, but he’s in my way right now. This fight determines who gets the next title shot, and I’m so close to getting that and so close to becoming the UFC world champion. Sometimes you think, ‘ah, the belt doesn’t matter,’ but I set a goal to become the world champion in the UFC and I haven’t gotten there yet, so I need to accomplish that goal. This is the company that started it all. If it wasn’t for the UFC, we wouldn’t be where we are today. They were the guys at the forefront, the guys that went everywhere to sanction the sport, they were the guys that put the money behind it and that were $40 million in the hole when nobody else believed in it. But I believed in it with them and I’ve been blessed to be a part of this. My goal used to be to fight in the UFC one day; now the goal is to become the UFC world champion, and it’s just two fights away.

For more information on Roger Huerta, visit www.myspace.com/matador155