Aug-3-2008

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

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By Roger Huerta

Fight week is a mellow time. It’s make the weight week, so we definitely concentrate and focus on trying to make the weight while still focusing on the gameplan and going over some drills. We start tapering down now because we’ve got to fight on Saturday. I have to let my body start resting and healing up from all the sparring and all the grueling training that we’ve done, and you want to fight as healthy as possible.

Being home in Minnesota is definitely a big help. I don’t have to worry about packing because this is literally in my backyard – I’m only five minutes away from the arena - and it’s a really cool thing. All the traveling I did while training for this fight got to me a little bit, but I ended up back home. We’ve been here the last three weeks, and I’m used to everything.

Now it’s just time to fight. I know Kenny’s training his butt off for me. I know that I’m training my butt off for him, and I’m self-motivated. I always have been, and I have the trainers that motivate me, the guys that push me every day. And that’s the beautiful thing about our sport – we are professional athletes and we don’t need that animosity between us. At least I don’t. I look at my opponent, I want to beat him when we’re in there and I want him to say ‘hey, that guy was the better man and the better fighter for sure.’ After that I’ll shake his hand and wish him well in his career.

But when the bell rings and you’re in there, all bets are off. The adrenaline’s flowing and you’re not even thinking. The job of me and my opponent is to get the win. The referee’s job is stop the fight if someone’s in trouble. I can’t do the referee’s job for him. You’ve got to go, but you’re very aware of how much more you can do. I’ve always been aware of whether I can hurt my opponent and I need to stop. After I land the shot and he’s down, I’m on him, but if the ref’s not stopping the fight, I tend to look at the ref and keep punching. I did that against Doug Evans. He couldn’t go anywhere and I was punching and punching, so I looked at the ref and he stopped it. And on August 9th, I’m going to keep going until the end. That’s all I know.

I guess I’ll end this series with this - 2008 has been a year of learning for me, of maturity, and one where I set some goals that I need to reach. Now I’m gonna try to do that. I’ve done everything I could to become the person I am in this sport, and I’m gonna try to be a good role model and a good man. This is one of those years where I believe I’ve been put in the position to fulfill all of those things and I’m not going to be the one who loses that position.

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