[Zeke's Chaingun]

Outside of a couple of freak posters, no one is going on and on about Huerta being some invincible force. What I see happening is something that has been happening for awhile.

Huerta comes on the scene and gets a big push by Zuffa through marketing and through Sports Illustrated. At the time he was relatively unknown and unproven. So a lot of the self absorbed "real fans" on here whom like to bitch about basically everything began dissing Huerta for being "over-hyped". In reality, Huerta was being built into a star because he has star potential, especially for that very important Hispanic Community. Was it "fair" that Huerta was getting that push while some others weren't? Fair isn't the right word. It wasn't "even", but Zuffa is a business and they have every right to make smart business moves. That's what backing and pushing Huerta was, a good business move.

Now, the smart person would say, "Well, I would have preferred to see so-and-so get pushed to tap that market, but I understand the smart logic behind it. I'll withhold judgement on Huerta until I see what he is capable of." But Sherdoggers aren't exactly known for their intelligence. Instead of the above, you had your typical reject knee-jerk reaction to the big bad "establishment" trying to sell us a "fake product" in Huerta and thus the hate began.

Was Zuffa protecting Huerta? YES! While they weren't feeding him Ross Pointon level guys, they were still guys that were designed to showcase and enhance Huerta. They were grooming him. This isn't common in MMA yet, but it is in Boxing and it will be in MMA. It's the SMART THING TO DO with your stars or potential stars.

But your "mma vet fans" (or the self absorbed rejects) just like to bitch and complain and reject anything that they don't discover on their own. Call it ego I guess... So the hate began and it intensified with every fight Huerta was given to build him up. I think these morons enjoy being right and appearing as if they had "insider" information or are "smarter" than the rest of us. It's not a coincidence that most of the Huerta Haters were also big time Pride junkies. These guys thrive off of "knowing something that the mainstream fan does not". So they hoped Huerta would lose so they could stand up and say, "Ha ha! I told you he wasn't that good!" only this didn't happen so they continued to dis on the guy and dismiss his opponants. Until Clay Guida.

Before the fight, Clay Guida was the guy that took it to Din Thomas, the guy who was robbed against Tyson Griffin, the guy whom defearted Marcus Aurelio-whom himself owns a win and a split decision loss to Takanori Gomi-and thus he was billed as "the guy to expose Huerta as the over-hyped protected posterboy". Only again, Huerta pulls through. So now suddenly Guida "wasn't that good" and the fight "didn't prove anything except that we were right about him".

Only a few posters I have seen are saying anything like "Huerta>Penn" or "Huerta will destroy Sherk". SO MANY MORE posters are talking down on Huerta, saying he doesn't have what it takes, are diminishing his accomplishments, etc. So the excuse of Huerta being overhyped by the fans is a bunch of bull. Most fans I have seen here are saying Huerta is good but not yet ready for the Top Level. I don't even think he is ready for Florian. I think he needs a solid match or 2 before Florian.
So the huge backlash that Huerta is getting is stupid. You "vet MMA fans" aren't convincing me with your opinions. In fact, it looks pretty pathetic and narrow minded to me.

1) Stars should be groomed. It's good for the SPORT to do that. They do it in most one on one combat sports. You won't see a guy come off of an Olympic Gold Medal in Boxing and then be thrown in with Mayweather or Hatton. They will be groomed, much more slowly than even Huerta.

2) The Hispanic-Push Huerta is getting. Again, it makes sense. Zuffa as a BUSINESS wants to tap into the fight loving Hispanic Market that for some reason (perhaps a lack of a fighter they can really get behind) they haven't really bought into MMA just yet, not like they can. If you think it's cheesy, fine, but ask yourself "why do I care?" Becuase it's not worth even fucking thinking about. It makes sense for them to push this angle. If you don't like the way it's done, fine, but at least acknowledge that it makes sense that the UFC is trying to win over that part of the fight market, and that it is good for MMA if they succeed.

3) Huerta may have been groomed but he wasn't given chumps. These guys are real fighters, just weren't the favorites heading into the fight. Huerta has beaten them all and has amassed an impressive record and a long win streak... something that is hard to do in MMA PERIOD. Just go look at some top stars. Like Condit for example. He recently had a loss to Pat Healy. Who? Someone Condit is much more well regarded than. Even stars lose from time to time against people you wouldn't have expected yet Huerta is still going strong.

4) The guy is exciting to watch. He goes out there to finish and puts on non-stop PRESSURE. Is this not the kind of fight we want to see? Do you not want to see more Huerta/Guida or Huerta vs Garcia-type fights? They fucking rock!

5) If you have any sense of MMA, you can (should) be able to see the immense abilities he has. Sure, he's not on top of the world at any of his skills. I'd say he's like this:

Punching: Good
Kicking: Good
Wrestling: Good
BJJ: Good
Scrambling: Very Good
Resourcefulness: Very Good

But those are just skills that you can work on and improve. What he does have is something that cannot be taught.

Heart: Very Good
Endurance: Very Good
Chin: Very Good
Recovery: Very Good
Work Ethic: Very Good

And on top of that, he has the means, which means he has access to the best training he needs. So when you look at just the first set, you're thinking, "Yeah, he's good, but he's not the best." Sure, you're right. But you'd be completely disregarding some extremely important assets. Couple that with a young age and love for the sport... you have yourself a future champion.

To be able to defeat the Sherks, the Penns, the Florians, etc he's going to need more work in the first skillset IMO. But he will get there. You can just see it in his fights and if you're arguing against Huerta then I can't help but think you're incapable of analyzing skills. You don't even know what you're seeing.

That's my Huerta rant.