[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.

[dc007]

I agree. The Huerta hate is out of control for no good reasons. He is a very exciting fighter who has some raw talent and stands to get better over time.

I for one am excited to keep seeing him tested by the top ten guys in the division.

[Jimmy POP]

I understand why Huerta is being pushed. It doesn't mean I have to like it. Huerta is fun to watch. I think a lot fans are disappointed that someone like Melendez didn't get picked up and pushed.

Huerta does have a great future.

[Zeke's Chaingun]

Originally Posted by Jimmy POP

I understand why Huerta is being pushed. It doesn't mean I have to like it. Huerta is fun to watch. I think a lot fans are disappointed that someone like Melendez didn't get picked up and pushed.

Huerta does have a great future.

You're right, you don't have to like it, but your intelligence needs you to at least acknowledge to yourself that it is a smart move for Zuffa (and MMA) to push to get in with the Hispanic Fight Fans. Melendez is very good, perhaps slightly above Huerta at this time with his skills, although we'll have to see if he's as resourceful, has the heart, the endurance, the chin, and the recovery ability (ability to come back from the brink of being KO'd) that Huerta has. Perhaps he's already shown this, I haven't seen many of his fights. But I would say, yes, Gilbert is up there, and he himself had a war with Guida. He performed better with Guida but did not finish Clay as Roger did. Whether or not he is the better poster-boy for this push is yet to be seen. Huerta looks to have all of the right tools.

I have a feeling that the UFC will be going for Gilbert Melendez when his contract becomes available.

[bma44]

If the UFC wants you to like them, that means people on the Internet will decide not to like them, because they're smart and cool and neat and sweet and Zuffa is evil

By the way, here's who Wandy fought after winning the title from Sakuraba (and in the process became one of the biggest stars in Japan):

Kazushi Sakuraba
Hiromitsu Kanehara
Tatsuya Iwasaki
Mirko Filipovic (Special Rules)
Alexander Otsuka
Kazushi Sakuraba
Shungo Oyama

[dredd57]

Originally Posted by Jimmy POP

I understand why Huerta is being pushed. It doesn't mean I have to like it. Huerta is fun to watch. I think a lot fans are disappointed that someone like Melendez didn't get picked up and pushed.

Huerta does have a great future.

I like Huerta, I think he's a phenominal fighter, but after watching him vs Guida, its hard to think he's going to get much further in such a stacked division. If he had that much trouble with Guida, the divisions elite will wipe the mat with him.

My prediction:

BJ vs Stevenson for the title. (Obviously)

Sherk vs Huerta for the next title shot.

[HellaCopter]

Huerta is the "real deal" in that he deserves to be in the UFC etc., him beating Guida proves that (even if I do think that Guida would take it 9 times out of 10 against Huerta).

Still, I think he's overrated somewhat, only in so far as I don't think he's ready for those at the top of the division (what happened in the Guida fight won't happen everytime), and that those that aren't rated that highly could still beat him, stylistically etc.

He's exciting, and he's good. He isn't great, and I think he still has further to go than I think most other people do.

Also, if I were the UFC and wanted to push a Hispanic fighter I would've picked up Gil Melendez. He may not have the instant appeal of Huerta, but he's just as exciting, if not more so, and more importantly he's just a much better fighter, and having a much better chance to have gold around his waist would help much more IMO.

[Krone Meltzer]

There is no denying that he has the skills to make it big in the UFC. After coming back and taking down Guida in the third round like he did, he made me a fan and showed that he can definitely take punishment only to serve it out too. I can see him challenging for the Lightweight title after the BJ vs. Stevenson match in January which he should get rightfully so.

[HellaCopter]

Originally Posted by dredd57

Sherk vs Huerta for the next title shot.

That would not be pretty for Huerta, I doubt the UFC would do that, unless they felt it wouldn't be too detrimental to his career (which it probably wouldn't, there wouldn't be any shame for Huerta to get beaten badly by Sherk at this stage in his career).

[xrept]

I think hes the real deal but he has a lot of holes in his games. I think Sherk would take him to him. If you look have his passed 3 fights Evans, Crane, and Guida all gave him problems.