Former UFC and Bellator lightweight Roger Huerta returns to the ONE Championship cage on September 1st as he takes on Koji Ando at ONE FC 30: Dynasty of Champions. Huerta (22-7-1) caught up with MMAOddsBreaker on Episode 118 of The Parting Shot Podcast and discussed a variety of topics. Recent resurgence after losing four straight fights “I give it to my team, Team Banter over at Tiger Muay Thai. [They have] a lot of the positive energy and a lot of the great athletes that come through the camp. Fully grateful for having great guys there and making it challenging for me as well.” What brought him to Phuket, Thailand “I came to Thailand to learn Muay Thai really. I knew that was missing something in my game, meaning the stand-up part of it. I can do jiu-jitsu, wrestle but my footwork and standup all that stuff was really missing out. That was my whole thing of coming out to Thailand. My striking coach Don at Tiger has helped me a lot. These days I’m a lot older, I can’t be taking those hits anymore. I [also] don’t get those bonus in the UFC anymore [laughs].” Decision to live full time Thailand “Just the lifestyle I suppose, I really like it here. I kind of like the Thai style, living in shorts, flip flops that kind of thing. Really no complaints on life really. I lived in California, you’re stuck in traffic that sort of thing. You’re always in car; you’re always in a box. If you’re ever commuting, place to place, gym to gym it’s just one box to another box. I kind of like the outdoors, this area in Phuket it’s pretty intriguing to me. I’ve been able to enjoy myself here and enjoy the people around me. Everything’s just an experience for me. It’s challenging and I get to pick up a few languages. Continue to learn, grow and keep going. Again you just really got to do as they do and understand their ways. I like it. I just kind of prefer this system more than the Western system.” Training partners at Tiger Muay Thai “[You get] just a wide variety really. You get people that come out here that stay out here for one month to a year. Fighters from all over the world, Russia, Chechnya, Dagestan, China, Japan, everywhere. It’s kind of like a melting pot. You really get to meet a lot of intriguing individuals. It’s just a place with quite the variety. Competition from AKA Thailand “It’s just like anywhere else in the world. You got 24hr Fitness or Golds Gym, everything is the same. To each his own. Everybody has a different flavour, whatever intrigues whoever they go there. It doesn’t really affect us, we’re not really near each other. They’re in a different location. Even in our road, it’s called Tiger road because Tiger kind of like builds the roads. Everything started after [Tiger Muay Thai was built] It used to be just rubber trees but now we have all different types of gyms. More flavours for everybody.” Thoughts on his UFC tenure “I was asked this question when I was in the UFC if ‘I had reached the pinnacle of my life being in the UFC’ I couldn’t understand that question at the time. It hit me hard, what does that mean? Is MMA the end all and be all of my life? No, life continues on no matter what. Fighting or not fighting. You have to move forward, create a family that sort of thing. It’s a chapter it was just something went through and I’m grateful for the opportunities and experience. I’m seeing the world because of MMA and I’m still seeing the world because of MMA. I’m still learning and evolving with the sport.” Thoughts on his September 1st matchup with Koji Ando “I think Koji’s stuck in his old ways. He’s flat footed. I’m going to pick him apart; you’ll see. He’s just going to be a sitting duck. Hopefully I’ll take him out first round TKO.” Thoughts on a potential matchup with ONE lightweight champion Shinya Aoki “This guy [Ando] is just in the way. I’m coming after [Shinya] Aoki. I think that he’s the same; he’s gone one foot [out the door]. He’s got an ok ground game. Same thing with him, I’m going to pick him apart.” Treatment by ONE Championship “When I in the UFC I liked that, when I was in Bellator I didn’t like that. Being in ONE FC, I like that, it’s awesome. I would say they’re pretty head to head with the UFC in terms of professionalism.” Why he didn’t like competing for Bellator “You’ve heard the stories [with Bellator] it just wasn’t my cup of tea.” Future with ONE Championship “Right now I’ve got four fights ahead of me still left in my ONE FC contract. I’m really focusing on that. Obviously there are a lot of challenges ahead of me. First up is Koji Anjo, hopefully next will be Shinya. Then we’ll see what’s going on.” You follow Roger on Twitter @RogerHuerta You can listen to the full audio version of this interview on Episode 118 of The Parting Shot Podcast below (35 mins in)
