The lightweight division in mixed martial arts consists of B.J. Penn and everyone else.
Even though he had made mixed martial arts his life, he'd still hear the haters. He'd wake up in the morning to train, eaten healthy, sworn off alcohol, avoided relationships, traveled to events to soak up knowledge and listened to the people who'd already made it.
It's hard to believe that after last night's split-decision loss to Gray Maynard, fighting could be in the rearview mirror of Roger Huerta's life. Back around the time that the UFC re-emerged into the spotlight of mainstream media, roughly around UFC 66, Huerta became one of the UFC's go-to guys as a front man and fighter. Now, he's likely on the way out.
Because of his decision, Huerta has faced derision and scorn from some fans and insiders, who would like to revise history and say he was never a "real fighter" and was handed opportunities instead of earning them. They say his decision to leave MMA for acting shows that he was never really dedicated to the sport. But the reality is so much deeper.
Roger Huerta returned to the Octagon on Wednesday night and showed that he's still in shape and focused on MMA, but that wasn't enough against Gray Maynard, who defeated Huerta by split decision in a solid fight at UFC Fight Night 19 on Spike TV.
Nate Diaz was the only fighter to miss the mark on his first weigh-in attempt but had extra time to cut the weight and make official his lightweight bout against Melvin Guillard for Wednesday's UFC Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City.
If Gray Maynard wanted to, he could make a pretty good case that he deserves to be the No. 1 contender for the UFC lightweight title. After breaking into the UFC on the fifth season of The Ultimate Fighter and knocking himself out in a bizarre no contest on that season's Finale, Maynard has gone 5-0, and he's dominated all five opponents.
UFC Twitter universe had questions this weekend about the state of the UFC welterweight division after Mike Swick pulled out of UFC 103 with a concussion, about the reasons for referee Big John McCarthy staying out of the Octagon, and about a couple of UFC lightweights, Gray Maynard and Junie Browning.
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