Huerta proves critics wrong in UFC win

Critics of Roger Huerta have maintained that he has racked up wins against far inferior opponents and have been hesitant to consider him a true star until he took on a legitimate contender.

For the first two rounds of his fight Saturday night against Clay Guida in the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship card at the Palms, it looked like Huerta was going to fail his first true test and make prophets of his naysayers.

But the 24-year-old responded with a huge third round and remained undefeated in the UFC with a submission victory by rear-naked choke in what was an entertaining fight.

Huerta absorbed a great deal of punishment throughout the first two rounds and narrowly avoided having the fight stopped after taking a huge right hand that put him on his back in the second.

“I was hurt man. You know what, he rocked me,” Huerta said. “It was the weirdest thing. I felt like I was knocked out, but I still knew what was going on. Finally, I came to my senses after about 10 seconds and I was just like, ‘I’m not going out.’ “

Knowing he was trailing on the scorecards, Huerta was able to mount an effective attack in the final round. He landed several good punches and at least two solid knees to the head of Guida, getting him to the ground and setting up the choke.

Meanwhile, in the championship match of Season 6 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Mac Danzig dominated Tommy Speer from the outset and eventually finished his opponent with a rear-naked choke at 2:01 of the first round.

The veteran felt he would be able to use his experience to confuse and wear down his opponent to neutralize the raw power of the younger Speer.

Instead, Danzig jumped on Speer early and often, effectively using the ground-and-pound, before taking Speer’s back and locking in the choke.

“I deal with a lot of self-doubt,” Danzig said. “I was just worried about being in a situation where he was going to be able to take me down and use his size and strength. … When he pushed me up against the fence, I could tell he is a strong guy, but he’s not that much stronger than me. I got some confidence, and I think my experience played a part and enabled me to put him on his back where he’s not at his best.”

In a wild back-and-forth bout, Jon Koppenhaver stopped Jared Rollins just over two minutes into the third round.

Both fighters were bloodied early on, and each came close to stopping his opponent on several occasions.

In fact, just before Koppenhaver got the victory, Rollins came close to getting it with several solid knees and punches.

George Sotiropoulos submitted Billy Miles in the first round, and Ben Saunders won the only fight to go to a decision.

In the preliminary bouts, Jonathan Goulet, Roman Mitichyan and Matt Arroyo won by first-round submission, and Troy Mandaloniz knocked out Richie Hightower in the first round.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or (702) 224-5509.