Huerta to end hiatus from UFC

The lightweight, who is best known for being the first mixed martial artist to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, has been out of action since losing a unanimous decision to Kenny Florian in August 2008.

Huerta will fight Gray Maynard on the Fight Night 19 card in Oklahoma City on Sept. 16.

Huerta (20-2-1) was a rising star in the organization before taking time off after the loss to Florian.

Before the defeat, Huerta had won 16 straight bouts and all six of his UFC fights.

The 26-year-old quit fighting for a time to pursue an acting career. He is slated to appear in the upcoming action film “Tekken.”

The September bout is the last fight on Huerta’s UFC contract.

Maynard, a Las Vegan, has compiled a 7-0 record. Five of those wins have come since he moved to the UFC, but his last four have gone to a decision.

• VARNER STILL HURT — World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion Jamie Varner will be unable to defend his title against Donald Cerrone in September because of a broken right hand.

The bout was to be a rematch of a January fight in which Varner retained his belt with a controversial split technical decision.

Cerrone unintentionally kneed Varner while the champion was on the ground. Varner said he was unable to continue, forcing the fight to be decided by the judges’ scorecards.

Cerrone will instead take on Ben Henderson on Sept. 2 at WEC 43 in Youngstown, Ohio. WEC general manager Reed Harris confirmed Monday that the fight will be for the interim title.

• LASHLEY WINS AGAIN — Former professional wrestler Bobby Lashley continued his successful transition to real fighting with a first-round stoppage of Bob Sapp on the Ultimate Chaos card Saturday night in Biloxi, Miss.

The heavyweight improved to 4-0 in a career that started less than seven months ago.

The card, put on by the small organization Fight Force International, also included wins by Gilbert Yvel and Affliction boss Tom Atencio.

Lashley took Sapp down to the mat almost immediately and pounded on his much larger opponent for several minutes before Sapp tapped out because of the strikes.

Sapp, a former NFL offensive lineman, has slimmed down dramatically but still outweighed Lashley by more than 60 pounds. Sapp was actually defeated twice in the bout — the referee missed his first tapout.

Yvel scored a brutal knockout of Pedro Rizzo. He landed several shots after Rizzo appeared to be out cold as the referee failed to step in and stop the bout.

Atencio, in his second professional fight, won when Randy Hedderick failed to answer the bell for the third round in his fighting debut.

Atencio, the president of the Affliction clothing company, might not fight again, but he continues to say his ultimate desire is to fight UFC president Dana White.

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