VIDEO Moving Roger Huerta feature that helps explain his infamous Austin street fight

Over the weekend former UFC fighter Roger Huerta was captured on video brawling with a man who had just viciously knocked out a defenseless woman on the streets of Austin, Texas.  The video was posted by TMZ and quickly became a viral target for search engines. 

You can check out the video of the street fight via the link above but I warn you, some of the scenes are violent and difficult to watch.  TMZ followed up with Huerta and here is what he had to say about the incident:

“I approached the man calmly and said, “Do you know what you just did?  You just knocked out this girl.”  But Huerta claims the other guy responded, “F*ck you, f*ck these bitches, I’ll knock out any f*ckin’ bitch that I wanna f*ckin’ knock out, I’ll knock your f*cking bitch ass out.”

Huerta added, “… and as he’s saying this, he’s taking off his shirt … and at that point I was like, alright.'”  Huerta insists that he didn’t throw the first punch — and only reacted when the other guy “started swinging at me” … and we all know what happened next.   “I got the better of him and I left,” Huerta said.  The 27-year-old explained, “If that was my mom, if that was my sister, my spouse, anyone … I would’ve wanted someone to step in and do something about it.”

When I followed up on this sensational story to do a post on the fight I came across an incredibly moving bio that explains exactly how important Huerta’s mom is to him and why he was the last guy on earth the man who is shown hitting the woman in the video wanted to mess with that fateful night.

Huerta’s childhood was harder than anything I could imagine going through.  His father was strung out on drugs and his birth mother physically abused him.  He was placed in a foster home for a brief period of time and when his birth mother lost custody she fled the country with him to El Salvador.  Shortly after arriving she abandoned him, leaving him with his grandparents during the violent El Salvadoran Civil War.

She reclaimed Roger a year later and returned to the U.S. only to leave him on the doorstep of his father’s home.  This abandonment would be the last time he ever saw his birth mother.  After moving in Huerta’s step mother began a continuous cycle of mental and physical abuse until he was relocated to Mexico where he was left with his father’s parents.  In Mexico a young Huerta would be sent out into the streets to sell picture frames to tourists for money.  He was brought back to America and for a brief period of time once again fell under the guardianship of his father and abusive step mother until his father left.   At this point he was subsequently kicked out of the house leaving him homeless. 

All of this and Roger Huerta was only 12-years-old.  It was then, when all of the worthless adult figures in his life, the ones who should have protected and cared for him were gone and he was forced to fend for himself that the depth of who he was began to emerge and the possibility of a joyful existence somehow shown.  A friend of his mother, Maria King, gained legal custody of Roger and moved him to Austin where for the very first time in his life he had some semblance of stability.

It is during this chapter of his incredible story that I would like to show the following moving piece on Huerta and English teacher Jo Ramirez whom he calls his “Guardian Angel” during the clip:

If you were unable to watch the video, Jo Ramirez was Huerta’s English teacher in High School.  She got to know Roger and was amazed and deeply moved with his ability to live life with joy and conviction after having suffered so much abuse, abandonment and neglect.  Though already being a mother of seven she adopted Huerta in 2002 at the age of 19 becoming his protector and symbol of love and family.

Now you know that when Roger Huerta stated, “If that was my mom… I would’ve wanted someone to step in and do something about it” he meant every single word he said.