By Michael David Smith  FanHouse’s Lead Blogger

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.
In the first round Huerta looked surprisingly crisp and effective, showing no ring rust at all even though he hadn’t fought in more than a year. Huerta appeared to be frustrating Maynard with his boxing, and when Maynard tried to overpower Huerta in the clinch and on the ground, Huerta showed effective defense in getting free.

The second round was better for Maynard, who started to find some answers for Huerta’s striking and land some strikes of his own. By the end of the second, Maynard had turned the tide and was starting to win the fight.

A little over a minute into the third round, Maynard finally got the takedown he wanted, picking Huerta up and slamming him to the canvas. Maynard fairly well controlled the next couple of minutes on the ground, and he nearly submitted Huerta with a kimura, who showed amazing toughness just to survive as his arm was being bent behind his back.

The judges scored it 29-28 Huerta, 30-27 Maynard and 30-27 Maynard. I scored it 29-28 Maynard.

Maynard improved his professional MMA record to 8-0, and he may be closing in on a UFC lightweight title shot. Huerta falls to 20-3-1, and he may be done with MMA, as he has said he would like to focus on acting and modeling. That would be a significant loss for the sport of MMA, as Huerta still has a lot to offer — even though tonight, he wasn’t quite as good as Maynard.

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