The adversity of his childhood and early years, including his parents leaving him in two foreign countries, once during the Salvadoran Civil War, have been the subject of several publications.
[5] Born to Lydia and Rogelio Huerta in Los Angeles, California, he spent the first six years of his life in Texas.
[6] His father became heavily involved in drugs and alcohol and began an affair with another woman that led to a separation with Lydia.
Shortly upon arriving, Lydia abandoned Huerta leaving him in the care of his grandparents at the time of the El Salvadoran Civil War.
[3][8] For a brief time, his father and stepmother came back into his life where they moved to the Rio Grande Valley and enrolled him halfway through the year into 3rd grade.
[3] It was there he met Jo Ramirez, his English teacher, where she learned about his troubled childhood in a conversation discussing his future ambitions.
[13] In Huerta's pre-UFC career, his first loss came as a result of a dislocated jaw early in the finals of the SuperBrawl 36 tournament against Ryan Schultz on June 18, 2004, his third match of the day.
The fight ended by TKO after 19 seconds of round one after Huerta landed a knee to the shoulder/head area of a grounded Halverson, knocking him down and finishing him with punches.
Huerta was visibly frustrated at losing in the grappling exchanges from Guida's wrestling offensive, spending a large part of the bout on his back fending off "ground and pound" from his opponent.
After a brief flurry, Huerta took his back and submitted Guida by rear naked choke very late in the fight for an impressive come-from-behind win.
Despite having previously announced on his personal Twitter account that he was in talks with Strikeforce,[21] Huerta eventually signed with Bellator Fighting Championships.
He was one of eight men to compete in the second season lightweight tournament, with the winner receiving a title shot against Eddie Alvarez.
Huerta fought against War Machine in a welterweight bout in the main event of Ultimate Warrior Fighting 1.
Huerta lost the fight via TKO after he suffered a fractured rib during the final scramble in the third round where he rolled out of War Machine's submission armbar attempts to claim side control.
He faced undefeated Christian Holley at ONE FC: Reign of Champions and won the fight via TKO in the first round.
[36] Huerta made his acting debut as Miguel Caballero Rojo in the live action motion picture Tekken.
He also starred alongside Kimbo Slice, Frank Mir, and Heath Herring in Circle of Pain, a 2010 direct-to-video film.