The doctor stoppage in Roger Huerta's recent TKO loss at the hands of Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez was questioned by some, but credit the cageside physician for saving Huerta from further damage.According to Huerta's manager Jeff Clark, the game lightweight suffered broken orbital bones in both eyes during the course of the bout.
The orbital bone is the part of the skull that houses the eye and its appendages.
"He's a little beaten up but how long he stays out really depends on the breaks," Clark told MMA Fighting. "The doctors are looking at it."
Orbital bone breaks are most often seen in athletics in combat sports like MMA and boxing, along with ice hockey, and recovery times vary wildly depending on severity. Huerta's recovery time likely won't be determined for a few days as specialists do further tests, according to Clark.
A fight between Huerta (21-5-1) and Alvarez had been the hopes of many fans after the former UFC fighter signed with Bellator. But Huerta was upset by Pat Curran in a close decision during the lightweight tournament semifinals, knocking him out of the tournament.
Shortly after Curran won the tournament and advanced to face Alvarez, however, he suffered an injury that knocked him from their scheduled title bout. Instead, Huerta was offered a non-title fight with Alvarez at Bellator 33 and accepted.
Alvarez (21-2) improved his winning streak to six straight in impressive fashion, switching between powerful leg kicks and precision boxing during the 10 minutes of action.
By the end of the second round, Alvarez was in front on the judges' scorecards when the cageside doctor checked on Huerta, asking him how many fingers he had up. Huerta couldn't answer and the fight was stopped.
At the time, even Alvarez was stunned with Huerta's toughness, saying, "What a tough son of a ... That guy wouldn't go down. I hit him with a lot of really good shots and my hat's off to Roger for staying in there as long as he did."
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