"They ruined him" - Brendan Schaub recalls how the UFC treated Roger Huerta after he decided to test free agency

Brendan Schaub Roger Huerta L to R [Schaub image courtesy of @brendanschaub]

Brendan Schaub recently gave his opinion on former UFC lightweight Roger Huerta's decision to test free agency. Schaub does not believe it was a good idea for Huerta to leave the organization so prematurely.

'El Matador' left the UFC after losing his final bout to Gray Maynard at UFC Fight Night 19. In an episode of The Schaub Show, 'Big Brown' explained that this was an unwise move because the UFC decided to give him unfavorable treatment after he left.

Schaub said:

"But remember he got too big for his britches and tried bailing out the UFC, you remember what happened to him [Roger Huerta]? They said, 'Very cool dude, so remember your main-eventing Fight Nights and we're putting you on pay-per-views and stuff? Now what we're going to do is we're going to shelf you."

He added:

"You want to fight out your last two fights?... You’re going to go test free agency? Well, that's going to hurt our brand. So what we're going to do is, you're on a rocket ship and we're going to pull the fuel from that. We're going to bench you so that you're not relevant. When you do fight. We're going to give you the worst possible matchup, good luck'... They ruined him."

Watch the full podcast below:

The Texas native won 4 out his 12 fights following his departure from the UFC. His most recent fight was a TKO loss against Christopher Gonzalez at Bellator 255.

#Bellator255 video: Chris Gonzalez mauls Roger Huerta, who drops fourth straight mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/04/bellat…

Brendan Schaub reminisces about his departure from the UFC

Brendan Schaub may be in a good position to give advice to Roger Huerta because he experienced something similar. When 'Big Brown' decided to leave the UFC, he was unceremoniously informed by email.

In a previous episode of Below The Belt, the Colorado native informed viewers that the UFC did not give him a big send off. He explained that the promotion sent him a simple email, informing him they still owned him if he were to come back. Schaub said:

"When I retired, I got an email that said 'Cool, just so you know if you ever come back we still own your ass'. It's like, cool man, yeah, that's all I got."

Brendan Schaub left the sport for good after his loss to Travis Browne at UFC 181 in 2014. 'Big Brown' stayed relevant in the MMA community by continuing the podcast he started in 2013, titled The Fighter & The Kid, along with starting other podcasts and online shows down the line.

Travis Browne vs. Brendan Schaub full fight video mmafighting.com/2016/9/8/12845… https://t.co/HlzAPFlgwA

Watch the full podcast wherein Brendan Schaub discussed his departure from the UFC below: