Career
Cardenas qualified for the men"s half-middleweight class (81 kg) at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, after claiming a bronze medal at the Pan American Qualifying Tournament in Miami, Florida. He defeated Anthony Rodriguez of France, with a waza-ari (half-score point), in the first preliminary match, but lost his next match a few hours later, to Portugal"s João Neto, who automatically scored an ippon at one minute and twenty-five seconds.