Hector Lombard Proves He Belongs in the UFC with Win

Fire up the hype train once again. Hector Lombard destroyed Rousimar Palhares in the first round of their fight as part of the UFC on FX 6 card in Australia on Friday night (Saturday afternoon in Australia). Lombard entered the UFC with much fanfare against Tim Boetsch earlier this year at UFC 149 but struggled in a split decision loss to "The Barbarian."

His second dance in the Octagon was exactly what the fans had thought they would see the first time Lombard fought. We saw a composed fighter with technical strikes and an overpowering presence inside the cage.

The knockout artist dropped Palhares in front of his hometown fans of Australia. With the win, Lombard improves to 1-1 with the UFC and 32-3-1 overall in his career. Eighteen of those 32 wins have come by knockout, and judging from what we saw in Australia, Lombard looks poised to surge through the middleweight ranks.

The man Lombard knocked out, Palhares, has been fighting in the UFC since 2008. With the loss, Palhares drops to 6-4 within the organization and has lost two straight. Palhares doesn't have any signature wins, with the closest one being a victory over Jeremy Horn at UFC 93.

This win was crucial to the longevity of Lombard's career within the Octagon. Another loss would have further diminished the reputation and star power he came to the UFC with. Fans now see what a physical specimen and good technical fighter he can be.

His knockout power will always be Lombard's bread and butter as he works his way up the middleweight ladder. Lombard approaches age 35 in February, so the time is now and he can't afford to have many more losses if he wants to be considered a true contender for the title.

It's safe to say the lethargic performance he gave us in July is now way back in the rearview mirror.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1445750-ufc-on-fx-6-results-hector-lombard-proves-he-belongs-in-the-ufc-with-win

I didn´t see this coming, I thought Palhares would win via heel hook but Lombard walked right through him.

Why don't people believe in the Lombard hype?

Dapperdoo wrote:Why don't people believe in the Lombard hype?

Because they're blind and have very little combat sports knowledge. Everyone hating on Lombard judge his potential on his opponents alone rather than his skill, just like they do with any other fighter. Instead of seeing him as a well-rounded, heavy-handed, fast, explosive, A-level athlete, BJJ black belt and 4th degree Judo black belt + Olympian that fights smart, they see him as a "hype train that would lose to "top" UFC middleweights because he fights cans".

Don't just a fighter by who he fights, but HOW he fights.

Lombard is a legit top contender at MW for UFC. Not sure what happened to him in his 1st UFC fight but he is back in form.

My opinion of Lombard is that he is a legit top contender. That being said, I don't think he's a legit threat the Anderson. Stranger things have happened though!

Davidson 45 wrote:My opinion of Lombard is that he is a legit top contender. That being said, I don't think he's a legit threat the Anderson. Stranger things have happened though!

Silva is the current best P4P no doubt. Lombard is a beast though. Would be an interesting fight. I would be picking Silva as well though.

Davidson 45 wrote:My opinion of Lombard is that he is a legit top contender. That being said, I don't think he's a legit threat the Anderson. Stranger things have happened though!

Agree but Silva should fight at LHW imo. He´s a big fish in a small pond at MW.

To me Lombard didnt have to prove anything, I think its bullshit guys from other orgs have to prove they belong in ufc which half of its roster is tuf rejects and no names. As for A silva he wont move up(outside of the 205 gimmie matches), he rather dominate a division then challenge himself same with J Jones.

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote:To me Lombard didnt have to prove anything, I think its bullshit guys from other orgs have to prove they belong in ufc which half of its roster is tuf rejects and no names. As for A silva he wont move up(outside of the 205 gimmie matches), he rather dominate a division then challenge himself same with J Jones.

Would love to see Silva vs. Jones but it is pretty clear Silva doesn't want that fight. Jones would probably be too much for him but you never know.

Lombard and Weidman are two fights I want to see for Silva at 185.

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote:To me Lombard didnt have to prove anything, I think its bullshit guys from other orgs have to prove they belong in ufc which half of its roster is tuf rejects and no names. As for A silva he wont move up(outside of the 205 gimmie matches), he rather dominate a division then challenge himself same with J Jones.

Yeah the title bothers me a bit. Lombard doesn´t belong in the UFC (it´s just one of many promotions) and he didn´t have to prove anything.

^I agree. He was a dominant Bellator champ so he had nothing to prove going in. He should have got an immediate fight with A. Silva.

CDF47 wrote:^I agree. He was a dominant Bellator champ so he had nothing to prove going in. He should have got an immediate fight with A. Silva.

exactly but in zuffa world that is not allowed, what if they did and Lombard won the fight????? Imagine the shit storm that would be incoming. The only time this was tolerable was back with Hendo- Page and Hendo-Silva in which no one gave a shit because all 3 guys where from PRIDE anyway.

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote:

CDF47 wrote:^I agree. He was a dominant Bellator champ so he had nothing to prove going in. He should have got an immediate fight with A. Silva.

exactly but in zuffa world that is not allowed, what if they did and Lombard won the fight????? Imagine the shit storm that would be incoming. The only time this was tolerable was back with Hendo- Page and Hendo-Silva in which no one gave a shit because all 3 guys where from PRIDE anyway.

I don't think much would change if Lombard were to win against Silva. Yeah, of course Silva would get an immediate rematch, but what if Lombard were to win that one as well? They would push this guy to the fucking moon! He's got the look, he's got an incredible and exciting skillset (when he decides to actually use it), he talks a big game, etc.

In actuality, Hector Lombard is the exact kind of fighter that the UFC loves. I'm sure they'd prefer Weidman, but Lombard could've had an aura just like the one they built for Anderson.

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote:

CDF47 wrote:^I agree. He was a dominant Bellator champ so he had nothing to prove going in. He should have got an immediate fight with A. Silva.

exactly but in zuffa world that is not allowed, what if they did and Lombard won the fight????? Imagine the shit storm that would be incoming. The only time this was tolerable was back with Hendo- Page and Hendo-Silva in which no one gave a shit because all 3 guys where from PRIDE anyway.

Yeah, UFC always pulls this crap.