Dana White: 'If Hector Lombard wants to fight in the UFC, we'll probably end up with him'

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Hey, you know that thirty-something middleweight champion who punches really hard and has beaten 20 straight opponents without ever being knocked out?

No, I'm not talking about Anderson Silva.

I'm referring, of course, to Bellator's 185-pound champion, Hector Lombard. At 31-2, he may currently be the most talented fighter to never compete under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) umbrella (sorry, Fedor).

But for how long?

"Everybody's asking me about that," UFC President Dana White told media members following the UFC on FX 2 event last Friday night (March 2, 2012) in Australia, home to the Judo and jiu-jitsu black belt in question.

Here's what the Las Vegas fight boss had to say about signing "Lightning" Lombard:



"I guess he's pretty popular down here. I've been hearing all about him since I've been here. I hear he's under contract though with someone else, so we''ll see. I'll probably end up with him. If he wants to fight in the UFC, then we'll probably end up with him."

Lombard's contract is set to expire in just a few months, and Bellator's big cheese, Bjorn Rebney, told MMAmania.com in our exclusive interview, that he has every intention of re-signing him.

But will "Shango" be looking for greener pastures?

"Well, Hector remains our champion right now. We are in the midst of a pretty substantial negotiation relative to his future with the organization. I've said many times I think he's the best middleweight in mixed martial arts so it's not an easy negotiation by any stretch of the imagination. We've got the right to match on any deal. We're either gonna sign him before he goes out the to marketplace or he's going to go out to the marketplace and we're gonna have a determination as to whether we're gonna match or not match and we're gonna see where it ends up. I love the guy and he's an awesome talent. He's been nothing but a pure pleasure for me to work with. He's been a great guy for me to work with and he's done everything we've asked him to do and every time I've put him in a cage, he's knocked people silly. You can't really ask for more than that from a guy."

Lombard's only two losses have come by unanimous decision to Gegard Mousasi and Akihiro Gono in fights that took place nearly six years ago. He has 24 finishes, including 17 (T)KO stoppages in 31 wins. He's been called everything from professional can-crusher to top five middleweight in the world.

Is it time for him to sign with the UFC

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So, what do you guys think? Should he be in the UFC and how do you think he would stack up?

Bellator will have to break the bank to keep him. Unless there is some personal loyalty to BFC Lombard will have to make the move. He really can't have that much left on the fight clock.

The question is would he really want to move to face Anderson? How long would that last? If he came and lost to Anderson then what?

Maybe its a good idea at his age to sign as big as you can at Belator, keep beating guys who don't really challange you rather than fighting in the bigs and losing three in a row, then trying to get your old job back.

Krieger wrote:

Bellator will have to break the bank to keep him. Unless there is some personal loyalty to BFC Lombard will have to make the move. He really can't have that much left on the fight clock.

The question is would he really want to move to face Anderson? How long would that last? If he came and lost to Anderson then what?

Maybe its a good idea at his age to sign as big as you can at Belator, keep beating guys who don't really challange you rather than fighting in the bigs and losing three in a row, then trying to get your old job back.

100% agree. i just dont know if he has what it takes to be a force in the MW divison of the UFC. There is plenty of talent in there and he would be faced with much more dangerous opponets than what he has been fighting. I am not saying he cant make it but he is going to have to work harder to beat them.


Hey Krieger it sounds like Fedor should have listen to youir advice about being big in the small leagues.

If it were me, I'd sign with whoever can offer me the most gauranteed money for the next 3 fights.

Maybe that ends up being a 1 fight contract with Bellator and THEN coming to the UFC.

He might as well come over to the UFC. A fresh meal for Silva wouldn't be a bad thing.

I don't know a lot about this guy, but I know his list opponents leaves a lot to be desired. Does that mean he couldn't cut it in the UFC? Not necessarily. But it sure doesn't imply that he could, either.

Gecko man .... I keep trying to read your posts but I upchuck vomit and bile whenever I see your new avatar.... what the hell happened man?

Krieger wrote:

Gecko man .... I keep trying to read your posts but I upchuck vomit and bile whenever I see your new avatar.... what the hell happened man?

why dont you ask chrom about that one. I swear i want to cry every time i post.

This may be happening sooner, rather than later...

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Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebney now knows what he is up against regarding the UFC’s courtship of Hector Lombard.

The Chicago-based promotion’s founder told Sherdog.com on Wednesday that he recently received a copy of the UFC’s proposed contract to Lombard and will soon make a determination on whether to re-sign the heavy-handed southpaw.

“We’ve received the final proposed UFC agreement from Hector’s attorney, and right now we are in the process of reviewing it to determine whether we’re going to match the agreement,” Rebney told Sherdog.com on Wednesday morning. “We’ve got the 60 pages of UFC contract that were forwarded to us by Hector’s counsel. We’ve been waiting on the actual contract itself to see all of the specifics and every conceivable detail and know exactly what is being offered. Now we have something really specific to look at.”

Bellator’s reigning 185-pound champion, Lombard has looked unstoppable during his three years with Rebney’s organization, winning the company’s inaugural middleweight tournament and posting a perfect 8-0 promotional record since his 2009 debut. Lombard’s contract expired earlier this year and the fighter is currently in a period where he may openly negotiate with rival promotions. However, Lombard is not an unrestricted free agent, as Bellator still has the right to match any competing offer.

“The reality is that Hector is going to do extremely well whether he is fighting in the Octagon or the Bellator circle, and I think everybody knew that. He’s one of the best middleweights on the face of the earth,” Rebney said. “He hasn’t fought in a long time, and he had to wait through these periods contractually to get to a point where he could go out and seek an offer from a competing organization.”

While Bellator still has a period to match the UFC’s offer, Rebney has no desire to drag out the negotiations. Instead, he says that the promotion will make a determination soon to avoid stringing the fighter along.

“Out of respect for Hector, I think we will turn [the UFC contract] around very quickly,” said Rebney. “Obviously, we have a huge event coming up Friday [Bellator 66]. As soon as that is over, we will sit down with our partners and go through the UFC contract line-for-line and make a strategic decision whether we’re going to match it or pass. [If we pass, we will] wish him the best and let him go knock out everybody in the UFC.”

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They have "right to match" contracts in mma?

Depends on the contract. Just like in Baseball some contracts are designed to have x years gauranteed and then an option to resign for another y years.

Lombard is in that period after x years is up. He is not technically a free agent, but he is allowed to leave if another promotion can out bid.

by the looks of him, drug test might be a challenge for him

Hector Lombard...... Apparently he's a total douchebag with little to no endurance. Let Jacob Christmas Volkmann explain what happened at ATT.

Jacob Volkmann's ATT Run-in with Hector Douche wrote:

While in Florida, the lightweight spent some time at American Top Team, where he had what can only be described as an unfortunate encounter with Bellator Fighting Championships middleweight titleholder Hector Lombard on his third day of practice at the famed gym.

“I was just rolling with the guys; we were getting ready for grappling practice, and Hector asked me to wrestle with him,” Volkmann says. “He’s kind of big, but I wrestled and I know he didn’t wrestle. I didn’t know him at all. I know people said, ‘Just stay away from him when you’re on the feet.’ We did sparring the previous day, and people were, like, ‘Don’t go with that guy. Whatever you do, don’t go with that guy.’ I was, like, ‘Alright,’ but then the next day he asked me to wrestle with him.

“We were hand fighting for probably three minutes, and he karate chops me,” he adds. “I go, ‘OK, I must be irritating him somehow.’ Thirty seconds later, he pushes me back and punches me in the face [with] no glove on; gave me a bloody nose and some stars. I was a little irritated, although more disappointed than anything. I kind of rolled my eyes and started walking away, and he tried to fight me right there. He lost it, lost a nerve, and somebody came in and stopped it.”

According to Volkmann, what set off the 5-foot-9, 185-pound judo black belt was the fact that he did not like the collar tie.

“He told me that I kept on pushing him in the face,” he says. “I was working his head and trying to get an underhook to try to set up for a shot, so he punched me in the face.”

After the exchange, Volkmann continued to wrestle with Lombard but modified his approach.

“I just stayed off his head, so I didn’t shoot,” he says. “I just underhooked him, and I threw him, pushed him off the mat. Sometimes, I do a throw-by. One time, I [swept] him to his back. I wasn’t going 100 percent because I didn’t want to take him down, because a guy like that, if you take him down, he’s going to spaz, so I just kind of played with him a little bit.”

Volkmann does not think much of Lombard, despite the fact that he has won 18 consecutive fights.

“He’s got no endurance,” Volkmann says. “He’s got like three minutes of endurance. The secret to beating him is get close [and use] dirty boxing. He’ll get so tired after three minutes, you’ll win.”

Shurr let the bytch sign with the UFC, battle hard-nosed wrestlers/grinders going 0-3, get his walking papers and go beg for a job. F'k this guy, he's apparently really terrible to his training partners and has a short fuse.

F'kem.

stock wrote:

Depends on the contract. Just like in Baseball some contracts are designed to have x years gauranteed and then an option to resign for another y years.

Lombard is in that period after x years is up. He is not technically a free agent, but he is allowed to leave if another promotion can out bid.

I hear ya and I understand what a restricted free agent is, I just didn't know mma had restricted free agent contracts.

A middle weight judo black belt is getting tooled on take downs by a light weight wrestler. Sounds like his carido is questionable. I am starting to think he may not be able to hang with any top ten. This guy needs to be tested by a real contender. Surprise,surprise about what i am going to say but I think they should scrap Bisping/ Boestch and make Bisping and lombard fight. If Bisping can beat the Bellator middle weight champion that should put him very close to a title shot if not earn him one. If lombard wins that will put him in the mix for a title shot down the road. This fight make a lot more sense to me than Bisping/Boestch.

9Teen_AT4----I agree with you, the guy sounds like a douche bag to me.