(Who the hell just asked me if I want to be a f*cking fighter?!) 

Talk about a great way to start of your day. Confirmed by none other than “Lightning” himself via his Twitter, it appears that Hector Lombard has officially signed with the UFC. After being offered a contract a little over a week ago, Lombard gave the Bellator brass a chance to match the UFC’s bid. But Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney must have come to the same realization that nearly every sappy rom-com protagonist has; if you love something, let it go. Here’s what he told MMAFighting, who first broke the news:

We have a business model where we make decisions based on analyzing data. Since the first day we came into being, we made decisions based on real models, not hypotheticals. The UFC model is largely based on pay-per-view, and the offer they made to Hector is going to be monetized via pay-per-view. While pay-per-view could play a role in our future, today it doesn’t. So, we did our due diligence to review the UFC contract, analyzed it in terms of charging our audience to see Hector vs. putting him on free TV, and we decided to allow the UFC to sign Hector, where I am extremely confident he will win the UFC middleweight title on pay-per-view.

Currently 31-2-1 in MMA competition, Lombard finds himself on a ridiculous 25-fight unbeaten streak, including victories over TUF 7′s Jesse Taylor, UFC veterans Brian Ebersole and Joe Doerksen, and arch-nemesis Alexander Shlemenko, who, barring a sudden signing with the UFC, will not be receiving his well-earned rematch with Lombard anytime soon. Lombard has not lost a fight since 2006, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Gegard Mousasi at Pride Bushido 13.

So I ask unto you, Potato Nation, who should Lombard face in his octagon debut? And how will he cope with fighting in a ring smaller than your average soccer arena?

Join us after the jump as we bid adieu to Hector’s Bellator run with a look back at his greatest hits. 

“What’s that screeching noise? Sounds like a train coming to a sudden halt…”

Remember when we all thought that Hector Lombard was the X factor of the UFC middleweight division? And we pegged the middleweight who hadn’t lost a fight since 2006 a 4-1 favorite to wallop Tim Boetsch at UFC 149? And we thought he would go on to give Anderson Silva his toughest test to date? Oh man, those were some good times, right?

As far as Hector Lombard is concerned, not so fast. Three weeks after his dreadful performance at UFC 149, the Cuban middleweight has released a statement on his Facebook page. Presumably after meeting with his social media consultant, Tito Ortiz, Lombard claims that he was just too damn injured to have been fighting, bro. I know, put on your shocked faces.

Via His Official Facebook Page:

(Video courtesy YouTube/FightHubTV)

At last week’s Bellator show, middleweight Hector Lombard raised a few eyebrows when he said he wanted to face recently-signed Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett in his next bout.

It turns out that the pair have a beef between them that can be traced back to a particular sparring session in 2008.

According to Lombard’s former and Barnett’s current trainer from Combat Submission Wrestling, Erik Paulson, a day or two after a bloody 30-minute boxing match between the duo at the gym, "The Babyfaced Assassin" dragged Lombard into the cage and used his weight advantage to hold him on the canvas and humiliate the Cuban judoka in front of his teammates.

Paulson revealed that the incident was the reason Lombard walked away from the gym to join American Top Team and said he’s surprised that he’s still upset over it.

The UFC confirmed last night that a middleweight matchup between knockout king Hector Lombard and perennial contender Yushin Okami has been added to the PRIDE fanboy circle-jerk that is UFC on FUEL 8: Silva vs. Stann, March 3rd in Saitama, Japan. Both fighters scored victories last month, with Lombard destroying fellow fireplug Rousimar Palhares in the first round of their match at UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson, and Okami (somewhat less impressively) earning a decision against Alan Belcher at UFC 155.

In keeping with the theme of UFC on FUEL 8′s main card — which will feature such legends as Wanderlei Silva, Takanori Gomi, and Mark Hunt — Lombard and Okami also competed for PRIDE early in their careers. Lombard lost decisions to Akihiro Gono and Gegard Mousasi under the PRIDE Bushido banner in 2006, while Okami submitted Steve White via strikes (at PRIDE The Best Vol.3 in 2002) and outpointed Ryuta Sakurai (at PRIDE Bushido 2 in 2004). Video proof is after the jump.

Though Michael Bisping might argue that he and Vitor Belfort are the only two middleweights worth a damn at the moment, another savage knockout performance from Lombard could place him in the proverbial “mix.” Your predictions for this one, please.

(Props: BellatorMMA)

Unfortunately, ReX was unable to provide us with one of his famous Bellator reports this week, so you’ll have to settle for this quick-n-dirty recap of Bellator 44, which went down Saturday night in Atlantic City. First, we’ll direct you to the video above: Hector Lombard earned his 18th-straight victory (!) in a non-title bout against Falaniko Vitale, crushing Niko to the mat with a right hook in the third frame after a surprisingly dull first two rounds. Lombard’s latest performance follows such previous classics as “Six Second Prison Rape” and “A Corpse Named ‘Whisper’.”

Headlining the card, Xtreme Couture’s Michael Chandler scored an upset decision win over the highly-touted Patricky Freire in the Season Four Lightweight Tournament final, outworking the Pitbull in all three rounds; Chandler was docked a point in the third for groin-kicks. The victory netted him a $100,00 check and a future shot at Eddie Alvarez’s belt. In non-tournament action, Alexander Shlemenko spun circles around Brett Cooper, picking up his own UD victory, while Giedrius Karavackas battled back from an early ass-kicking to submit Sam Oropeza by scarf-hold armlock. Full results and video of the Karavackas/Oropeza stoppage are after the jump.

(Last warning, Hector. If you grunt like that one more time we’re going to revoke your membership.)

In a new report about Eddie Alvarez’s impending free-agency, MMAFighting.com got Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney to share details of a similar situation in which his promotion got into a bidding war with the UFC. It happened six months ago with their former middleweight champ Hector Lombard, and in that case, it didn’t exactly work out for either party:

Lombard hit the open market, where he was immediately offered a lucrative deal with the UFC. Rebney said that contract, which according to him paid Lombard a $400,000 signing bonus, a $300,000 starting purse per fight and pay-per-view participation points, was cost-prohibitive from Bellator’s standpoint.

If the UFC came in with a similar offer for Alvarez, who is considered by most observers to be right around the top five lightweights in the world, it is believed that would make him the highest-paid 155-pounder in the UFC. On the other hand, Lombard’s debut in the UFC was considered a disappointment, as he lost a lackluster split-decision to Tim Boetsch. That development could cause the UFC to reconsider a big-money offer for another free agent.

(I know, dude. I know.)

I think we can officially call it a “wave” of injuries now: The latest UFC fighter to withdraw from an upcoming marquee matchup is middleweight Brian Stann, who will not be making his UFC on FOX 4 main event date with former Bellator champ Hector Lombard due to a shoulder injury. According to MMA Fighting, Stann will not require surgery, but will be sidelined for six-to-eight weeks.

No word yet on who will come in to replace Stann against Lombard, if anybody — but theoretically, that person will need a strong chin if he hopes to last past the first round. The co-main event for UFC on FOX 4 (August 4th, Los Angeles) is a just-as-marketable light-heavyweight feature between Lyoto Machida and Ryan Bader, which could be bumped to the top as a last resort. We’ll keep you posted when we know more.

(“Oh no, I wasn’t laughing at you. I was just remembering this funny joke I heard about a guy who got punched in the head really hard.”)

The UFC has confirmed that their new middleweight signee Hector Lombard — best known as Bellator’s Angel of Death — will be making his first Octagon appearance against Brian Stann. UFC.com reports that the matchup will take place this August in Los Angeles, suggesting that it will go down at UFC on FOX 4.

Known for his inhuman power and massive physique, Lombard took to twitter last night to make a rather unique request: “Can we make a random drug test before my fight???” Lombard clearly wants to prove that his muscles are all natural — though once you request a random test, it’s not exactly random anymore. Ah well, he’ll get the hang of it.

(Jay Silva and Chris Leben show off their top-of-the-food-chain striking at UFC Fight Night 20. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

By DL “It’s Latin for Warrior” Richardson

After news broke Friday that former top-10 middleweight Paulo Filho was possibly flaking out on his Bellator 18 fight against Hector Lombard, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney replied that his people were in contact with Filho’s people and everyone’s duckies were in a row. Filho’s story had been that he would not receive a visa in time to travel to the US for the event, and indicated that the problem was either with Bellator officials or his own management, but had nothing to do with him. He was actually kinda bummed about it, poor guy, telling GracieMag: “I’m really upset because I’ve been training a lot. I did everything just right; I don’t know what to say.”

Despite Bellator’s official line that everything is fine, and everyone should just be cool, like a couple of little Fonzies, rumors are circulating that Paulo will be replaced by 5-3 fellow Brazilian Jay Silva. Silva, who went 0-2 in the UFC against CB Dollaway and Chris Leben, was apparently Bellator’s backup just in case something happened. Like a volcano. Or Filho going all batshit crazy.

Bellator’s press agents were not immediately available for comment.

UPDATE, 12:48 p.m. ET: Rebney has confirmed the news. And so, Bellator 18′s "SuperFight" is downgraded to an "OkayFight." At least we still have the featherweight semis to look forward to.

(The best part of having a million dollar bill on your person at all times? No more ATM fees.)

By DL Richardson

File it under “W” for “We Knew This Shit Would Happen”: GracieMag.com is reporting that Pride standout turned crazy man Paulo Filho will not be able to compete at next week’s Bellator 18 show. Filho was scheduled to face current Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard in a non-title SuperFight, which was, on paper at least, an intriguing matchup — much more compelling than last night’s Alvarez-Neer spanking. Filho, who lists his turn-ons as “Pitbulls, tattoos, and tattoos of pitbulls,” told GracieMag that some kind of administrative snafu was to blame for his failure to secure a visa: “It seems the event took too long in sending out the letter I needed to present at the consulate and I’m not sure but it could be there was some kind of failure on the part of my managers. So, I won’t get my visa in time.”

Now, the Bellator guys have done a remarkable job of reacting to fighter travel problems once already this season: When the Icelandic volcano apocalypse prevented welterweight “Judo” Jim Wallhead from traveling to the US to participate in the tournament, Rebney quickly substituted Ryan Thomas, who’d lost by a controversial referee stoppage to Ben Askren. Ryan Thomas won, setting up a rematch with Askren in the semifinals. Whether they’ll be able to work similar magic this quickly remains to be seen, but if they manage to pull a good replacement out of their asses, it will rival anything Toby Imada does for “Submission of the Year.”

Rather than sit out for seven months waiting for his May 14 non-title bout against Falaniko Vitale, Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard will look to defend his other strap later this month in Australia. The highly-touted 27-2 middleweight fighter, will defend his Cage Fighting Championship 185-pound title against UFC and WEC veteran Joe Doerksen Down Under at CFC 16 at Big Top Luna Park in Sydney March 25.

Born in Cuba, Lombard resided in Australia for several years after defecting from the communist country following the 2000 Sydney Olympics. 20 of his 27 wins have come by finish including his record-setting six-second knockout of Jay Silva that earned him the fastest KO in Bellator history. The ATT-trained fighter has not lost since 2006 when he dropped a unanimous decision to Gegard Mousasi at PRIDE Bushido 13 and has never lost a fight in Australia. The closest he came was a draw to Kyle Noke in the inaugural CFC show in 2007. Soon after the fight with Noke, Lombard, who was then a welterweight, was signed by the UFC and was slated to take on Karo Parisyan at UFC 78. Visa issues forced Lombard off the card and prompted the UFC to tear up his contract.

(Anyone else want to negotiate?)

It’s looking like current Bellator middleweight champion and world renowned can-crusher Hector Lombard may finally get his chance to make waves in the UFC. Yes, it seems the man who has vowed to “take Anderson Silva’s head off” was recently offered a contract with the UFC in light of his dispute-ridden contract with Bellator expiring earlier this month. The Cuban-born knockout artist has been out of action since steamrolling Trevor Prangley in the second round of their catchweight non-title affair back in November of 2011, and has still yet to grant season five middleweight tournament winner Alexander Shlemenko his much deserved rematch. We can likely call that one a wash at this point.

And although that sucks for Shlemenko, we’ve got to admit that we’d much rather see “Lightning” in the UFC. If you recall, Lombard was supposed to make his promotional debut way back at UFC 78 in November of 2007 against Karo Parisyan, but Visa issues forced him to withdraw after he was denied entry into the country. He was eventually replaced by Ryo Chonan, who couldn’t handle “The Heat” and was defeated by unanimous decision.

Five years and countless corpses of MMA journeyman later, we may finally see Lombard live up to his potential.

But before we start setting ourselves up for disappointment, we (and the UFC) are awaiting a move from the Bellator brass, who still have an opportunity to match the UFC’s offer. Bellator CEO told Sherdog that a “strategic decision” would determine Lombard’s future with the company, but that they wouldn’t even begin deliberation until after this weekend’s Bellator 66 event:

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. We’ve got the 60 pages of UFC contract that were forwarded to us by Hector’s counsel.

Out of respect for Hector, I think we will turn [the UFC contract] around very quickly. Obviously, we have a huge event coming up Friday. 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.

Check out more from the interview after the jump.

(Hector Lombard produces the fastest K.O. in Bellator history. What, you thought Jay Silva was going to shock the world? Props: YouTube.com/BellatorMMA.)

By DL “Potential Sociopath” Richardson

Say you live in Louisiana. Not the cool part where people party their asses off every day. I’m talking about inland, where you still get the humidity, but no one dresses up before Ash Wednesday, and you can never find a place to sell you a to-go alcoholic beverage. Say you live in Monroe. What do you do for fun? Well, you could go hang out at the Pecanland Mall and hit on that cute girl at Yummy Japan, but if you have any damn sense, you catch the Bellator Fighting Championships whenever they come into town. Last night, Bellator visited the Monroe Civic Center for the semifinal round of this season’s featherweight tournament, and as usual, they put on a show. Full results and recap after the jump…

UFC President Dana White says that Bellator import, Hector Lombard, might just get a middleweight title shot if he beats Brian Stann in his UFC debut. “When you talk about cleaning out a division, there’s always another guy who comes up, even for a guy like Anderson…We just brought in Lombard. (If) Lombard beats Stann. … that (title) fight makes sense,” Sergio Non reports White as saying, for USA Today.

And, oh yeah, Stann vs. Lombard will headline UFC on Fox 4, according to MMA Fighting ace Mike Chiappetta. When a fan asked Chiappetta, via twitter, if the fight was set to be the main event for Fox’ fourth UFC installment, he replied in the affirmative.

(Say something about Castro again. Hector wishes you would.)

Regulatory difficulties in Quebec forced Bellator to get all old-school UFC and move Bellator IX to the glitz and glamour of Monroe, Louisiana, but they did what any good promotion would do: grabbed some crawfish and rolled with the punches.  Last night’s event narrowed down their finalists for the upcoming middleweight tournament, and they had a bunch of other fights just for fun.  Here’s how it went down:

Middleweight semi-final tournament fights:
Jared Hess def. Yosmany Cabezas via TKO at 4:26, round 3
Hector Lombard def. Damien Stelly via TKO (strikes) at 2:56, round 1

Non-tournament fights:
Nick Ring def. Isidro "Chilo" Gonzalez via submission (guillotine) at 0:39, round 1
Shad Lierley def. Nate Murdock via unanimous decision
Alex Andrade def. Christian Fulgram via TKO at 2:01, round 1
Shawn Jordan def. Jayme McKinney via submission at 0:30, round 2
Chan Leonhardt def. Dan Keenan via KO at 3:03, round 1
Chas Skelly def. Mike Braswell via split decision, round 3

(This. / Photo via Sherdog)

Yesterday, Jared wrote up a detailed assessment of the UFC’s middleweight contenders in an attempt to bring some clarity to the pecking order at 185, because sometimes we want to be part of the solution instead of the problem. Anderson Silva‘s management is doing the opposite of that — shooting down logical suggestions and casually calling out a guy who can’t even fight Silva, contractually speaking. It’s a bit of a dick move, to be honest. Here’s the current situation, as reported on Fuel TV’s UFC Tonight (via MMAMania):

“One of Anderson Silva’s managers said that one of the issues with Hector Lombard is he thinks he needs at least three more impressive wins* in the UFC. He said that 85 percent** of UFC fans don’t even know who Hector Lombard is, who is of course making his Octagon debut on Saturday night…As for Chris Weidman, he said, ‘Well, there’s another great unknown fighter.’*** He doesn’t see those match ups as being money making pay-per-view events…He did mention Luke Rockhold, who is the Strikeforce middleweight champion. Alas, Rockhold is contractually tied to Strikeforce, so that fight’s not happening.**** We’ll have to wait and see, but right now, the Anderson Silva camp [is] not too excited about the options out there.”*****

(At times like these, you just have to keep telling yourself, “At least I’m not Ray Elbe…at least I’m not Ray Elbe…” / Image via MiddleEasy)

Can we all just pretend that Hector Lombard‘s UFC debut against Tim Boetsch didn’t happen? The heavy-handed killer we saw run down Rousimar Palhares like a frightened deer at the TUF Smashes Finale was the guy we’ve been waiting for and expecting since he jumped over to the UFC from Bellator. But there was a reason why Lombard’s dance partner looked tentative during the match — Palhares suffered ligament damage and broken bones in his foot after throwing a kick in the opening moments. Toquinho explains:

“During the fight, my kick was working well. But soon in the first round, one of my kicks hit Lombard’s shin below his knee. I heard a snap, and I knew something bad happened. From that moment on, I [started] feeling my foot more and more numb and without strength to walk around the Octagon.”

An injury early into a match can take a fighter’s mind completely out of the competition — just ask Travis Browne. As Palhares struggled to process his body’s new limitations, he turned into a sitting duck for Lombard’s power punches, and now the Cuban is officially a factor in the middleweight division. Meanwhile, Palhares has now lost his last two UFC bouts by first-round stoppage, including his TKO defeat against Alan Belcher in May. Get well soon, Stump.

Some highlights from Thursday’s Bellator season finale at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, courtesy of John Sluder.

Part 1, below: Hector Lombard def. Alexander Shlemenko via unanimous decision.
Continue to Bellator 34 photo gallery pt. 2 (Frausto vs. Fujii)
Continue to Bellator 34 photo gallery pt. 3 (The best of the rest)

(Courtesy of YouTube.com/BellatorMMA)

Though Hector Lombard drew most of the attention at Friday’s Bellator show, the night’s best stoppage belonged to Chad Leonhardt — great name for a fighter, by the way — who scored a YouTube-worthy first-round KO over Daniel Keenan. Watch as Leonhardt crushes Keenan with an overhand right, then puts him to sleep with a mouthpiece-ejecting knee to the face. Thanks, Chad. Bellator’s upcoming schedule is after the jump…

(Props: fueltv)

“Some fighters rise to the occasion, and some fighters are dwarfed by the moment.”

That’s how longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan puts it in this recent video from FUEL TV, which examines the overwhelming nature of competing in the UFC for the first time, and how those “Octagon jitters” may have negatively affected such hyped-up talents as Daniel Cormier, Hector Lombard, Cung Le, Carlos Condit, and Anthony Pettis. Even if the fight goes well for you, the emotions can be almost too much too bear (see especially: Cat Zingano). It’s an interesting look at the mental challenges that new UFC fighters face, which tend to multiply the more-obvious physical ones. So check it out.

In the latest installment of MMA: Inside the Cage, Casey and Cyrus discuss Hector Lombard’s UFC signing, the new beef between MFC and Bellator, and the ongoing Nick Diaz vs. NSAC saga, before presenting the week’s best batch of knockouts and an exclusive interview with the ever-charming Bas Rutten. Part 2 of the show is after the jump, which features an analysis of Invicta’s debut show plus the must-see slugfest between Kaitlin Young and Leslie Smith.

Check it out and support our good friends at MMA:ITC, who have managed to put together a consistently entertaining half-hour MMA show that isn’t based on a bunch of jerkoffs yelling at each other. If you dig it, follow ‘em on Facebook and Twitter.

(Jared Hamman attempts to pull a fast one on us all at UFC 150. AS IF we couldn’t tell that his leg was clearly photoshopped.) 

Perhaps two-time Bellator middleweight tournament winner Alexander Shlemenko is just a little bitter that rival Hector Lombard vacated his former promotion (and a long-awaited rematch with Shlemenko) to compete in the UFC, or maybe “Storm” is just as tired of seeing all of the UFC cards he is ordering turn to shit as the rest of us. Whatever his end game may be, Shlemenko recently stated in an interview with ValeTudo.ru that he believed many of the injuries that have been plaguing the UFC as of late were more than likely faked by the fighters in order to get out of a fight that was not a good matchup for them. His primary example was Brian Stann:

I can tell you for sure, 100%, I know why there are so many injuries. I personally find UFC fights not as exciting because of all those injuries. There are a lot of background tactics around who’s fighting who; fighters are trying really hard to have a good record in the UFC. If you’ve been offered to fight someone who’s considered a bad match-up, then it’s pretty easy to say ‘hey, I’m injured’.

For example, they offered Brian Stann to fight Hector Lombard. He got injured, and then the next thing you know – he’s fighting Michael Bisping. I can see the logic – for Brian Stann it makes more sense to fight Bisping, he’s simply more popular in the UFC than Hector Lombard. That’s why beating Bisping means more than beating Lombard, who’s a risky opponent.

You can fake every injury. Just tell [UFC doctors] about the symptoms and that’s it.

God Damn it, Alex. Your love of centrifugal forces and general badassery made you one of our favorite fighters, but NO ONE accuses “All American” of ducking a fight. And considering the bullshit-laden excuse your boy Lombard gave us three weeks after putting on one of the worst performances of the year, we’d say it’s a little presumptuous to start calling out other organizations fighters for sparing us a fifteen minute wet fart in advance.

After the jump: Stann’s response, as well as a video of Shlemenko’s most recent fight, which ends with an injury that is physically impossible to fake.

(Video courtesy HDNet)