(The Bellator catchweight champ will be looking to extend his unbeaten streak to 25 fights with a win over Prangley.)

Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that its current middleweight champion, Hector Lombard (32-1-1, 1 NC) will square off with UFC and Strikeforce vet Trevor Prangley (23-8-1) in a non-title catchweight affair at Bellator 58 on November 19 at the  Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fl.

I guess talks with Babalu went South for the time being.

The bout, which will be contested at 195 lbs for unknown reasons will be the second non-title bout in a row for Lombard, who won the Bellator strap in June 2009 and has only defended it once since, when he defeated Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 34 last October.

(“Publicity stunt, you say? What’s that?”)

Apparently Renato “Babalu” Sobral is a free agent. Otherwise, Bellator wouldn’t be talking to the former UFC light heavyweight contender about possibly facing its middleweight champ, Hector Lombard.

According to Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, his promotion has been involved in talks with Sobral’s camp to sign the 36-9  submission specialist for a non-title bout with Lombard (30-2-1, 1 NC) at Bellator 58 on November 19, but nothing is set in stone. Strangely, the promoter still announced that the bout was in the works, which could simply be a tactic to pressure Babalu, who has only fought twice in the past two years, into signing on the dotted line.

“I’ve been a big ‘Babalu’ fan for a lot of years,” Rebney told MMAJunkie. “They weren’t really on our radar, but then they reached out to us and opened the door and asked for a few things. We agreed to all of them. … But now we’re siting back and waiting. We haven’t heard anything back from them in three or four days.”

We know Hector, Anderson’s voice is nothing short of heavenly.

For all the crap the UFC has gotten for their purchase of Strikeforce back in March, this week’s events have surely helped prove that a small, upstart promotion, though unable to compete with the UFC, can still put on a successful show. On Saturday, the second installment of the Australian Fighting Championships went down. Despite the fact that that the card was full of relatively unknown fighters, it managed to be incredibly entertaining none the less.

The main event featured a couple of familiar faces in Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard and TUF 7 finalist Jesse Taylor. Though the fight did not end via Lombard’s typically brutal KO, it saw the Cuban-born Aussie fend off most of “JT Money’s” takedowns in the first round and answer with a brutal onslaught of elbows. The end came shortly into the second round. On a reversal of a Taylor single leg, Lombard secured a heel hook, forcing the TUF alum to tap and halting his five fight win streak. When asked the inevitable question regarding Anderson Silva in his post fight interview, Lombard was rather frank about how the fight would go down. “I wouldn’t be frightened of him,” he stated, “I would go in there to take the head off.” Reports have yet to confirm whether or not Lombard has been spending time at the Frank Mir School of Trash Talk.

But Lombard’s finish was not even the most impressive heel hook of the night, which went to Polish up and comer Marcin Held. Held managed to pull off a spinning inside heel hook on Hawaiian Kaleo Kwan within the opening minute of the fight. Also on the card, former UFC and Pride heavyweight Soa Palelei scored a quick knockout of Son Hai Suk just 28 seconds into the bout. Palelei is perhaps best known for his epic brawl with Eddie Sanches back at UFC 79, which he has gone 4-1 since.

Full results–and a video from the fight–are after the jump.

(All in favor of seeing Anderson attempt to improve his moneyweight record, say ‘I.’”)

Since Anderson Silva has effectively cleared out the UFC’s middleweight division and will likely eventually start a string of rematches against the likes of Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson, we figured why not come up with a list of fights he could take in the interim that stoke the fires of fans.

Check them out, in no particular order after the jump.

Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson went down 3 years ago.

Why it matters:

• Bobby Southworth retained his Strikeforce light heavyweight strap by defeating Anthony Ruiz via unanimous decision. Ruiz beat B-South in their previous bout the previous november, but it wasn’t a title fight. Neither was Southworth’s fight that September against Bill Mahood at the Playboy mansion. It didn’t matter though since he won that fight by verbal submission when Mahood (who later tested positive for steroids) injured his ribs. Southworth, who held the strap longer than any other fighter would lose the belt in his next fight with Renato Sobral. Since then, it has changed hands four times.

• Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez (who won the title by defeating then-champion Clay Guida) lost his title to Strikeforce U.S. lightweight champion Josh Thompson in his second title defense via unanimous decision. After defending the newly-unified title once, Thomson would lose the belt in the rematch the following April. Melendez hasn’t lost since.

• Strikeforce women’s welterweight tournament winner Miesha Tate made her promotional debut.

(Legal Disclaimer: Actual Bud Light contest winners will not be nearly as attractive as the people featured in this commercial. Props: officialbudlight)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza to Defend Strikeforce Title Against Luke Rockhold (5thRound)

- UFC 131 Tickets ‘Cannibalized’ by Vancouver Canucks NHL Finals Run and More (MMA Mania)

- Shane Carwin on Dos Santos: I’m Going to Knock Him Out or Tap Him Out and Feel No Remorse For It (LowKick)

- UFC 131 ‘Dos Santos vs. Carwin’ Pre-Fight Interview: Kenny Florian (MMA Convert)

- The 13 Strangest Fighting Styles to Ever Grace UFC’s Octagon (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Five Lessons: ‘TUF 13′ (NBC Sports MMA)

- Downes, Cope, and Kingsbury Top TUF 13 Finale Medical Suspensions (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Fight Journal: ‘Mayhem’ Miller Edition (MMA Fighting)

- Now You Can Watch Hector Lombard Give Joe Doerksen a Harry Potter Scar (MiddleEasy)

- “Combate Extremo” CEO Michael Shoffner talks about MMA in Mexico (TheFightNerd)

(The UFC Fighter Summit has a storybook ending. Congrats, Janitor.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- BJ Penn and Jake Shields Want to Fight Each Other (LowKick)

- Shane Carwin’s Cardio Under Microscope at UFC 131 (NBC Sports MMA)

- Rashad Evans Explains His Nightclub Altercation With Jon Jones; Insists ‘Bones’ Ducked Him (MMA Mania)

- Mac Danzig Out of Next Month’s Anticipated Clash With Donald Cerrone, Vagner Rocha to Replace (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Matt Mitrione: If Ortiz Is Still Upset After Confrontation, ‘Then We Can Scrap’ (MMA Fighting)

- Your Favorite Hooters Girl to Serve Ring Cards at ‘UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber II’ (5thRound)

- This Will Be the Strangest Seven-Second Knockout You Will See This Year (MiddleEasy)

- Mark Coleman ‘Would Drop Everything’ To Fight Herschel Walker (MMA Convert)

- Video: Hector Lombard Gets Pissed at Reporter After Bellator 44 (TheFightNerd)

- Going Medieval: MMA’s 20 Worst Beatdowns (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

(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.

(Props: sxboxer)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- Chael Sonnen’s Court Sentencing Postponed, Further Delaying UFC Return (MMA Fighting)

- UFC Fight Night 24 Results: 10 Best Moments From Nogueira vs. Davis Fight Card (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Brock Lesnar on ‘SportsCenter’: Look Out Junior, Here I Come (5thRound)

- Watch Every Fedor Emelianenko Action Scene From ‘The Salamander Key’ (MiddleEasy)

- Michael Bisping Labels Nate Marquardt as a “Steroid Cheat” and “Absolute Hypocrite” (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Submissions in the UFC: A Fond Look Back (MMA Convert)

- Mirko Cro Cop: A Career Retrospective (LowKick)

- Roufusport Voted America’s Top MMA Gym (Versus MMA Beat)

- Hector Lombard Scalps Joe Doerksen To Retain Title Belt at CFC 16 (Fight Magazine)

- Junior Dos Santos has Rock Climbing Skills (MMA-Scraps)

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.