Hector Lombard is the current middleweight champion in Bellator Fighting Championships. He is also the CFC middleweight champ and a former Olympic judoka.
Did I mention he’s undefeated in his past 25 fights? Because he is. In those 25 fights, he is 24-0-1, with 19 finishes.
Lombard is a black belt in Judo and a black belt in BJJ. Some have him ranked as high as No. 3 middleweight in the world, and others don’t even have him in the top 10.
If Lombard were to come to the UFC, how would he do?
Right off the bat, I believe that Lombard would be able to—and should—compete at welterweight.
Lombard is only 5’9″ and he competed in the less than 73kg class in the Olympics, which—if I did the math correctly—is around 160 pounds. At welterweight, Lombard could be a serious threat to anyone, including GSP.
I’ve already mentioned that he is a black belt in Judo and jiu-jitsu, but he also has some insane power in his hands. He has 17 wins by (T)KO and two submissions to punches.
The biggest knock on Lombard is the fact that he has never truly faced any top competition. His most notable victories have been over guys like Trevor Prangley, Alexander Shlemenko and Brian Ebersole.
Lombard needs a chance to prove himself in the Octagon, and with all the credentials that he has, there’s the very real possibility that Lombard could be the UFC welterweight champion.
Even if Lombard would not drop to welterweight, he’s a serious threat to anyone in the division. He’d have the striking to hang with Anderson Silva—maybe—and may have the judo and jiu jitsu base to handle a guy like Chael Sonnen or Yushin Okami.
No matter where Lombard fights, he’s a threat to end a fight wherever it goes.
Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on twitter @TimMcTiernan.
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