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UFC 149: Is Hector Lombard Overrated or an Underperformer?

What happened? UFC 149 in Calgary was supposed to be Hector Lombard’s coming-out party; it was supposed to be an announcement of his intention to take Anderson Silva’s middleweight crown. Instead, his performance against Tim Boetsch was an …

How best to explain the bizarrely apathetic approach of the Cuban? Much has been made of so-called “Octagon jitters,” the strange disease that so often ails Japan-based fighters. But Hector Lombard is a vastly experienced competitor, having competed on the lofty Olympic stage.

It seems strange that so well-travelled a fighter would freeze up. Then again, perhaps the performance of Tim Boetsch isn’t getting the credit it deserves.

In my preview of the fight earlier this week, I suggested that “The Barbarian” may have to bank on a little technique in order to get the job done. I certainly didn’t expect the stocky wrestler to get on the balls of his feet and counter the flat-footed Lombard for the entirety of the fight, but that is largely what happened.

That’s not to say that Boetsch looked like Juan Manuel Marquez out there, but he effectively shut down the plodding former Bellator champ, without ever really landing anything big.

It was suggested by Joe Rogan that Lombard may have experienced an “adrenaline dump,” in much the same way Jason “Mayhem” Miller did against Michael Bisping. There may be something to that hypothesis, given the hype surrounding the former Olympic judoka this week.

One could argue that Lombard exerted too much energy during the pre-fight pageantry. He looked listless and short of ideas, slowly shuffling forward with all the energy of a heavyweight in the final moments of a 25-minute slugfest.

I feel all of the above may be clutching at straws, however. A much simpler explanation is that Hector Lombard is not nearly as good as we thought. Sure, he looked spectacular in Bellator, but is it a coincidence that he failed to deliver as soon as he faced stiffer opposition?

One wonders whether Dana White and Joe Silva already regret their expensive acquisition of the former Bellator middleweight king, not to mention their decision to decorate him in all sorts of UFC apparel. They certainly won’t be rushing to give him Anderson Silva. Heck, he may not even get Mark Munoz after last night’s display.

But look on the bright side, Hector. At least your fight was better than Shawn Jordan vs. Cheick Kongo. Well, marginally better.

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Hector Lombard: Why the Media Should Not Tolerate the Intolerant

“Do you think Hector Lombard deserves a shot at Anderson Silva?” This week, during his regular pre-fight interviews, Ariel Helwani had taken to asking various fighters for their thoughts on the legitimacy of Hector Lombard’s claim to …

“Do you think Hector Lombard deserves a shot at Anderson Silva?”

This week, during his regular pre-fight interviews, Ariel Helwani had taken to asking various fighters for their thoughts on the legitimacy of Hector Lombard’s claim to a title shot. It seemed like a reasonable enough question, yet it appears to have the former Olympic judoka all bent out of shape.

In an interview with Alex Donno earlier this week, Hector Lombard ranted for several minutes about the impropriety of such a benign question, all the while sounding like Benicio Del Toro in The Usual Suspects.

It was a bizarre diatribe, in some ways reminiscent of Nick Diaz’s critique of Ariel Helwani—in its content, if not in its style. He slammed the MMAFighting.com personality repeatedly, echoing Diaz’s view that Helwani is in the business of stirring up trouble where none exists.

And it isn’t the first time the Cuban has reacted angrily to a reporter’s questions.

At the Bellator 44 post-fight press conference, a media member dared to suggest that Lombard’s performance against Falaniko Vitale was a tad dull. To say that this remark went down like a lead balloon is to denigrate the airiness of lead balloons. Indeed, Lombard was so enraged that he looked on the verge of tears.

It seems as though Lombard is creating his very own media minefield, making sure that we tread exceedingly carefully whenever his name is mentioned. It’s all very childish and, frankly, he should be called out on it more often.

The media cannot be expected to tiptoe around the feelings of a fighter who is, apparently, more sensitive than Joe Pesci in a Martin Scorsese movie.

I daresay there is no better representative of the MMA media than Ariel Helwani. He is ultra-professional, and capable of asking tough questions without alienating the fighters—most of the time, at least. If he can’t avoid riling the former Olympian, what chance do the less tactful among us have?

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Sherman "The Tank" Pendergarst Passes Away at Age 45

Veteran mixed martial artist Sherman “The Tank” Pendergarst lost his battle with cancer today, according to Pat Miletich. Although never a household name in the sport, Pendergarst competed against a number of UFC veterans throughout his car…

Veteran mixed martial artist Sherman “The Tank” Pendergarst lost his battle with cancer today, according to Pat Miletich.

Although never a household name in the sport, Pendergarst competed against a number of UFC veterans throughout his career, including the likes of Shane Carwin, Joey Beltran, and Houston Alexander.

The Iowa resident made a single appearance for the sport’s top organisation, losing to Antoni Hardonk at UFC 65.

A student of the Miletich Fighting Systems, “The Tank” began his career late, making his debut against Chris Dippolito at the age of 38, and went on to compile a career record of 11-18 (1).

Pendergarst fought as recently as February of this year, against Bruce Nelson, in a bout that was ruled a no-contest.

Sherman Pendergarst was 45 years old at the time of his passing.

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UFC 149: Hector Lombard vs. Tim Boetsch Tactical Breakdown

In the furor surrounding the cursed UFC 149 card, the Octagon debut of Hector Lombard, the would-be challenger to Anderson Silva’s 185-pound title, has been largely overlooked. The Cuban’s bout with “The Barbarian” Tim Boetsch may not transcend the sport, but there is no doubting its title implications. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Saturday night’s Co-Main Event.

Let’s be clear from the outset. This is not a “gimme” for the Tyson-esque former Bellator middleweight king. Tim Boetsch has been on a tear recently, and will enjoy a significant size advantage over Lombard.

Sure, “The Barbarian” was beaten from pillar to post in his last fight, against the interminably underrated Yushin Okami, but his mental toughness and hammer-like right hand carried him to perhaps the biggest win of his career—much to Joe Rogan’s excitement.

How should Hector Lombard approach a fight against an opponent who will doubtless dwarf him in the cage? Why, with his usual brand of unbridled aggression, of course. It is the only way he knows how to fight, and it just so happens to be the most effective approach against Boetsch.

Lombard should start the fight as though he has dinner reservations. Given his occasional stamina issues, the cartoonishly muscular Cuban should seek to end Boetsch’s night early. And when one considers the power Lombard carries in his fists, a quick finish is not beyond the realm of the possible.

As always, it is easy to sit here and speculate as to how a fighter should approach his job, but the reality is that Lombard will need to get inside on “The Barbarian,” running the risk of getting clipped on the way in.

I would prescribe kicks in order to close the distance, but Lombard is perhaps more likely to throw a head-butt before he resorts to a nuanced kicking game. He will have to be lucky or hope his chin holds up while he wades in with haymakers.

There is also the slim possibility that the former Olympic judoka will take advantage of his world class clinch game, relying on throws and trips to put Boetsch on his back. Strangely, this does not appear to be Lombard’s modus operandi, so this is only marginally more likely than the aforementioned kicking scenario.

On the other side of the cage, Boetsch needs to get off to a faster start than is the norm. One gets the feeling that Lombard will be less charitable than Okami.

He cannot expect to take a pounding for a couple of rounds on Saturday and still remain conscious, unless he plans on making a comeback from the afterlife this time—Joe Rogan may explode if that occurs. Boetsch must not to get caught cold.

Boetsch’s game has never been subtle, but he might have to bank on a little technique this weekend. Now, I am not suggesting the tank-like Maine Wrestling Hall of Famer turn into Floyd Mayweather, but it wouldn’t hurt to put a little distance between himself and the walking muscle.

If the fight does turn into a Greco match against the cage, that might very well favour “The Barbarian,” despite being the less credentialed clinch-technician. He can use his size and strength to wear on Lombard, which could pay dividends towards the end of the fight.

Although this is a tough test for the former Bellator champ, he will likely find success at some point in the fight. And with his power, the smart money should go on a first- or second-round TKO for Lombard.

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Nate Marquardt: TRT or Not TRT That Is the Question

Apparently Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) is not the wonder-PED we all believed it to be. At least, that seems to be the story we are being fed in certain corners of the MMA universe, in the aftermath of Nate Marquardt’s vintage performan…

Over at MMAFighting.com, Mike Chiappetta has suggested that TRT may not be all it’s cracked up to be:

“On Saturday night, Nate Marquardt fought off of TRT. He looked powerful, explosive and seemed to carry his cardio deep into his fourth-round knockout of Tyron Woodley. And Marquardt wasn’t the only person over the last week to do so. At UFC 148, Shane Roller put TRT in his rearview mirror and still beat John Alessio.”

At the risk of appearing combative, the above reasoning is almost comically incoherent. Sure, TRT may not be equivalent to a radioactive spider bite, or exposure to gamma rays, but one needn’t transform into Spiderman or The Hulk in order to gain a competitive edge.

Mike Chiappetta is setting up a false dichotomy, as though the efficacy of TRT can only be assessed by recourse to two extremes: human or superhuman. That is not how PEDs work, nor should anyone judge the impact of PED use based on a sample of one—or two if we include Shane Roller.

Ben Fowlkes, speaking on the Co-Main Event podcast, was similarly unimpressed with the argument against the efficacy of TRT:

“Just because you are doing something that is performance-enhancing and you don’t absolutely demolish the dude, that doesn’t mean that we should just let everyone do it.”

Fowlkes goes on to discuss Debbie Dunn, the US sprinter who was recently popped for high levels of testosterone. Dunn qualified for the US Olympic team by finishing fourth in the 400m at the Olympic trials.

However, does her failure to break the world record, or even place in a medal position, render her steady diet of testosterone irrelevant? Absolutely not. We do not judge the legitimacy of a performance based on whether or not the athlete in question acquires super powers.

On the flip side of this issue, when a fighter comes off of testosterone, cold turkey, and subsequently looks better than ever, it is worth asking whether they ever really needed it in the first place.

This is particularly true in the case of TRT, given that one is expected to be on it indefinitely once the therapy begins.

One gets the feeling that some journalists want to simply move past the issue of TRT, making the case that it is perhaps not as performance-enhancing as we once thought. For the sake of the sport’s legitimacy, we cannot allow it become acceptable just because it is so pervasive.

Every time a fighter admits to being on TRT, it should be like hearing nails on a chalkboard. Its ubiquity does not justify our indifference.

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Forrest Griffin and TRT: Why It Is Not OK for Media to Embrace the Trend

A lot has been written about Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) in the past year, and this particular soap opera does not appear likely to run out of steam any time soon. If one were to go to Las Vegas and throw a rock in any direction, there&rsquo…

A lot has been written about Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) in the past year, and this particular soap opera does not appear likely to run out of steam any time soon.

If one were to go to Las Vegas and throw a rock in any direction, there’s roughly a 50 percent chance that it would hit a fighter who is on TRT. OK, so that’s only a rough approximation. It’s probably more like 48 percent, or at least that’s the impression the fans are starting to get.

The media coverage of the issue could be characterised as the production of a moral panic. But as each new Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for TRT comes to light, one realises that the number of column inches dedicated to the subject is not at all disproportionate.

The recent revelation that Forrest Griffin is now artificially boosting his testosterone levels has only added to the hysteria. This is a man who, at least from this writer’s perspective, does not take the sport of MMA as seriously as he once did. Despite his relative indifference, he has potentially tarnished his near spotless reputation by adding his name to the list of much-maligned fighters who have added testosterone to their diet.

A recent article on B/R defended Griffin’s decision to hop on the TRT bandwagon, arguing that fighters should be looking to extend their careers through any legal means available to them. That in and of itself is a respectable perspective, but the content of the argument rather missed the point.

The author makes the claim that, “If monitored properly… TRT can be used fairly.”

That is not strictly true. The issue with TRT has never been about the fighters’ levels on fight night—although the comically lax allowance of a 6:1 testosterone to epitestosterone ratio is worth addressing. The controversy has always surrounded the potential for fighters to boost their levels to Hulk-like proportions during training camps.

“But they aren’t competing against anyone when they train!” I hear many of you mewl.

Again, that is not the point. The problem is that boosting one’s testosterone levels allows one to train harder, for longer, and recover faster. In a nutshell, one fighter may be training like a regular human being, while the other is training like Superman.

If you are still having trouble grasping the issue, visualise the training montage from Rocky IV. Now think of Rocky as being like the Randy Coutures of the MMA world, and think of Ivan Drago as being like the Alistair Overeems of the business. That is what we are dealing with, and by any definition it constitutes an unfair competitive advantage.

Some may say that these fighters in their mid-30s are simply trying to restore parity, since younger athletes will have naturally higher testosterone levels. Here is my answer to that particularly naive objection. Once we develop a substance that, upon being injected, gives an athlete 10-15 years of MMA experience, then we can talk about fighters in the twilight of their career artificially turning back their biological clock.

That is not how competitive sport works. You do not get to step into a figurative time-machine and continue on indefinitely. More importantly, you do not get to choose a select few individuals who get access to that time-machine, while excluding others. It creates an uneven playing field, and that only hurts the sport in the long run.

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