Hector Lombard‘s proclivity for controlled violence began at a young age.
Lombard said he began fighting as a way to release pent-up anger while growing up in Matanzas, Cuba. His eventual move into judo was a natural progression, and he was quite good at it, to say the least. But Lombard relishes the striking game. There is a visible glee in his eye when he discusses punching other men in the face, and you can see it when he fights.
Lombard, a very nice man outside of the cage, is utterly terrifying inside it. He is a terror who will readily admit that, when the bell rings to start a fight, he is looking to hurt his opponent and to hurt him quickly. A cursory glance at his career record confirms his headhunting ways; of 34 career wins, 21 have come in the first round.
He was initially supposed to fight for the UFC in 2005, but a visa issue prevented the deal from being finalized. The same thing happened in 2007, when Lombard was scheduled to compete at UFC 78. He then signed with EliteXC, but the promotion went out of business before he could compete.
He finally found a stable home when he signed with Bellator in 2009. Lombard entered the first Bellator tournament for the vacant middleweight championship, then stormed through the tournament to win the belt. He remained undefeated in Bellator until his contract expired two years ago, and then he finally signed with the UFC in April 2012.
His much-hyped UFC debut did not go as planned. Lombard dropped a split decision to Tim Boetsch at UFC 149. He rebounded six months later with a first-round knockout of Rousimar Palhares, but then lost to Yushin Okami. At this point, Lombard realized that he was undersized for the middleweight division. He’d been able to dominate in Bellator’s middleweight class, but the 185-pound fighters in the UFC were generally much larger. He elected to drop to welterweight.
Lombard destroyed Nate Marquardt in his welterweight debut at UFC 136, then followed it up by sending Jake Shields packing from the UFC with a decision win at UFC 171.
Ten months later, he faces the returning Josh Burkman at Saturday’s UFC 182. He is an overwhelming favorite, with many sportsbooks listing him as an 8-to-1 favorite. It is Burkman’s first bout in the UFC since 2008, when a loss to Pete Sell—Burkman’s third loss in a row—became the impetus for his release from the UFC. He fought for regional promotions before signing with World Series of Fighting in 2012. After racking up a 4-1 record in WSOF, Burkman was called back to the UFC.
It is not unreasonable to fear for Burkman’s safety. He is a significant underdog for a reason. If Lombard is firing on all cylinders, it is difficult to imagine Burkman having much of a chance. Anything can happen in a fight with mixed martial arts gloves, but Lombard is better than Burkman in just about every facet of the game. He is much faster and has better striking. And, as we have seen throughout Lombard’s career, he relishes opportunities to finish his opponents in violent fashion.
In fact, Lombard is already looking past Burkman, or at least seems like he is. He told MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani on Thursday that he’d like to step in for the injured Tarec Saffiedine and face Matt Brown in February. When informed of Lombard’s request in a closed media session after Thursday’s Ultimate Media Day, Dana White said he liked the idea.
A win over Burkman won’t do much to improve Lombard’s standing. It is a placeholder fight and a chance to add another highlight-reel knockout to his resume. But a win over Brown, a fighter who has experienced a late-career resurgence over the past two years, would move Lombard closer to his ultimate goal of winning a UFC title.
On Saturday night, casual fans who rarely watch mixed martial arts will tune in to see Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier settle their differences. When the pay-per-view opens, they’ll see Lombard facing Burkman. There is a reason the fight was selected as the first bout on the broadcast: because it is quite likely Lombard will do something spectacular and memorable and painful to Burkman.
Lombard said on Thursday that he has some tricks up his sleeve that he hasn’t shown the world. He has prodigious judo that allows him to control where the fight takes place, and that is directly on the feet, where Lombard can continue feeling the same thrill he felt the first time he punched another kid in the face in Cuba.
He can grapple with some of the best in the world. But why grapple when you can have so much more fun separating people from their senses and consciousness?
And that’s what ultimately makes Lombard so terrifying. For some, fighting is a job, or an art, or something they do because they’re good at it. Lombard fights because he likes to hurt people inside the cage. If you meet him on the street, he’ll smile and shake your hand. But if you’re standing across the Octagon from him, as Josh Burkman will do on Saturday night, well, that’s a different story.
It is a revelation Josh Burkman will learn the hard way. Lombard is one of the scariest fighters in the UFC, and you’ll see why on Saturday night.
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