“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:
I want to let all my fans know. I fought mu last fight injured. i wasnt 100% sure but i when to the doctors… I have a fracture sternum with a torn cartilage, i got this injure in training for my fight with Tim Boetsch. I have to be out of training for 6weeks i should never have fought like that, but i didnt want to let my fans and the UFC down, love you all.
So let me get this straight: You may have had this nasty injury coming into your fight at UFC 149 that restricted your movement to the point where you basically stood straight up and held your head perfectly still throughout the fight, but you somehow weren’t sure. And yet you waited until three weeks after the fight to go to the doctor to find out what, if anything, was wrong with you?
From one Cuban to another.
Now seems like the perfect opportunity to bring back CagePotato’s 12-Word Checklist for Knowing if You Should Fight Through Injury. So easy an MMA fighter could use it! Here it is: Hurt sternum? Don’t Fight. You do fight? Don’t talk about your sternum.
Given how appalling his performance was, do you buy his explanation, or is this another example of a fighter making an excuse for a loss after the fact?