(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.
Lombard has not lost since dropping a unanimous decision to Gegard Mousasi at Pride Bushido 13 in 2006. The 33-year-old Cuban has put together an impressive 24-fight streak since then with wins over UFC veterans Jay Silva, Joe Doerksen, Kalib Starnes, Brian Ebersole and Jesse Taylor, whom he beat in his last outing in September under the Australian Fighting Championship banner that saw him win the promotion’s inaugural middleweight title. During that span he also won and defended the Cage Fighting Championship 185-pound title seven times.
He promises to put on a show for the fans in Florida.
“I just want November to get here and knock someone out,” Lombard said. “I doesn’t matter who it is, I just want to do what I do and that’s win. I don’t know much about Trevor, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll be in front of my fans in Florida, and it’s going to be a show.”
Prangley is no slouch himself. The 39-year-old South African holds wins over veterans Chael Sonnen, Matt Horwich and Keith Jardine, Andrei Semenov and Travis Lutter. 1-3 in his last four outings including Strikeforce losses to Tim Kennedy and Roger Gracie and a loss to Tatsuya Mizuno at the DREAM Japan Grand Prix Final in his last fight in July, Prangley, whose penchant for striking should match up well with Lombard’s similar style is no pushover. He says that he expects to stand in the pocket and trade with his young and dangerous opponent and that he’s confident he can best “Shango.”
“Both of us are going to get in that cage and throw bombs, no questions asked,” Prangley said. “It’s no secret both of us like to stand and bang, and that’s exactly what everyone is going to get. I know Hector is really tough on his feet, but so am I, so he’s going to have to play my game when the cage door shuts.”