Issue 074

April 2011

With an explosive rage that cannot be undone, Hector Lombard has smashed his way to the top of Bellator’s middleweight division. Now his thirst for battle sees him calling out the elite

Dubbed ‘Shango’, meaning god of thunder and lighting, few can argue that Hector Lombard’s alter ego is less than fitting. The 32-year-old has represented his native Cuba in the 2000 Olympic judo team and has viciously blasted his way through a 16-fight winning streak to become the Bellator middleweight champion, 

(T)KO’ing 11 fighters, forcing two to verbally tap out in fear for their safety and causing a hematoma along the way. It’s a formidable record for a 185lb’er who stands at only 5’9”. 

Emigrating from Cuba to Australia, Lombard began his professional MMA career in 2004 fighting for various small domestic promotions at light heavyweight. With a showreel of devastating knockouts and precise submissions he would be signed to Bellator Fighting Championships on January 6, 2009. Lombard’s ferocious intensity saw him rise to prominence with a notable win over Jared Hess to become the promotion’s first middleweight champion, while achieving the fastest knockout in Bellator history with a savage left hook that saw Brazilian KO artist Jay Silva hit the deck after just six seconds. After recently defeating the heavy-handed Russian Alexander Schlemenko via unanimous decision in October 2010, Lombard has entered 2011 with an indomitable will to take on the biggest names in the business. With verbiage as brutal as his fighting style, the American Top Team product is now calling out Strikeforce’s 185lb king Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza for no particular reason other than to smash a recognized face on a grander stage. “I believe I will knock him out,” Lombard says. “I only care about beating him up – and I will beat him up. I just need to get the right exposure to show the world who I am.”

Shango’s impressive record is sure to pique some interest from Strikeforce. The way Lombard (27-2-1) normally executes is dramatic, destructive and decisive. Twenty of his wins have come via knockout, TKO or submission, 18 coming in the first round and seven in under a minute. “I believe my whole game is right,” says Lombard. “My stand up is great. My conditioning is great. My grappling is good. The young guys, the big names who’ve been fighting in Bellator, they haven’t been winning in Bellator. That’s gonna give me more strength and motivation to keep going.”

It’s not the first time Shango has called out a big-name fighter. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt challenged Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett to a showdown in August 2010. A heated sparring session some time ago between the former training partners at CSW Training Center escalated into a bitter grudge. Shango’s former trainer, Erik Paulson of CSW stated in an interview with Fight Hub TV: “One day Hector Lombard and Josh Barnett turned a five-minute round of boxing into a 32-minute round. They were full of piss and vinegar and they just kept hitting each other harder and harder, so I had to follow them with a mop to clear up all the blood. Josh then grabbed him one day and brought him in the cage when I wasn’t there. I walked in and he had Hector down saying, ‘Hey you like to go hard?’ and Josh wouldn’t let him up. Hector never forgave him for that.” With Barnett weighing in excess of 60lb heavier than Lombard, the fight never came to fruition. Weight divisions aside, Lombard’s hunger to take on the biggest challenges was evident and as he calls out Jacare, Shango sets himself up for his biggest challenge yet. “I know he’s ranked wherever, but I don’t care about ranks,” says Lombard. “When I fought Shlemenko he was ranked tenth in Strikeforce and I was the champion. How does that work?”

While proving himself as an explosive wrecking machine, Lombard has recently come under fan scrutiny regarding his conditioning. After battering Shlemenko early in the first round, Lombard’s torrid pace soon vanished. It is reported that Lombard fell sick with a fever three weeks before the fight, lost 6lb, was placed on antibiotics and nearly backed out of the fight. “I don’t know why people are always judging me over my stamina,” says Lombard. “If I were 100% I would have knocked [Shlemenko] out maybe in the second round. I came with the ‘W’ and that’s what matters.” If winning is what matters, then Lombard certainly has nothing to answer for. As 2011 holds bigger challengers for Lombard, more and more fans can look forward to Shango bringing the thunder.