by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Jun 19, 2013 at 3:15 pm ET
After his much-anticipated arrival in the UFC middleweight division provided mixed results, Hector Lombard is officially dropping a
weight class.
Lombard (32-4-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) today confirmed the move to welterweight via Twitter. Additionally, FUEL TV's "UFC Tonight" confirmed the move on Tuesday, with reporter Ariel Helwani reporting Lombard is interested in a fight with Nate Marquardt (32-12-2 MMA, 10-5 UFC).
UFC officials haven't confirmed a date or an opponent for the former Bellator champion's next bout.
Lombard, who's ranked No. 12 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA middleweight rankings, joined the UFC in 2012 on the strength of a 25-fight unbeaten streak (24-0-1). The run saw the Olympic judoka win Bellator's inaugural middleweight tournament and make a lone title defense over Alexander Shlemenko.
However, in his UFC debut, Lombard looked flat in suffering a split-decision defeat to Tim Boetsch
(though most media outlets scored the fight for Lombard). He rebounded with a first-round knockout of Rousimar Palhares, but in his most recent bout, Lombard dropped a split decision to perennial contender Yushin Okami at UFC on FUEL TV 8 back in March.
Marquardt, who's also a former middleweight, is a former Strikeforce champion who returned to the organization in March. However, he suffered a knockout loss to Jake Ellenberger at UFC 158, which
marked the first back-to-back losses of his career.
I'm interested in seeing what he looks like at 170. He's pretty thick at middleweight and looks ripped even during the fight. He's almost guarentee'd to lose muscle and strength. Hopefully he can find some consistant success at 170.
His drop doesn't make much sense if you ask me, but I guess he should do better in the WW division than the MW division. Reason I say it doesn't make sense is cuz even though he lost they were very close fights and he clearly could hang with the best in the division. Pretty humble of him to ask to fight Nate, I say they give him a top 10 guy.
he's too short for the weight class and he had issues there. there are huge enormous guys at 185 like okami, weidman, etc. and some guys can just overpower them, now he's going to be a huge monster at 170 and he'll be able to outmuscle about everyone which is part of his style.
Hector just happens to lack the reach and it's not a boxing ring where he can cut people off. The Octagon is huge. Having to chase people down all the time is taxing.
IE: Against Tim Boetsch. Who wins if the cage was cut in half. You know Lombard probably would have came out on top.
He certainly has the strength, but lacks the reach, fight IQ, and endurance.
He should continue fighting at MW. Moving down weight classes isn't always the answer.
Lombard vs Marquardt has to be one of the funniest fights ever.
Both have extremely high difficulty connecting near the center of the cage.
Lombard couldn't connect on Boetsch even though Boetsch had a broken foot. Marquardt couldn't connect on Saffiedine and let himself be leg kicked all night.
Both typically need to back their opponent into the cage and unload on them. Lombard needed it with Palhares. Marquardt needed it with Tyron Woodley.
Is Hector one of thoe guys who is payed to high and is not performing well? Anyone know what hes paid? Because if so if he doest start winning hell probably get cut.
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