April 24, 2012 – So it’s official… the greatest Cuban that’s ever competed in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts is finally in the UFC with the organization signing longtime Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard.
Speculation has been rampant about the move for a few weeks, with Dana White and the UFC expressing interest in the free agent while Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney also confirming negotiations were ongoing with the crux of the matter being whether it made sense for Bellator to match the UFC’s offer for arguably the greatest champion in Bellator’s three year history.
In the end it came down to dollars and sense with the UFC having the dollars to attract Lombard and Bellator believing it made more sense to let him move on rather than go outside their business model to retain him.
“We have a business model where we make decisions based on analyzing data,” said Rebney about the decision to let Hector go. “Since the first day we came into being, we made decisions based on real models, not hypotheticals. The UFC model is largely based on pay-per-view, and the offer they made to Hector is going to be monetized via pay-per-view. While pay-per-view could play a role in our future, today it doesn’t. So, we did our due diligence to review the UFC contract, analyzed it in terms of charging our audience to see Hector vs. putting him on free TV, and we decided to allow the UFC to sign Hector, where I am extremely confident he will win the UFC middleweight title on pay-per-view.”
With this, Lombard becomes the UFC’s highest profile import since Alistair Overeem and his one-fight cameo earlier this year prior to getting denied his license and pulling out of his UFC 146 date with heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos.
So how much on an impact might Lombard make in the UFC middleweight division?
Considering the dearth of established fresh contenders to Anderson Silva’s title behind Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort (both of whom the Spyder has already beaten), all signs point to the American Top Team product making a fast track to the top.
The former judo Olympian hasn’t lost in over 20 fights with both of his career decision losses happening ages ago in Pride FC while he was still relatively green to the sport.
Fast forward six years and he’s now considered one of the best in the world – a reputation sure to be challenged in the talent-rich UFC.
His debut for the organization has yet to be announced but what do your TXMMA fans think?
Does Hector Lombard have what it takes to win the UFC middleweight title within two years? Beyond that, who would you like to see him face first for his UFC welcome?
Sound off with your opinions.