Hector Lombard will ride a 19-fight winning streak into his Bellator 58 appearance. | Photo: Keith Mills
It was meant as a compliment of the highest order, a boss praising his employee as one of the best in the world at his craft.
“I think there’s one guy on earth right now that I would look at and say to myself, ‘He could beat Hector.’ His name is Anderson Silva,” Rebney said following Bellator 54. “I don’t know that I would pick Anderson to beat Hector, but it would be one heck of a fight.”
Lombard bristles at those words. To say the hard-hitting Cuban might lose a fight to a man considered to be the world’s pound-for-pound best is to damn him with faint praise.
“To be honest, I didn’t like it at all,” Lombard told Sherdog.com. “I don’t consider -- myself [being] a fighter -- that anybody can beat me. If somebody can beat me, they have to do it; they have to prove it. [Rebney is] my boss, and I’ll fight for him, [but] just giving out credit to a guy that doesn’t even fight for him -- that’s not nice at all. That’s the way it goes, you know?”
Lombard’s world is full of perceived slights, from fans, his homeland and, apparently, his employer. A 19-fight winning streak that dates back to 2007 has not been enough to silence the critics. Those who are not impressed by Lombard’s highlight reel of finishes and his current reign as Bellator middleweight champion point to a lack of quality opposition. Lombard is aware of this because he reads the comments and forums that litter the Internet.
"I’m always gonna be hated by everybody. I don’t really care if people like me at all, to be honest,” he said.
The former judo Olympian owns notable victories over UFC veterans Joe Doerksen, Kalib Starnes, Brian Ebersole, Jesse Taylor and James Te Huna, as well as Bellator Season 2 and Season 5 middleweight tournament winner Alexander Shlemenko.
At Bellator 58 on Saturday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., he will attempt to add to his record in a 195-pound catchweight bout against South African wrestler Trevor Prangley. Prangley has competed for the UFC, Strikeforce and Dream promotions in a 32-fight career but, with three losses in his last four fights, fits the profile of the type of opponent many fans do not want to see Lombard face. For the American Top Team product, the motivation remains the same regardless of the foe.
“The most important thing is to keep active and fighting,” Lombard said. “My mentality as a fighter is every fight for me is a title fight. It doesn’t matter if the belt is on the line or not. It’s just get the win and come home; that’s the most important thing.”
Anderson Silva File Photo
Silva has a streak of his own.
“I’m from Cuba, and I should have more fans. I should have people from there that [support] me more, and I don’t,” Lombard said.
Conversely, since his days as an Olympian at the Sydney Games in 2000, Lombard’s relationship with the land Down Under has been considerably more warm and fuzzy.
“I had been treated better there than in my own country,” he said. “I started fighting up there, and I love that place.”
Twenty one of the judoka’s 33 professional fights have taken place in Australia, and he captured the Cage Fighting Championships’ 185-pound belt there in 2007; it is a belt he still owns after seven successful title defenses. Continuing to fight for such a smaller promotion would seem to be detrimental to the advancement of his stateside career, but, for Lombard, the reward is well worth it.
“The place is packed, no matter where I fight. If I fight in Melbourne, if I fight in Sydney, if I fight anywhere, they love me,” he said. “I’m very happy that Australians take me as one of them. I have a lot of great people behind me.”
At this point, Lombard’s record (30-2-1, 1 NC) speaks for itself. A man can only beat the competition placed in front of him, and he has been successful in that regard. Though his winning streak is longer than that of any fighter in the UFC -- including Silva -- it is not something that usually crosses Lombard’s mind.
“I focus on one fight at a time. I don’t worry about the record or anything like that. My mind is just, ‘Don’t lose. Keep winning,’” he said.
Do not expect Lombard to be in awe of an opponent anytime soon. While many of today’s mixed martial artists are fans of their peers and some even grew up idolizing the same guys they eventually battle in the cage, Lombard does not particularly care to emulate anyone.
“I don’t really have a hero. I just want to train and continue to fight,” he said. “No offense to anybody, but I don’t admire anyone in the game. I watch all the fights. I watch UFC fights. I watch Bellator fights. I watch them all, but I don’t have, like, a hero or anything like that.”
He does have one fight at the top of his wish list, however. When Rebney proposed that Silva was the only man in MMA with the potential to beat Lombard, he echoed a variation of a sentiment the Cuban has heard often over the years as the wins mount. For now, a Lombard-Silva battle lives only in the minds of fantasy matchmakers, but the Bellator middleweight champion would like to see it happen eventually.
“You gotta go to the best, right? Everybody says they would like to see a fight between me and Anderson Silva, so, yeah, I would love to fight him,” Lombard said. “I believe my game is more complete. Time will tell; talking doesn’t do it. You have to do it and let the actions speak. When you do something, it’s what really matters.”