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Hector Lombard is a wild character and a massively embellished fighter. He’s a former Olympic judoka, a Pleasure and UFC veteran, and he was additionally the inaugural Bellator middleweight champion.
Having dabbled in a mess of martial arts, together with kickboxing and Muay Thai, the Cuban-born brawler Lombard believes he’s discovered his favourite self-discipline in bare-knuckle boxing.
Lombard fought twice for Pleasure and confronted Gegard Mousasi and Akihiro Gono. In his first 34 fights these had been his solely two losses however he nonetheless has fond recollections of the Japanese promotion.
“It was completely different. All the things that’s completely different, individuals prefer it. Individuals like brutality. Individuals like Cruelty. They’re merciless. Soccer kicks, loopy s**t, loopy methods to stroll out to the ring. Individuals beloved it,” Hector Lombard informed BJPenn.com.
This weekend he’ll compete in a bare-knuckle bout for the third time. Lombard is ready to face fellow UFC veteran Joe Riggs and says the format helps to maintain him motivated,
“I like bare-knuckle, as a result of at one level in MMA, I used to be going by means of numerous drama with all my exes. I didn’t actually take that sh*t significantly on the finish. I used to be similar to ‘let’s go in there and receives a commission’ however after I signed (to do) my first bare-knuckle struggle after so a few years combating it was the primary time that I used to be nervous. That was the primary time that I actually was nervous. I used to be like ‘f*ck man if these guys catch me with these fists I’m going to get minimize and f*cked up,’ Lombard mentioned.
He sees parallels between the latest burgeoning of bare-knuckle combating and the early days of MMA. However Lombard acknowledges that the attraction is considerably primitive,
“Individuals wish to be merciless. No one says that. They are saying one thing else. I might care much less. I say sh*t the way in which it’s. Persons are merciless on the market, mate. Why do you assume MMA surpassed boxing? As a result of it was extra brutal. Elbows, cuts, smaller gloves, blood in all places. The fellows combating for actual. F*cking knees and chokes and guillotine and fucking floor and pound,” Lombard mentioned.
Lombard might see naked knuckle having fun with the identical type of surge in recognition that MMA ultimately did.
“That’s what made the game blow up. And now it’s going to be the identical approach with bareknuckle. As a result of there’s no gloves. Persons are getting KO’d quick, and the s**t is brutal,” Lombard mentioned.
Lombard has definitely taken to the game. Since signing with BKFC in 2020, he’s racked up back-to-back victories together with a first-round TKO towards Kendall Grove on his debut.
He’s enthusiastic about the potential of going through Riggs this weekend, too.
“All people is aware of who Joe Riggs is. He’s been combating eternally. Fought within the UFC. Fought in Bellator. 4-1 in Bareknuckle. Fought in all places. Strikeforce. Was he champion in a number of organizations too? I like that.”
MMA fighters have loved loads of success with the transition to bareknuckle boxing. Probably the most notable of which, was in all probability Artem Lobov who overcame, Paulie Malinaggi; a multiple-time boxing world champion, by way of unanimous choice at BKFC 6.
Lombard believes the BKFC supplies the right ruleset for MMA fighters to thrive, and, that they inherently possess extra grit than their boxing counterparts.
“I really feel like boxing it turns into extra like an artwork,” mentioned Lombard. “MMA fighters have extra like a gruelling, combating, wrestling mentality like fucking being a canine. Like don’t stop getting beat up and preserve coming at it. I don’t assume boxers have that anymore. There was a time when boxers had that, however they don’t have that anymore. There’s an excessive amount of cash, there’s too many guidelines, there’s an excessive amount of bullshit. It’s like soccer. They go to the bottom since you hit the man with an eyelash. What the f*ck is that?”
Lombard says that he’s a fan of lethwei, the standard Burmese martial artwork the permits head butts. Nonetheless, The American Prime Workforce fighter, has appetites that go a lot farther.
“I like that sh*t (lethwei.) They need to have all of it. My dream is at one level earlier than I retire is combating with machetes. I swear. I fought in Cuba with machetes so many instances. As a result of in Cuba you struggle with machetes. I used to be good although. I need to struggle not less than as soon as with machetes,” he mentioned.
Are you trying ahead to watching Hector Lombard vs. Joe Riggs in BKFC this weekend?
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