After an irregular start in the UFC, Lombard decided to downgrade and face Marquardt in October. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
Cuban's debut Hector Lombard As a welterweight, he already had a defined opponent. Now it also has a date and place. He will face Nate Marquardt on October 19th, in Houston, in a fight valid for UFC 166.
The former Bellator middleweight champion decided to downgrade after a poor initial run in the UFC. He debuted losing to Tim Boetsch, knocking out the Brazilian Rousimar Toquinho and suffered another setback before Yushin Okami. In both defeats, poor performances worsened Lombard's situation. The loss to Boetsch represented the end of a 25-fight undefeated streak.
Marquardt had already made the same category change two years ago. The former UFC middleweight challenger would debut in the lower division against Rick Story, but was caught in an anti-doping test and ended up being fired. He retraced his trajectory in Strikeforce, where he won and then lost the welterweight belt. Upon his return to the UFC, after the extinction of Strikeforce, Marquardt was knocked out by Jake ellenberger.
UFC 166 will be headlined by the third chapter of the rivalry between the heavyweight champion Cain Velazquez and the previous owner of the title Junior Gypsy. Only this fight has been made official by the organization so far, but reporter Ariel Helwani, from the UFC Tonight program, reported that Lombard-Marquardt should become official soon.
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