The UFC now has one of their rivals’ biggest stars under contract, and the UFC middleweight division has a new terror.
Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard today confirmed on his twitter account that he is Zuffa-bound, with Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney confirming the move later in the day.
Lombard’s deal appears to be a lucrative one that includes pay-per-view percentages, a perk usually afforded to only the top UFC stars. Lombard is expected to be an immediate impact player in the division, currently riding a 25 fight undefeated streak that began in 2006.
Rebney told MMAFighting.com the following:
“We have a business model where we make decisions based on analyzing data. 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.”
Former UFC middleweight title challenger and Canadian MMA star Patrick “The Predator” Cote has already taken to twitter to campaign to welcome Lombard to the UFC in his own bid to re-join the promotion, but with Lombard’s lucrative deal it would be surprising if he wasn’t matched up against a top name right away.
