Hector Lombard had a lot of hype coming into the Ultimate Fighting Championship after years of dominating opponents between the Bellator Fighting Championships and Cage Fighting Championships, where he served as their middleweight kingin.
One of the biggest ovations that I have ever heard at any event when the adopted Australian marched to the cage with a purpose and they didn’t sit down for long before they jumped up when Lombard began getting rocking-and-rolling.
Palhares was wobbled early and sent to the canvas and it seemed that he never truly recovered as the Cuban-Australian fighter was a shark that smelt blood, pouncing on the leg lock artist before eventually crushing Palhares with a hard-shot and putting the finishing touches on his Brazilian foe.
For those of you watching at home that heard a loud chorus of boo’s directed towards the cage it was because Lombard wanted to jump out of the cage to grab an Australian flag but he was stopped before he could. The rabid fans instead opted to throw the flag into the cage as he celebrated with it wrapped around his neck.
“I believe this is my second win in the UFC, but my first in front of my home crowd here in Australia.” Lombard said “A KO was what I wanted and I got it. It means the world to me to fight on the Gold Coast in front of family and friends. Palhares was very strong out there and I have much respect for him. I would now love to fight Michael Bisping – he’s said a lot of things about me lately and I want to settle it in the Octagon.”
