Hector Lombard: I Know I’m Going To Get Back
Heavy handed Hector Lombard was in line for the biggest fight of his life, a title eliminator bout with now title challenger Rory MacDonald at April’s UFC 186. However, Lombard’s career was flipped upside down when a UFC 182 post-fight drug test revealed that “Showeather” tested positive for performance-enhancing-drugs (PEDs).
Lombard was subsequently pulled from his scheduled bout, fined and suspended for a year by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). Speaking with Submission Radio, “Showeather” claimed that he thought the substance would treat an illness he was suffering from, and he made a mistake taking something without fully knowing what it was.
Continuing on, he added that he’s eager to prove to everyone that he doesn’t need PEDs to compete at a high level and that he will be back. Despite the suspension and being pulled from a huge fight, Lombard admits that he’s most upset about missing the chance to compete at UFC 193 in his home of Australia:
“They always believed that I was on something, just because of the way I look and just my physical appearance. I wanna prove that I need none of that to compete at the highest level. I was stupid. I shouldn’t have listened to anyone. And it’s funny ‘cause Joe Rogan made a comment about it like, ‘he wanted to beat the system.’ I didn’t wanna beat no system. I mean, I thought that pill was to make me feel better and obviously it didn’t. But I will prove once again that there is Hector here for a long time. I know I’m gonna get back. I know that I’m gonna be fighting soon and I’m gonna be winning, but what devastates me the most is I wanted to fight so bad on the Melbourne card and all that is gone.”
Check out the full interview below:
By the time Lombard steps back in to the Octagon, he will be 38 years old and closing in on 40. Does he have a title run left in him, or did this suspension mark the beginning of the end for knockout artist?
