Hector Lombard Says ‘Boring’ Jake Shields Can’t Entertain The Fans
UFC 171’s Hector Lombard may have got off to a rocky start in the Octagon, going 1-2 in his first three fights after losing controversial split decisions to Tim Boetsch and Yushin Okami. But “Lightning” rebounded in his most recent bout, a first round knockout of Nate Marquardt in his welterweight debut at UFC 166.
The former Bellator middleweight chap is looking to continue that success at against No. 6-ranked Jakes Shields at this Saturday night’s UFC 171 from Dallas, Texas. Just a few moments ago, Lombard met up with MMA H.E.A.T. to give his opinion of Shields’ smothering style of fighting:
“I believe he’s a great fighter. His record speaks for itself; he’s beat a who’s who of fighters. But, he’s boring. And this is a sport where you have to entertain folks. Because at the end of the day, it’s entertainment business, it’s not like, a winning business, you know? It’s like, go up there and show your skills and knock people out, and he doesn’t have that, so…”
Lombard was then asked how he expected to combat the neutralizing grappling of former Strikeforce champion Shields. He said that Shields’ strategy is far from something he hasn’t seen before:
“I don’t know if you’ve seen my career, but, fighters, they always try to make the fight boring. They walk away, run away. I believe for him to beat me, this time he has to come up, and that’s my opportunity. He has no chance with me standing.”
Lombard may have a point there, because Shields recently said that he won’t last long trading with Lombard on the feet. But that’s not on trial. With black belts in both judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Lombard is far from a grappling novice.
He may have only a small chance against his mat wizard opponent on the canvas, but he said he’d be ready to capitalize on Shields’ inevitable takedown attempts:
“What he wants to do is just take it to the ground. In order to do that, you have to get close to me.”
Lombard appears to be a force at his new home of welterweight, but Shields has a way of shutting down hype quickly. Will “Lightning” strike in Dallas?
