# Rebney: Only Anderson Silva Could Beat Hector Lombard



## No_Mercy

Bellator has done well for themselves concentrating on the lighter weight divisions as opposed to SF who focused mainly on their HW. They got some solid fighters who will eventually fight in the UFC; Alvarez and Lombard. Read on...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Since winning Bellator Fighting Championships’ inaugural middleweight tournament 28 months ago, Hector Lombard has stood alone atop the promotion’s 185-pound division. 

The former Olympic judoka is a perfect 7-0 under the Bellator banner, having gone the distance only once in a five-round defense of his title. Some MMA fans and pundits have made it their jobs to try and find a hole in the impenetrable; Lombard has been so dominant that critiques have stretched to simply not knocking out opponents fast enough. 

Next to try and dethrone the hard-hitting Cuban will be Alexander Shlemenko or Vitor Vianna, both of whom notched impressive finishes at Saturday’s Bellator 54 to advance to the finals of the fifth-season middleweight tournament. 

Vianna, 31, was hailed as a “freak” upon his signing by Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, a competitor who “resembled an attack dog in the cage.” But the Brazilian’s promotional debut in the middleweight quarterfinals saw him take a tough split decision over Sam Alvey, a result which left Rebney scratching his head. What Vianna never mentioned to anyone prior to the fight was that he could barely use his right hand. 

“He’s just such a soft-spoken, sweetheart kind of a guy that he never brought up to us that his hand was bothering him, that his wife had gone into surgery and spent 11 days sleeping in the hospital,” Rebney told Sherdog.com on Saturday. “She had some thyroid situation they thought could conceptually be cancerous. He didn’t bother to tell us any of that. He was just a disheveled mess who couldn’t use his right hand when he came into the fight.” 

With the personal and physical issues behind him, Vianna impressed thoroughly on Saturday, scoring a decisive stoppage victory over Bryan Baker in just 54 seconds. A spot in the middleweight final now booked for Bellator 58, the Wand Fight Team representative put any concerns Rebney had at ease. 

“He looked like the guy we wanted to sign,” the CEO said of Vianna’s performance. “A lot of people had him listed as the top 185-pound unsigned prospect in the world. That’s why we signed him and that guy showed up tonight. It was beautiful ... I said, ‘Whatever it is you did over the last 30 days to prep for this fight, do it again.’ Hope against hope that’s the guy we’ll see.” 

During Saturday’s postfight press conference at the Boardwalk Hall Ballroom, Vianna was reserved but confident as he looked forward to his next bout. 

“Now I am focused for fighting the final next month,” Vianna said. “I want to train very hard to be ready, because it’s going to be a great war. I have a plan, but wait for next month.” 

Shlemenko, meanwhile, has been down this road before. The 27-year-old Russian is the only man to take Lombard to that final bell, falling on the wrong end of an October 2010 unanimous decision. He’s been nearly as impressive as the champ, going 6-1 inside Bellator’s circular cage with four stoppages. With back-to-back wins over Brian Rogers and Zelg Galesic now under his belt, Shlemenko is one bout away from his rematch. 

“After the quarterfinals, I said that my goal is to fight Hector again,” Shlemenko said. “I do my best and I’ll do everything possible in the finals to get the chance to fight Hector again. If I were to fight again with Hector, it would be a completely different fight, because I would be much more ready and I’d have a good chance of beating him.” 

Asked why he chose to bring Shlemenko back for the fifth-season tournament, Rebney praised the flashy striker as “dominant and exciting.” 

“[He’s] a great personality, this dour, aggressive Russian fighter that just comes to fight,” Rebney added. “He looked better against Hector Lombard, our champion, than anyone has looked. No one has put on the kind of fight [Shlemenko did]. There was no question about bringing him back.” 

Shlemenko and Vianna will lock horns Nov. 19 in Hollywood, Fla., the same night on which Lombard will meet Trevor Prangley in a non-title affair. The season’s tournament winner, Rebney believes, will have earned a title shot and a challenge nearly unmatched in all of MMA. 

“We have an incredibly dominant champion,” Rebney stated when asked about finding opponents for Lombard. “It’s not easy. I think, right now, when you look at Vitor Vianna and Alexander Shlemenko, we could provide a good test for Hector Lombard. I think he’s one of the best two middleweights on earth. I think Hector is an absolute monster. 

“I think there’s one guy on earth right now that I would look at and say to myself, ‘He could beat Hector.’ His name is Anderson Silva. I don’t know that I would pick Anderson to beat Hector, but it would be one heck of a fight. We’ll see what happens with Alexander and Vitor, and one of those guys is going to come out with a big win.”


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## Hammerlock2.0

Chael Sonnen says hello.


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## TheOldAssassin

Who else agrees with me that if Lombard ever does set foot in the UFC, it will be/should be at 170?


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## _RIVAL_

There are a few MWs outside of the UFC that would still give Hector trouble... alot of trouble.

Jacare and Mamed Cannibal Khalidov being at least two of them.


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## Soakked

I think Paul Harris would also give him a run for his money if he can get him down.


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## kantowrestler

After what happened to Alvarez I'm not sure that Lombard is as untouchable either. He needs to fight someone challenging in order to show how he would do against Lombard. This just isn't something that can be measured either.


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## slapshot

I think the Guy is getting a bit overrated.


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## HitOrGetHit

slapshot said:


> I think the Guy is getting a bit overrated.


This guy has come nowhere near proving himself. He is one of the biggest can crushers in MMA. I mean his record is full of nobodies and a few somewhat decent wins. I mean seriously, the biggest name on his record is Mousasi who beat him.

He has literally defended his title against people who would never make it to the UFC period. 

I will say with confidence, that if Lombard came to the UFC he could do well, but he would never tough gold again.


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## joshua7789

HitOrGetHit said:


> This guy has come nowhere near proving himself. He is one of the biggest can crushers in MMA. I mean his record is full of nobodies and a few somewhat decent wins. I mean seriously, the biggest name on his record is Mousasi who beat him.
> 
> He has literally defended his title against people who would never make it to the UFC period.
> 
> I will say with confidence, that if Lombard came to the UFC he could do well, but he would never tough gold again.


He has looked impressive, but you are right. His only fight against a legit top ten mw was a loss to Mousasi. The guy has beaten a lot of B level fighters, albeit in exciting fashion, but still not top competition.


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## BWoods

Lombard is a big fish in a small pond. A good portion of the UFC's middleweight roster could beat him. 

Rebney is just taking a page from Dana's book by playing up his fighter's talent level.


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## Rauno

_RIVAL_ said:


> There are a few MWs outside of the UFC that would still give Hector trouble... alot of trouble.
> 
> Jacare and Mamed Cannibal Khalidov being at least two of them.


As well as Mousasi, he's already beat him and would make it look easy this time.


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## slapshot

BWoods said:


> Lombard is a big fish in a small pond. A good portion of the UFC's middleweight roster could beat him.
> 
> Rebney is just taking a page from Dana's book by playing up his fighter's talent level.


More like a medium size fish in a pond full of guppies.


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## kantowrestler

Well that's an interesting way of putting it. Though Dana White knows his fighters generally. When Matt Serra won the title Dana knew that it may not be a long title reign which was correct.


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## ptw

All you have to do is watch his most recent fight to see what kind of guys he's fighting. No where near the level of anyone in the UFC, I think he'd do ok, probably a gatekeeper at best. I'd like to see this guy come in and fight Maia, I think that'll give us a good idea of where he stands in the division.


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## kantowrestler

I agree he is definately fighting lower tier fighters. But like I said I think he's comfortable in Bellator with a few exceptions. Jesse Taylor was probably one of the few exceptions.


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## Sousa

Mousasi disagrees with this thread


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## kantowrestler

Well what is the status of Mousasi right now? Last I heard he was still in Strikeforce. Is he going to get cut or integrated?


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## Toxic

Mousasi is a guy who should stay in SF for now. He is still relatively young and has a great game other than one glaring weakness that will just end up being exposed in the UFC. In SF he can hone his wrestling before coming over to swim with the sharks.


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## kantowrestler

Well Mousasi only has so long for him to adjust to fighters right now. Otherwise he'll have to come over to the UFC and like so many other international fighters get whooped. We have seen that multiple times with fighters in the UFC.


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