Hot on the heels of his destructive first round knockout victory over Dong-Hyun Kim in Macau this past weekend, fans speculated who Tyron Woodley (17-3 MMA/4-2 UFC) would face next in the Octagon.
Woodley, ranked third in the official UFC welterweight rankings, said earlier this week that he’d like to fight Matt Brown next. ‘The Immortal’ responded by saying he’d prefer to fight Carlos Condit.
When asked for his opinion on the next bouts for the top five ranked welterweights, Dana White told UFC.com that he’d like to see Woodley in with someone else:
“What’s weird about that is that Woodley calls out Matt Brown, but he’s ranked higher than Matt Brown,” White said. “But we want to do Tyron Woodley vs. Hector Lombard – that’s the fight we want to do. Hector said yes, we’re just waiting to hear from Woodley. Lombard said he would fight him, no problem.”
Hector ‘Showeather’ Lombard, the former Bellator middleweight titlist, is currently undefeated in two bouts since dropping down from 185lbs, and is ranked sixth in the UFC rankings.
If this fight were to be signed it could mean a lot for the division going forward. Not only are both fighters highly-ranked, it would also show that the American Top Team welterweights are willing to fight each other, which would remove any potential matchmaking headache further down the line.
Lombard last fought in March, picking up a dominant decision victory over Jake Shields at UFC 173. He was due to return on the Macau card against Dong-Hyun Kim, but an injury forced Lombard off the card and Woodley replaced him.
Dana didn’t provide any potential date for the bout, and the timeline of Lombard’s return from injury is not yet clear.
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