Initially reported by Vendettta Fighter, but since confirmed by MMAFighting, Hector Lombard and Rory MacDonald have a fight booked. Rory MacDonald was briefly slated to be the next challenger for the 170lb strap, right up until Robbie Lawler wrested it from Johnny Hendricks’ hands. Lawler’s own recent victory over MacDonald suddenly made MacDonald’s challenger status a little less interesting. Now, he’s set to face off against another top welterweight on his run toward the belt, Hector Lombard. The two men are scheduled to square off at UFC 186 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on April 25th. UFC officials have yet to confirm the bout, but it could reasonably be expected that the winner would be next in line for a shot at the welterweight title.
MacDonald will enter training camp on a three fight win streak, his most recent victory being a knockout of Tarec Saffiedine at UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs. Saffiedine back in October. Victories over Demian Maia and Tyron Woodley made up the rest of his 2014 campaign, making him undefeated in the last calendar year, since dropping a unanimous decision to Lawler back in November of 2013.
Lombard has a three fight win streak of his own going, having righted the ship after a less than spectacular early UFC career. After going 1-2 at middleweight coming over from Bellator, Lombard dropped to 170lbs and is since undefeated, Most recently he took a one sided decision over Josh Burkman just this month, at UFC 182. Prior to that, he has a decision over Jake Shields, and a knockout of Nate Marquardt to drive his bid toward title contention.
Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and updates as the UFC continues to fill out their spring cards.
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