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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"Everyone criticizes me all the time. I don't know why. I haven't been getting caught with drug tests like all these guys... Trust me, there is a lot of guys using and abusing [steroids]. I know I don't take anything. That's why I want to fight all the time. Most of the fighters don't fight all the time because they'll juice up for three or four months, clean up and fight. I'm fighting all the time, and when I fight in Australia, they do drug tests, too... Fighters act like real d---heads. Tito Ortiz gives everyone the finger in public. They love these guys; or like Brock Lesnar, who gave everyone the finger and said, ‘I don't care if everyone paid. F--- you.' He says things like that, and everybody loves that guy. Me, I'm a cool guy. I've never taken any steroids. They always criticize me. Don't know why."
-Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard, who has at times had a reputation as a bully and has faced criticism from many sides over issues like perceived drug use and level of competition, talks to Sherdog.com and expresses disbelief at those critics.
Penick's Analysis: I'm not into baseless drug speculation when it comes to fighters. There are many in the sport who are using performance enhancers, but it's completely unfair to hurl accusations at fighters with no basis or history of use or of getting caught with said issues, and Lombard is in that camp. His bully reputation has come about anecdotally, and really all that can be said about that is that it's pretty much his word against the fighters that have made negative comments about him. Lombard is really one of the better middleweights in the world, but like many outside of the UFC he's simply not proving that status against the highest level of competition on a regular basis. It's interesting overall to hear a fighter lash out like this, though, and he's obviously passionate about his own personal stance. And as long as he doesn't pop positive for anything, comments like that then won't come back to bite him.
[Hector Lombard photo by Henry Dziekan III for MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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