THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
Fresh off another quick knockout victory over a severely over-matched opponent, Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard will face off against season two tournament winner Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 34 this October.
Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney confirmed the matchup on Thursday's broadcast on Fox Sports Net.
Lombard has blasted through his competition thus far in Bellator, winning five straight fights in the organization. He's been out of the first round just once inside the Bellator cage, in the season one finals against Jared Hess. He's won his last two fights in a combined :44.
His current unbeaten streak now stretches 20 fights and almost four years.
Shlemenko won the season two tournament with a first round TKO victory over heavily favored Bryan Baker. He had also upset season one runner up Hess in the semifinals when Hess gruesomely injured his knee.
Bellator 34 will take place on October 28 from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. The event will air on Fox Sports Net.
Penick's Analysis: Shlemenko earned his shot at Lombard with the season two win, but I honestly don't know that he's got much to offer the Champ right now. Lombard's in a strange spot because he's simply better than everyone he can be matched against in Bellator, and if he doesn't start fighting some better competition there has to be a fear that his skills can regress. You can play down to your opponent's level in any competition, and the great fighters perform their best against great competition. I want to see if he's on that level. But for now, take a look at the video below to see what Lombard does to a fighter that isn't much of a challenge (App users video available at MMATorch.com):
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP