After announcing last month that he was dropping to middleweight, Hector Lombard has got his wish with UFC officials confirming that he will face Nate Marquardt on the UFC 166 card.
The event will be held at the Toyota Centre in Houston, Texas on October 19 (October 20 in Australia).
The Cuban born fighter recently confirmed that he was was making the move from middleweight to welterweight with the help of nutritionist Mike Dolce. The move will give Lombard’s UFC career a new start after going a disappointing 1-2 in his UFC tenure. Notably both losses came via a close split points decision to Tim Boetsch and most recently to Yushin Okami back in March. In his only win inside the UFC, Lombard knocked out Brazilian submission specialist Rousimar Palhares via KO.
His opponent Marquardt will also be looking at turning his career around after losing his last two outings. A former title contender, Marquardt recently returned back to the UFC but his return was unsuccessful as he was knocked out by Jake Ellenberger back in March. Prior to that he lost a unanimous decision to Tarec Saffiedine in the main event of a Strikeforce card. Marquardt is a veteran of the sport having made his debut back in 1999 and since then has defeated the likes of Dean Lister, Jeremy Horn, Demian Maia, and Rousimar Palhares.
A match-up between Strikeforce standout Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez was also made official for the event. The card will be headlined by UFC heavyweight champion taking on Junior dos Santos in a rubber match.
