A potential welterweight title fight eliminator between Cuban-Australian Hector Lombard (34-4-1) and Canadian Rory MacDonald (18-2) is reportedly set for UFC 186. The event takes place on April 25 at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Although the news has yet to be officially announced by the promotion, vendettafighter.com first reported the matchup, with mmafighting.com later confirming it with Lombard himself. It’s unclear where the bout will sit in the lineup, but Lombard believes ‘it Should be’ main event.
Lombard, a former Bellator middleweight champion, has looked impressive since making the drop to welterweight at UFC 166, where the 36 year-old dominated Nate Marquardt to win by knockout in the first round. He went on to outpoint Jake Shields at UFC 171, before most recently beating Josh Burkman by unanimous decision at UFC 182.
MacDonald, 25, was supposed to receive the next shot at the title before Robbie Lawler defeated Johny Hendricks in a closely contested title fight rematch at UFC 181, convincing UFC officials to now make an immediate trilogy. The Canadian has also won three straight in the promotion, with decision wins over Demian Maia and Tyron Woodley plus a third round TKO win over Tarec Saffiedine.
