- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Hector Lombard is providing The Roar with an exclusive pre-fight blog, taking you through his life and preparations for his must-win fight against Rousimar Palhares. His first blog post is today.
“Although my fight on December 15 against Rousimar Palhares will be only my second ever UFC appearance, I’m far from the new kid on the block.
In fact, I’ve been competing professionally as a mixed martial artist since 2004, have 36 bouts to my name, and even before that, had competed in judo since childhood. Judo shaped me and mixed martial arts is now defining me.
I decided to take up judo because in Cuba it is important that you have some kind of sport or career to your name. You can be a musician, you can be an artist or you can be a sportsman. Whatever it is, you get pushed towards a career from a very young age.
I couldn’t draw and I couldn’t sing, so I decided to do sport, as I was a very competitive and athletic child. It suited me quite well.
After deciding to do a sport, I then had two further choices to make. Where I grew up there were two main sports you could pick to do. One was baseball and the other was judo.
I played a little bit of baseball – you had to, it was very big in our town – but I never wanted to pursue it as a career. I was more interested in individual sports rather than team sports. I didn’t like sharing the win. I was a very selfish kid at the time. Also, I loved winning belts in judo.
You knew that with each belt you were given, you had improved slightly. That was a nice feeling.
My dream as a kid was to get the black belt and walk around town wearing it. I always used to see my coach wearing his black belt and he looked extremely cool. We all respected him because of that belt around his waist.
Judo came easily to me, as I was very strong, even as a little child. I could pick up and throw all the other kids without any problem. I used to do it all the time, just for fun.
Doing judo allowed me to do this but not get told off for it. It also gave me the chance to compete against other judo kids, and that was something I always wanted to do. I wanted to test myself against the best in the world even at that young age.
In 2000, I got the chance to test myself on the biggest stage at the Sydney Olympics, but it wasn’t easy. I used to walk around at 90 kilos and would have to cut down to 73 kilos to compete. It was extremely difficult for me, one of the toughest periods of my life.
I couldn’t look forward to the Olympics because the weight cut was just so bad. I was urinating blood and suffering dizzy spells in the weeks leading up to it. Of course, it was a proud moment to represent my country, as it always was, but I didn’t feel right. The weight cut had been a big problem for me.
Looking back, I always believed I’d one day fight in the cage and compete as a mixed martial artist, even back when I was doing judo and gearing up for the Olympics. MMA seemed like the next logical step for me. Besides, I had followed the sport as a fan for many years.
I watched Royce Gracie do his thing in the early UFC events and had been hooked ever since. I remember watching my first UFC event and turning to a friend and saying, ‘Man, I really want to do that’. I didn’t just want to do it, I knew that one day I would do it and that I’d be good at it.
Since that day I’ve been focused on reaching my goal and becoming a mixed martial artist. And when I got the chance to train and learn some of it, there was no going back. A couple of months later I was put into my first mixed martial arts bout and won.
I was okay when the fight went to the ground, because of my judo background, but I found myself having to catch up in the striking department. It didn’t take too long, though. After a year-and-a-half of learning, I was pretty good at it and was getting the better of top strikers in the gym.
There was never any fear factor for me. Even though I wasn’t used to getting kicked and punched in the face, we used to have a lot of fights in the streets back in Cuba, so I had seen confrontation and been involved in fist fights. It was natural for me.
We used to have punch-ups after school just for fun, just because it was something to do. So that kind of experience came in handy when I decided to pursue combat sports as my career. This was what I was born to do…”
Join us through-out fight week as Hector continues his blog.
UFC middleweight contender Hector Lombard is an Cuban-born, Australian mixed martial artist, currently fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Hector learnt Judo from a very young age and went on to represent Cuba at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. After later moving to Australia, he turned to MMA and became national champion building an unrivalled string of victories. Follow him on Twitter at @HectorLombard
Hector Lombard battles Rousimar Palhares on Saturday, December 15 at UFC on FX SOTIROPOUlOS vs. PEARSON, live from Queensland, Australia. Tickets available at Ticketek
Let’s get ready to rumble! Pick a fighter and place your bets with PlayUp for great odds. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
Arman Tsarukyan was an angry man on his way out!
A bloodied Tim Tszyu has been cruelly denied in his quest to emulate his legendary father Kostya and become a unified world boxing champion…
Liam Wilson has suffered further heartbreak in Arizona, the Australian boxer losing his super-featherweight world-title fight against Mexican Oscar Valdez. In front of a…
Tim Tszyu has the chance to emulate his legendary father as a unified world boxing champion after the stakes were dramatically raised for his…
Australia's Alexander Volkanovski has lost his UFC featherweight title to Ilia Topuria, with the Spaniard scoring a stunning second round knockout in the main…
