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Originally Posted by OzExorcist
Yeah there's a heap of red flags that would concern me with Lombard.
I think Smith is easily the least-accomplished fighter Lombard has been in the cage with since coming over to the UFC. It looks very much like they're setting this up as a get-right fight (or at least a "prove you're not shot" fight) for Lombard.
That said... yes he's old and we really don't know how much the steroids were propping him up, but I suspect a lot. The way he's lost the past three fights have been concerning too. You've gotta screw up pretty bad to get KO'd by a slow and brittle Old Man Dan Henderson, and Neil Magny isn't really known as a knockout artist either, but he got the TKO over Lombard. And there might have been no shame in losing to prime Johny Hendricks, but losing to 2017 Johny Hendricks isn't a good look at all.
Yeah I think against Magny he just badly gassed out. That was at welterweight, and I think he's too big for that weight class and it was costing him some stamina. He was completely dominating Magny early, but Magny weathered the storm and was able to take it to him after Lombard gassed out.
I also get the concerns about his performances vs Henderson and Hendricks, but I think that stylistically they were much tougher matchups for him because of their wrestling and power. If you think about it, Henderson and Hendricks are very similar fighters, and I think it's a style that Lombard doesn't necessarily matchup all that well against. Which makes sense if you think about it, Lombard's a Judo guy with great power who likes to bull rush people, so it makes sense that very good wrestlers who also have big power would give him problems.
But I think Smith is a great matchup for him, for reasons previously discussed. I guess we'll see what happens, but I personally think this is a pretty good spot.