BKFC 10’s Hector Lombard on Bare Knuckle Debut, Not Wanting to Get Hit

Hector Lombard, BKFC 10
Hector Lombard, BKFC 10 weigh-in Credit: Phil Lambert/BKFC

Hector Lombard takes on David Mundell at BKFC 10, and it marks the first foray into bare knuckle boxing for the former Bellator champ and UFC competitor.

BKFC 10 goes down Saturday, February 15 at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Lombard vs. Mundell is the main event tilt and is slated to go down in the cruiserweight division. Mundell is 2-0 with two stoppage wins early and has gone spotless under the BKFC banner. After a rough stint in the UFC, Lombard is firing on all cylinders, ready to make his bare-knuckle debut against a proven opponent.

BKFC 10

The inaugural Bellator middleweight champion has obviously altered his training methodology ahead of his BKFC debut. “Boxing with no gloves. It’s more specific,” Lombard told us recently. “I’m only training with my wraps that I invented. I have the patent for it.”

In terms of future trends in combat sports, Lombard is putting a lot of stock in the progress of his countrymen but also the progress of his new combat discipline.

“I think I couldn’t be happier. I always wanted to fight bare knuckle and bare-knuckle’s going to be like one of the main sports in the future,” said Lombard. “Why I’m saying this is because I mentioned something and people kind of laugh at me but I remember when back in the day when I say ‘watch out. The southern fighters are at one point going to be the best fighters in the whole world’… They’re going to be at one point the best fighters in the whole world.”

Lombard continued, adding “Now you can see how many champions come from my country. In the same way, watch out for bare-knuckle because bare-knuckle is going to be the future of sports.”

Hector Lombard Returns

Initially, the BKFC debutant was supposed to clash with Joe Riggs but an injury caused an opponent switch for Lombard. Though David Mundell brings different stylistic considerations to the table, the approach remains very similar for Hector Lombard.

“It changes my preparation because it’s a different person. The main goal is the same. Just go out there and knock him out,” observed Lombard. “I saw, he looks very aggressive. But I’m prepared, it’s time. I’m going to put on a show and I’ve got to come out victorious. because I’m hungry.”

“This sport you cannot f*ck around with. You can get caught and get beat up badly,” Lombard finished. “So it’s kind of like, I will be on the edge and I just don’t want to get hit. Especially without gloves. In MMA at the end I was kind of like comfortable and boring at the same time. But I actually don’t want to get hit with no gloves, to be honest. So it’s kind of bringing a new me.”