Hector Lombard: Rory MacDonald is too scared to fight me

Hector Lombard will return to action next weekend against Neil Magny in Australia. But several months beforehand, Lombard was rumored for a fight against Rory MacDonald in a matchup that never came together.

MacDonald was coming off a loss to Robbie Lawler, while Lombard was returning from a year-long suspension after testing positive for a banned substance from his last bout in 2015.

The fight seemed to make a lot of sense considering Lombard was ranked No. 5 in the world prior to his suspension and MacDonald was No. 1 at welterweight. But then out of nowhere, Lombard was facing Magny and MacDonald is now scheduled to meet Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson at UFC Fight Night in Ottawa in June.

So what happened?

"I tell you straight up why the fight didn't happen and I want you to put it everywhere if it's possible — he said no," Lombard told FOX Sports on Wednesday. "We were supposed to fight, Dana White wanted to put this fight together, the UFC wanted to put the fight together. He told the UFC that he wasn't ready. So it was him who told the UFC he wasn't ready. Then I got the fight against Neil Magny and he got another fight right after I got my fight. He said he wasn't ready for me but then he's ready. I don't get it.

"Demian Maia didn't want to fight either. I wanted to fight Rory and he didn't want to fight. He was the one who told the UFC, 'No, I don't want to fight.'"

Lombard was understandably upset after the MacDonald fight fell apart, because a win over the Canadian could have put him directly in line for a title bout later this year.

MacDonald has twice battled the current welterweight champion, and while he's come up short each time, he's also given Lawler arguably his toughest test to date.

Still, Lombard isn't buying any of MacDonald's excuses about why the fight didn't come together — he's got his own theory on why he's facing Magny instead.

"Yes, he's scared," Lombard said about MacDonald. "He's scared to lose another fight and don't get where he wants to go. Yes he's scared to fight and get hit by one of my punches. I would have knocked him out and he knows that.

"He can't take me down and obviously he's going to have to stand up with me and he doesn't want that. Period. Yes, he's scared."