Hector Lombard announced his presence to the welterweight division with authority at UFC 166 as he blasted through former Strikeforce champion Nate Marquardt with a first round knockout.
A former Bellator middleweight champion, Lombard came to the UFC with a lot of hype behind him but through three fights thus far inside the Octagon he had only amassed a 1-2 record before deciding to drop down to 170 pounds.
While the cut couldn't have been easy, Lombard made weight and came out on Saturday night with a bounce in his step and some serious power in his hands.
Lombard stalked Marquardt across the Octagon and caught him with a blistering right hand that landed just behind the ear that rattled the Colorado native. Realizing his opponent was stunned, Lombard swarmed and tagged Marquardt with another right before unloading a vicious left that dropped him to the mat.
The end came seconds later when Lombard uncorked a few more hammer fists getting the stoppage victory at 1:48 in the first round. Lombard (34-1-1) has talked about possibly moving back to middleweight, but after such an impressive debut at welterweight there would appear to be a myriad of potential matchups.
The loss drops Marquardt to 32-13-2 while suffering his third loss in a row and second since coming back to the UFC. At 34 years of age, Marquardt could be staring down a possible UFC release or only getting one more shot on the big stage before the axe falls.
