Dan Henderson Gets Hector Lombard For UFC 199

It didn’t take that long to rebook Dan Henderson to another bout.

Change of Plans

After his scheduled UFC on Fox 19 main event bout against Lyoto Machida was called off days before the fight due to a drug violation by Machida, Dan Henderson thought he would wait that long to finish his obligation. With one fight left in his UFC contract, the 45-year old Hendo was looking forward to his rematch with Machida to determine if he would continue fighting or retire. Unfortunately for him, Machida self-reported a USADA violation and he was scrapped from the event.

Shell of Hendo?

Now at the tail-end of his career, Henderson is ranked just 14th in the UFC middleweight division. He is coming off a knockout loss to Vitor Belfort in Brazil and has lost three of his last four bouts. Known for his freakish knockout power, Hendo was the last Strikeforce middleweight champion as well as the last middleweight and light heavyweight champion of the Pride Fighting Championships.

Henderson is also known as the only mixed martial artist to concurrently hold two titles in different weight classes in a major MMA promotion. Unfortunately for Hendo, he is the oldest fighter in the UFC’s roster of active fighters and may be only  a shadow of his once glorious past.

Lombard’s Return

Lombard, meanwhile, is moving back to middleweight after a failed attempt at 170 pounds. After losing to Neil Magny at UFC Fight Night 85 in Brisbane, Australia last March 19th, Lombard announced that he would be moving back to middleweight, the weight class where he won the title in Bellator and the division he started out in the UFC.

Lombard cited the inability to use IV to re-hydrate after the weigh-ins as one of the major reasons for his move. That procedure is new to the UFC as it is prohibited under USADA drug testing policies. Lombard also stated he had been having difficulties making welterweight. The 38-year old Cuban standout is 35-5-1 with 19 KOs.

Bolstering UFC 199

Henderson and Lombard are two of the UFC’s heavy hitters, both possessing genuine one punch KO power. Both are also among the older fighters in a middleweight division ruled by the young and athletic Luke Rockhold. This bout will add more star power to UFC 199, which Rockhold is headlining against the former champion Chris Weidman in a rematch of their UFC 194 bout, which he won via 4th round stoppage.