UFC 149: July 21, 2012 Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada UFC Middleweight Contender Hector Lombard (-310) Profile: Hector Lombard (31-2-1) will be making his UFC debut as the reigning middleweight world champion with the Bellator Fighting Championships. The 34-year-old Cuban has a fourth-degree black belt in Judo and was originally slated to make his first appearance with the organization at UFC 78, but visa issues prevented that from happening. Lombard is 24-0-1 in his last 25 fights with his only two career losses coming against Akihiro Gono and Gegard Mousasi, both by unanimous decision in the 2006 PRIDE Bushido Welterweight Grand Prix Tournament. However, the only notable opponent Lombard has faced recently is Alexander Shlemenko, resulting in a five-round unanimous decision victory at Bellator 34 on October 28, 2010. UFC Middleweight Contender Tim Boetsch (+240) Profile: Tim Boetsch (15-4) is in his second stint in the UFC and has been much more successful than the first, posting a 4-1 mark, including 3-0 at middleweight. The 31-year-old made his UFC debut at UFC 81 back in 2008 and beat David Heath via first-round TKO but lost two of his next three fights. He then bounced around three different organizations for his next three bouts before returning to the UFC in 2010, when he defeated Todd Brown by unanimous decision at UFC 117 at light heavyweight. “The Barbarian” proceeded to lose to Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis via submission at UFC 123 before moving down to middleweight. He won his first two UFC fights at middleweight by unanimous decision against Kendall Grove at UFC 130 and Nick Ring at UFC 135 before knocking out Yushin Okami at UFC 144. Opening UFC 149 Odds Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Lombard a large -310 favorite (bet $310 to win $100) while Boetsch opened as a +240 underdog (bet $100 to win $240) according to the MMA odds. The legend of Lombard has only grown since his original opponent Brian Stann had to back out of their fight due to a shoulder injury. In a previous MMA OddsBreaker show, Lombard opened at -120 against Stann (-110), who is actually two spots behind Boetsch in the MMAOB MMA Fighter Rankings. Much like the main event pitting Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao, MMA bettors will have to choose between underdogs with more experience at this level and the favorites who are riding incredible streaks. Lombard is unbeaten in 25 bouts but has not really fought anybody worth noting while Boetsch is 7-1 in his past eight against much better competition. Regardless, Lombard has a real opportunity here to show he may be worthy of a title shot against middleweight champion Anderson Silva with a win over a quality opponent in Boetsch, who can also show the legend is more of a myth and he is the true contender of the two by pulling off the upset.
