Brad Pickett shares story of “crazy person” Hector Lombard KOing training partner in warm-up

British MMA legend Brad Pickett says former Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard is a bit of a nightmare in the gym.

Speaking to Fightful recently, Pickett looked back on some of his training sessions with Lombard, recounting a time the hulking Cuban flatlined a training partner in a warm-up round.

“A crazy person is Hector Lombard,” Pickett said. “He is very known for sparring quite hard. I remember this clear as day. We were doing a little warm-up round. It’s the first round of the day just to get warm. Hector Lombard was notorious for this. He did this not just once, but multiple times.”

“We’re getting warmed up, very light, doing motion,” Pickett continued. “All we hear is [smack, smack, smack]. We turn around and this guy is laying stiff on the floor. Hector Lombard is walking around like a stalker and had knocked him out cold. You’re thinking, ‘It’s the warm-up round. What’s going on?’ He has two switches: go and stop. That’s all he has. He has no in-between whether he is going with a heavyweight or flyweight.”

Hector Lombard ruled over the Bellator middleweight division from 2009 to 2011. During that time, he was regarded as one of the scariest fighters in MMA.

In 2012, Lombard migrated to the UFC. Unfortunately, his run in the Octagon fell far short of expectations.

The Cuban judoka went a rough 3-8 (with one no contest) as a member of the UFC roster, including losses in his five last appearances in the Octagon. Those losses, which came at the hands of Neil Magny, Dan Henderson, Johny Hendricks, Anthony Smith, CB Dollaway and Thales Leites, resulted in his release from the promotion. He later signed with BKFC, and is now 2-0 in bare-knuckle fights.

What do you think of Brad Pickett’s wild story about Hector Lombard?