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Erik Paulson explains why Hector Lombard has heat with Josh Barnett
By Zach Arnold | October 13, 2010
INTERVIEWER: “Erik, Hector Lombard came out there during the (Bellator) telecast and kind of had some words to say about Josh (Barnett) and I know Hector used to train here at CSW. I just want to get your opinion, your view on him doing that.”
ERIK PAULSON: “OK, well… Hector and Josh sparred really hard since day one here. Hector likes to throw hard, everyone knows that. He likes to spar hard, he likes to throw hard so one day him and Josh in a five-minute round turned a five-minute round of boxing into a 32-minute round of boxing and they just kept hitting each other harder and harder and basically what I did is I just sat and followed them with a mop. I mopped up all the blood because they were both bleeding. That was them, uh, full of piss and vinegar and whatever and they want to do that, it’s fight practice, they’re both adults, they can do that. So, uh… Hector likes to train hard, that’s just his m.o. and Josh grabbed him one day and brought him in the cage when I wasn’t here and I walked in and he had Hector down and he said, hey you like to go hard and Josh wouldn’t let him up because Hector, they, whatever. They just have a go, so, uh… Hector never forgave him for that and so it’s been bothering him and he told Josh that the reason he left here was because of that.”
INTERVIEWER: “What was Josh’s take on that? Did you talk to Josh after that call-out happened?”
ERIK PAULSON: “Josh called me that night and he said that Hector, while he was in the audience at the fights in Florida, that Hector Lombard just called him out. He said he was going to fight Hector and I said, why? He goes Hector called me out at the fights, he said I heard Josh Barnett’s in the audience, who would you like to fight? Next fight he said he’d like to fight Josh Barnett. Well, he’s 185, Josh is 260, so… again, that would never happen. So Josh said I’m going to fight Hector and I said, oh, wow, really? That’s a little mismatch in weight there. When you going to fight him? Where? He goes I’m going to fight him tonight. He goes, he called me out and I’m going to have some words with him.
“As far as Hector’s skill, his skill is unbelievable. His judo is spectacular. I admire, I like Hector. I don’t like people calling people out that train together, I think that’s stupid but apparently Hector still had a problem with it and he called Josh out so it is what it is. I know they had words and talked about it afterwards and basically I just said that Hector, more than anything, just need to resolve that issue with Josh and needed love. He basically just had these bad thoughts from that whole ordeal and he wars with everybody, it was just that Josh gave it back to him and I think that they had never really had words since then and, you know, he saw Josh in the audience and he just said, hey, I want to fight Josh. And it was right after a 38 second win, so, you know… It is what it is and that’s it and I don’t have anything else to say about it. They’re both grown adults and if they want to fight, I’m sure no matchmaker will make it happen because they’re both in two different weight divisions or brackets but, uh, there’s no money in street fighting but if they have to settle it that way, which I think should be the last resort, I think they should talk and delegate things to other people, who did what, and be diplomatic about the whole thing and they should be able to talk about it over a beer or over maybe some fisticuffs. We’ll see.”
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Very interesting.
For everything I don’t like about Josh I will admit that the guy has balls the size of oranges (which is weird with his long history with PEDs… I kid i kid) . He’s not afraid to call people out at all. One of the funniest videos I have seen is Josh calling Aleks Emelianenko out on saying that Josh was afraid to fight him, and that he’d whoop his butt. He pretty much tells him that he’s not afraid at all, and he’ll beat his ass if they get in the ring. Aleks never really admits to anything, but you can tell he’s pretty uneasy about the whole situation.
“…a 32-minute round of boxing and they just kept hitting each other harder and harder and basically what I did is I just sat and followed them with a mop…”
Good way to end up with dumb injuries.
“It is what it is…”
Who invented this saying? I want to send him a dog turd.
Yogi Berra?
So a 260 lber fighter went tooth and nail with a 185 lber and didn’t destroy him? That either says a lot about Josh’s power and/or Lombard’s chin. I mean, I assume Lombard walks around at 215ish, but that’s still 45lbs.
What’s with Barnett picking fights with guys 2-3 weight classes away? Didn’t he call out Kenny Florian too??
The more I think about it I wanna see the fight, or likely ass beating. I really hate it when fighters kick the crap out of inferior opposition in the gym. It’s stupid, and it serves no purpose. If Hector does this routinely I am even less of a fan of him than I was already.
As much as I hate Barnett, it’s really hard not to take his side in this one. Pretty much everyone who has ever trained with Lombard will admit that the guy is incapable of ratcheting down the intensity when he trains. Sounds like Josh just got fed up, gave him a taste of his own medicine, and Hector couldn’t handle it.
Two guys who go out of their way to avoid competition have beef with each other and clamor for a fight that can’t happen. Silly.
The guy fought in PRIDE when it was considered the best of the best, then tried to fight in the UFC but got bumped due to a visa issue and is now trapped in Bellator is a guy that “goes out of his way to avoid competition”??? Right…another disgruntled armchair warrior.
Lombard was a top prospect 6 years ago. Hasn’t had a serious fight in 4 years.
Yea Gij I think you jumped the gun a little bit here. For Lombard to call out a HW when he hasn’t ever fought a top 20 MW (I guess Gono is arguable; Mousasi was still a prospect), just reaks of cockiness to me. It was supposedly Visa problems for so long, and then when all was sorted out he took the easy road in Bellator. He’s like the MMA version of Nonito Donaire, Chris John, and Humberto Soto.
Also – Josh Barnett can be accused of many, many things…but going out of his way to avoid competition? I don’t think so.
Opponents of merit (and remember some you have to reflect on the time period, not looking backward from today to discredit): McGee*, Hoffman*, Rizzo, Couture, Schilt*, Big Nog x2, Cro Copx3, Hunt when he meant something, Aleks E, Yvel (who seemed to be good enough for JDS). Agreed lately his opposition has sucked but that’s going to change quickly. (*Mendoza line of legit)
He fought in the UFC when it was the place to be, fought in PRIDE when it was the place to be, fought in Affliction and would have fought Fedor but for the CSAC debacle and has signed with SF. Given that he’s blackballed from the UFC I’d say he’s fought pretty much anyone he could.
Just let the guys fight. If they want to get their asses kick who gives a fuck? just let them fight and die.