Noke Draw Still Stings for Streaking Lombard

---

Hector Lombard’s 19-fight tear is impressive, but his overall unbeaten streak stretches to 24 bouts when you include his draw with Kyle Noke at Cage Fighting Championships 1 in Sydney, Australia, in 2007.

With so few blemishes on his career record, it is not surprising that the Bellator Fighting Championships middleweight titleholder still remembers his three-round stalemate with Noke. While Noke has gone on to become a cast member of “The Ultimate Fighter 11” and compiled a 3-1 mark in the UFC, Lombard still contends his hand should have been raised at the conclusion of their encounter.

“I won that fight. In any other kind of situation, it would have been over in the first round, because he basically got saved by the bell,” Lombard told Sherdog.com. “Basically, it was 10-7 [in] the first round. He was beat up. The second round, I still won.”

The judo black belt was not with American Top Team at the time, and he believes the lack of a true camp played a role in his not being able to finish with a flourish.

“The third round, I lost; my preparation wasn’t great,” said Lombard, who faces Trevor Prangley in a non-title bout at Bellator 58 on Saturday in Hollywood, Fla. “I was living in Australia at the time. I didn’t have any place to train. Kyle Noke was training at Jackson’s [Mixed Martial Arts] at the time, so he came out more prepared. Honestly, I gassed at the end of the round, but I won the fight.”