The Bellator Middleweight Division is currently in a State of Flux
As another Bellator middleweight tournament is set to begin this Friday at Bellator 61, the division finds itself at a crossroads. The promotions middleweight champion, Hector Lombard is currently without a contract and time is running out on Bellator’s exclusive negotiation period. What happens with the man riding an impressive 20 fight winning streak will determine the direction Bellator will go with their middleweight division.
Lombard (31-2-1, 1nc) became the promotions first middleweight champion by defeated Jared Hess in the tournament finals at Bellator 12 on June 19, 2009. He went on to defend his title against the season two tournament winner, Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 34. Overall Lombard is 8-0 under the Bellator banner and has become one of the promotions biggest stars.
According to Bellator’s CEO Bjorn Rebney, Lombard and Bellator are in an exclusive negotiating period right now that is set to expire in late April. If that were to expire though Lombard would then enter a 30 day matching period where he could take offers from other promoters, but Bellator would have one opportunity to match an offer.
Here is the fork in the road.
Should Lombard and Bellator come to an agreement, the promotion could continue with the plans for him to defend his title against the season five middleweight tournament winner, Alexander Shlemenko. The winner of that rematch would then move on to face the winner of this seasons tournament which starts this week.
Should Lombard and Bellator fail to reach an agreement, the promotion would have to mix things up a bit but since they do have a middleweight tournament taking place in season six, they have an obvious option. Shlemenko could either wait or fight this season to stay sharp while the eight middleweights compete to determine the season six tournament champion. Then Bellator could put the season five champion against the season six champion for the vacant middleweight crown.
Either way the promotion has options, but option #1 is the one they are hoping will happen.
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