Bellator Champ Lombard Faces Doerksen March 25 in Australia

Bellator Fighting Championships middleweight titleholder Hector Lombard is slated to return to the promotion’s circular cage in May, but the American Top Team fighter will participate in some extracurricular activity in the meantime.

Australian promotion Cage Fighting Championship has announced that Lombard (Pictured) will take on UFC veteran Joe Doerksen in the main event of CFC 16, which takes place March 25 in Sydney at Luna Park’s Big Top Stadium.

Lombard is no stranger to fighting in Australia, nor for CFC. An Olympian for Cuba in the 2000 Sydney Games, the judo black belt defected to Australia from his home country in 2002. The 33-year-old has competed in over 20 MMA and kickboxing bouts in Australia and is the current CFC middleweight champion, a title he has defended six times.

Unbeaten since 2006, Lombard will enter his bout with Doerksen on an impressive 16-fight win streak. Lombard last saw action in October, when he defended his Bellator title with a five-round decision against second-season tournament winner Alexander Shlemenko. It was only the fourth bout in Lombard’s current tear to reach the judges’ scorecards.

Doerksen, 33, recently finished his latest tour of duty with the UFC. The Canadian has fought for the promotion nine times since 2004 with a record of 2-7; in 2010, losses to C.B. Dollaway and Dan Miller led to his ouster. However, Doerksen’s overall record stands at 46-14, and the Winnipeg native holds notable wins against current UFC talents Chris Leben, Riki Fukuda and Ed Herman.

Also announced for CFC 16 was a welterweight No. 1 contender bout pitting once-beaten Manuel “Chalate” Rodriguez against New Zealand standout “Hot” Rod MacSwain, with the winner receiving a shot at current CFC 170-pound champ Jesse Juarez.