Lombard-Santore Set for March 12

While Bellator continues to make headlines by signing talent, the promotion's middleweight champion Hector Lombard looks to stay in the headlines just by staying active.

Standout Australian promotion Cage Fighting Championships announced Monday that Lombard would defend his CFC middleweight crown against Team Quest middleweight Art Santore at CFC 12, scheduled for March 12 at Hordern Pavilion in Sydney.

Lombard won the inaugural Bellator middleweight tournament last year, besting Virgil Lozano and James Damien Stelly before battering Jared Hess to win the June final and the 185-pound title. However, as the promotion gears up for its second cycle in April, Lombard, like the other Bellator champions, has been left on the shelf. He expected to compete in a non-title superfight for Bellator in the coming months.

Lombard has slipped in two stay-busy fights while he waits for his superfight. In November, he defended his CFC crown down under by blowing out UFC veteran Kalib Starnes in less than two minutes. Earlier this month in Miami, he hammered out a dominant decision over Joey Gorczynski under the G-Force Fights banner.

The card is also scheduled to feature two other strong title offerings: top Australian lightweight Adrian Pang will defend his lightweight title against Brazilian ex-pat Bernardo Magalhaes, who took a unanimous decision over him in November 2008, and another native Brazilian, Perth-based Gustavo Falciroli, will take on unbeaten big wave surfer-stroke-prizefighter Richard Vaculik for the CFC bantamweight strap.