With Lyoto Machida being pulled from this weekend’s scheduled UFC on Fox 19 co-main event bout with Dan Henderson earlier this week, it looks like ‘Hendo’ has been given a new opponent in the form of former Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard.
Henderson vs. Lombard is slated for UFC 199, which takes place June 4th at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Henderson confirmed the news in an interview with MMAFighting.com.
“As far as I know (it’s a done deal),” Henderson said. “I have my agent working on a couple things that I would like in there – some sort of guarantee that they have a back-up fighter or somebody, just in case Hector fails a drug test, which he has in the past. I can’t afford to have this happen twice, have two camps in a row that wastes my time and everyone else’s time.”
Machida was pulled from this Saturday’s Fox card after admitting to taking the banned substance DHEA. Machida claims he was unaware that the substance was prohibited.
Henderson also revealed that he will not be receiving any show money or Reebok sponsorship money, despite the fight being cancelled on just a few days’ notice.
