Hector Lombard dropped a split decision to Tim Boetsch © Getty Images Enlarge

UFC president Dana White already seems to be writing off the chances of Hector Lombard as a middleweight title contender, claiming he should drop to 170lbs.

Lombard arrived in the UFC with a 24-fight win streak, but with question marks against the quality of opposition he had beaten. Saturday's dire split decision loss to Tim Boetsch confirmed the man does not live up to the hype.

In fairness to Lombard, his takedown defence was outstanding, but he never fought outside of a pedestrian pace and fully deserved to lose to the more active Boetsch.

It had been speculated that a big win for Lombard would have booked him a title shot at middleweight king Anderson Silva, but now White is urging the bulky mixed martial artist to drop a weight class.

"It just wasn't what I thought it was going to be," White said at the post-fight press conference. "Whether it was Boetsch or Lombard winning, I was expecting a real war. I thought this thing was going to be a war.

"You can't be angry with [Lombard], but it just shows you guys, ranking guys who don't fight in the UFC, it's two different worlds. Guys that fight in other organisations that end up in top 10 rankings, it's a whole other world over here.

"Lombard maybe should fight at 170. He made 185 easily. He's short and wide, but I think he could make 170."

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