When you’re a name like Hector Lombard and you fight in Bellator, you need to knock out your “lesser” competition to prove your worth to most mainstream fans.

Well against Falaniko Vitale, Lombard was slower then his usual self on knocking out his opponent. To anybody who attacks Lombard for that, I don’t care if this knockout occurred in the first, second or third round—this should shut you up regardless.

So here we go: Fast forward to late in the third round, where Vitale misses with a low strike to Lombard. Then Lombard throws a swift left that misses Vitale’s head, but Lombard’s right hand would do no such thing.

The instant his right fist touched Vitale’s head, he was out like a light. What makes this even better is that Vitale tries to get back up but epically fails to do so, stumbling back to the ground.

The fact that anyone still wanted to step foot in the cage with Lombard is beyond me. Sixteen of Lombard’s 29 wins are by vicious knockout.

With this fight, Lombard extended his already huge win streak to 22 wins and is now 29-2-1 with one no-contest. Lombard hasn’t fought since this Bellator 44 event in May.

Vitale with this loss dropped down to 29-10, snapping his three-fight win streak.

You can follow Sal on Twitter: @SalDeRoseMMA