Bjorn Rebney: Anderson Silva is the only man on Earth that could beat Hector Lombard

Anyone seen the hyperbole police? We might have a serious offender here.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney was recently asked (via Sherdog.com) about finding an opponent for his middleweight champion. His answer will surely surprise you:

"We have an incredibly dominant champion. It's not easy. I think, right now, when you look at Vitor Vianna and Alexander Shlemenko, we could provide a good test for Hector Lombard. I think he's one of the best two middleweights on earth. I think Hector is an absolute monster. I think there's one guy on earth right now that I would look at and say to myself, ‘He could beat Hector.' His name is Anderson Silva. I don't know that I would pick Anderson to beat Hector, but it would be one heck of a fight. We'll see what happens with Alexander and Vitor, and one of those guys is going to come out with a big win."

That's a rather bold claim to make considering Lombard hasn't exactly been facing anything close to the competition Silva has in the past few years.

Then again, "Shango," like "The Spider," hasn't lost a fight since 2006 and has impressively finished all but a few of his opponents. Bellator has struggled greatly to find a non-UFC middleweight to adequately match up against him.

Up next will be Trevor Prangley and after that, the winner of Alexander Shlemenko vs. Vitor Vianna. Both bouts are scheduled to take place at Bellator 58 on Nov. 19 in Hollywood, Florida.

While those three men all pose a threat in their own special little way, it's hard to imagine any of them would come in anything less than a heavy underdog.

With that in mind, is Rebney right? Are his statements not full of hyperbole after all? Is Anderson Silva the only man on Earth that can knock off Hector Lombard?