It was announced on Tuesday by Bellator President Scott Coker that Douglas Lima and Gegard Mousasi will fight for the vacant Bellator Middleweight Championship. The fight will be on the May. 9th card which is set to happen at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, USA.
Former Bellator Middleweight Champion Rafael Lovato Jr. vacated his belt on Monday, after a cavernoma has taken him out of action.
Coker flirted with the idea of Lima facing UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman, saying But since we all know this will never happen, I’ll break @PhenomLima’s (Lima’s) next matchup later today,” on Twitter before the announcement.
News broke on Monday that Lima, along with champion Ilima-Lei MacFarlane have both signed extensions with Bellator.
Mousasi has been Bellator Middleweight Champion before, beating Rafael Carvalho to take the belt at Bellator 200. He defended it against Rory MacDonald before dropping it to Lovasto Jr. in 2019. He has since bounced back with a win over Lyoto Machida.
Lima will look to become a two-division champion, as he dethroned Rory MacDonald in October to become the Bellator Welterweight Champion.
Currently set to headline the Bellator show at the SAP Center is Ryan Bader defending his Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship against Vadim Nemkov. The fight is Bader’s return to the division, last fighting at light heavyweight in November of 2017.
Knockdown News 