Welterweight champion Douglas Lima faces Gegard Mousasi for vacant middleweight title at Bellator 243
With the Bellator welterweight title back around his waist, Douglas Lima is looking to add more gold to his collection.
Bellator President Scott Coker announced on Tuesday that Lima (32-7) faces Gegard Mousasi (46-7-2) for the vacant middleweight championship in the co-main event of Bellator 243 on May 9 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
Since we can’t have a cross-promotional superfight I’ll give you another.
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) February 11, 2020
On May 9, @Mousasi_MMA vs. @PhenomLima for the vacant @BellatorMMA middleweight world championship. pic.twitter.com/8TVpcWP9sa
The 185-pound title was officially vacated by Rafael Lovato Jr. on Monday due to an ongoing medical condition.
The middleweight title fight is Lima’s first since defeating Rory MacDonald by unanimous decision in the finals of the Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix last October. With the win, Lima reclaimed the 170-pound title and is currently in his third championship reign. His other tournament wins were against Michael Page and rival Andrey Koreshkov. Lima, 32, has won six of his last seven fights.
On Monday, Bellator announced that Lima had re-signed with the promotion on a multi-fight, multi-year contract.
Mousasi has mentioned wanting to face Lima before, and he now welcomes him to the middleweight division. The 34-year-old is coming off of a split decision win over Lyoto Machida at Bellator 228. In his 17-year MMA career, Mousasi has held Bellator gold as well as the Strikeforce light heavyweight title and DREAM titles at 185 and 205 pounds. Prior to competing for Bellator, he left the UFC on a five-fight win streak.
Bellator 243 airs live on Paramount Network and the DAZN streaming service. In the main event, light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader defends his title against Vadim Nemkov.