Douglas Lima needs to put on Bellator gold as soon as once more.
The three-time Bellator welterweight champion returns to the round cage Saturday to face Aaron Jeffery in a middleweight conflict on the Bellator Champions Sequence present in San Diego, Calif., and hopes to achieve one other shot on the 185-pound title with a win.
Lima heads into his first bout underneath the the brand new Bellator umbrella since PFL took over earlier this 12 months, however mentioned he hasn’t felt any distinction within the promotion since.
“What issues to me is what occurs within the cage, and that hasn’t modified,” Lima mentioned. “I don’t care the place it’s. It may very well be in somebody’s yard or on this planet’s largest area, we’re within the cage so it adjustments nothing to me. Lock us each in there and allow us to do our job.”
Jeffery, his opponent on the Pechanga Enviornment, has been victorious in 14 of 19 skilled bouts, shedding solely to a few of the world’s finest, corresponding to Sean Brady, Brendan Allen, Caio Borralho, and Fabian Edwards.
Lima has overwhelmed the likes of Rory MacDonald, Michael Web page, Andrey Koreshkov, Lorenz Larkin, and Paul Daley in 22 Bellator appearances, and guidelines out going again to welterweight until the provide is just too good to go.
“It’s a tricky battle, he’s good,” Lima mentioned of Jeffery. “He throws palms and kicks in some fights, and wrestles in others. He did nicely in opposition to Edwards, it may have gone both means, He’s on the high and that’s precisely what I need. I wanna battle one of the best of the division so I can get to the highest as shortly as potential. The belt is at all times the main target, so this battle will assist get us there.”
The middleweight belt was anticipated to be on the road in the principle occasion of Bellator London on Sept. 14, however the firm introduced earlier this week that Edwards’ rematch with champion Johnny Eblen must be postponed to a yet-to-be-determined date on account of undisclosed causes.
“The purpose is at all times to win a battle, irrespective of how,” Lima mentioned of his upcoming match. “I would like a submission, a knockout. It’s been some time since I’ve completed a battle, and that’s what I’m at all times going after. I noticed [Jeffery’s] potential since his first battle in Bellator and knew he would go far within the sport. I do know it’s a tricky battle and I’ve educated as if it’s a title battle. The final man he misplaced to is now combating for the belt, so this battle will certainly assist me get there.”
