The first time Douglas Lima defended his Bellator MMA title for the first time, very little went as planned. He entered the July 2015 bout against Andrey Koreshkov with an injured knee and was taken down constantly throughout the five-round affair. He lost the welterweight championship by a wide unanimous decision.
Nearly two years later, Lima is back as Bellator champion. Following a July 2016 win over Paul Daley, he avenged his disappointing loss to Koreshkov with a third-round knockout win over the Russian fighter late last year to reclaim what was once his.
And now he’s only hours away from his second crack at defending his belt for the first time.
His second title run in Bellator doesn’t feel different, nor is he treating or approaching it differently, but Lima’s confident the result in his first title defense won’t be the same. He is scheduled to meet former UFC contender Lorenz Larkin at Bellator NYC on pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
“It’s just like the first time,” Lima told BloodyElbow.com’s The MMA Circus. “Except this time, I’m not gonna take any fights where I’m very injured. I should still be with my first title. But live and learn. I’m very healthy now.”
Initially, Lima thought he would be defending his belt against Rory MacDonald first. He was disappointed when MacDonald vs. Paul Daley was booked, because that’s the fight he personally wanted. But once Larkin agreed to a deal with the organization, he knew he’d be fighting “The Monsoon” next — which wasn’t a bad option to him at all.
“The timing was just great. Everybody else was booked. It was supposed to be Rory, but then Rory signed to fight Daley, and I didn’t have anybody,” Lima said. “We were hoping for (the MacDonald fight). He was supposed to be healthy and good to fight in June or July, and I had just done surgery in January. So the timing would have been great. He agreed to it — we talked about it on Twitter.
“I didn’t get the biggest fight, which was Rory, but I got the second biggest. So everything worked out really good.”
Lima understands why Larkin got the title shot over MacDonald.
“It’s good that Rory is now coming off of a win,” he said. “Larkin was coming off of two great wins, and Rory two losses. I think it worked out even better, because now he’s coming off a good win over Daley.”
Topped off by Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva, Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione and a handful of title fights, Bellator NYC is the company’s biggest event ever. Lima is glad to be part of it, but to him, the Larkin matchup in the Big Apple feels like just another fight.
“It’s the same thing,” he said. “But I know how important it is for my career and for everything. It’s a big show. But I really don’t think about it until after the fight. My approach is the same as every fight. I’m just worried about Larkin.”
Lima vs. Larkin is expected to provide fireworks over the course of 25 minutes and is one of the closest and most anticipated matchups on the entire card. It’s slated to kick off the five-fight pay-per-view main card, but it’s the headliner in Lima’s heart.
“I feel this fight is the main event of that card. I feel this fight is the most exciting,” he said. “Of course I understand the big names. But I believe my fight is the main event. We’re definitely going to steal the show.”