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Tuesday, Oct 15, 2013

Bellator’s Douglas Lima Hopes to Battle “All of the Top Guys in the World” in Quest to be the Best

By Kelsey Mowat

For quite some time now, Bellator champion Ben Askren has often been cited in discussions, regarding who are some of the sport’s top welterweights not currently under the UFC banner. Now, thanks to a 7-1 run in Bellator, which includes two tourney wins and six victories via TKO or knockout, the name Douglas Lima is being mentioned much more. Particularly since at Bellator 100, Lima knocked out UFC vet Ben Saunders in brutal fashion to win the promotion’s Season Eight tourney, and secure another title shot.

“I haven’t really looked at the ranks,” Lima said recently while appearing on Full Contact Fighter Radio, when asked if he pays attention to them or the acknowledgements he’s been receiving. “I hope that I’m close to the top ten. That’s my goal man. I want to be up there with those guys. I want to fight all those guys, all the top guys in the world, I wish I could fight all of them.”

“So I’m just training, working hard to get up there and hopefully get fights like that,” added Lima, who hasn’t been defeated since he was handed a unanimous decision loss by Askren in April, 2012. “I want to be recognized as the greatest fighter, and by doing that, I’ve got to beat guys that are like top ten, top fifteen in the world.”

Lima (photo via Bellator)

While Lima may not be a consensus top ten welterweight yet, the 25 year-old is starting to garner more attention and coverage as a result of becoming one of Bellator’s top fighters.

“I’m feeling really good,” said Lima, while discussing his success. “I think my training is going great and I have a lot of great people around me to help me improve with every aspect of the game. I think I’m just getting better.”

“I definitely think that people are starting to recognize me a little more now; I’m getting all of these finishes,” Lima added. “That’s my main concern: fight for the fans, give them a good show. It’s coming out great for me. My last four wins are all finishes and I’m happy. I’m happy with the way things have turned out. I just have to keep training hard, keep looking ahead, staying humble and I think everything is going to work out for me.”

In terms of what’s next, it remains to be seen, as Bellator champion Ben Askren is currently a free agent. Lima believes that if Askren does not return to the promotion, then he’ll fight the winner of the current, Season Nine welterweight tourney sometime in early 2014.

Thankfully for Lima, he has no fight booked in the short term, as the American Top Team fighter broke his right hand during his win over Saunders. It’s the same hand he broke during his KO win versus Bryan Baker in February, which delayed his tourney finale with Saunders.

“Ya man, I broke it one more time. It was actually just a fracture,” Lima said. “The same place I broke it last time, so now I’m waiting four more weeks until it heals, and then I’m going to do another surgery to remove the pins I have in the hand.”

“Six more weeks; after that I should be good to go. I was really upset after the fight…It’s all good. The main important thing now is that I have to heal up and make sure I’m 100% for the title fight.”

 

posted by FCF Staff @ 8:00 am
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