Douglas Lima

By FCF Staff

Bellator has announced that the promotion’s welterweight champion, Douglas Lima, will battle former tourney winner Andrey Koreshkov on July 17th. The bout will headline Bellator 140, which will be hosted by the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

“Douglas Lima is an incredible champion who is in for one of the toughest fights of his life against Koreshkov,” Bellator President Scott Coker was quoted saying in the official announcement. “When the rest of this card is announced, we’ll have put together one of the greatest showcases of welterweight talent ever assembled on one night.”

Lima (26-5) was scheduled to fight Paul Daley in February, but he was forced to drop out due to an injury. The punishing striker hasn’t fought since last April, when he stopped Rick Hawn at Bellator 117. The American Top Team Atlanta fighter has won five straight fights.

Koreshkov (17-1) is coming off a unanimous decision win over Adam McDonough last June, and has won four in a row. Like Lima, the last man to defeat Koreshkov is former Bellator champ, and reigning ONE champion, Ben Askren.