Dhiego Lima (photo via Maximum Fighting Championship)

By Kelsey Mowatt

As Dhiego Lima headed into 2012, the rising prospect appeared to be on the verge of fighting for the same belt his older brother Douglas once held, the Maximum Fighting Championship’s welterweight title. While that day may still arrive, Nathan Coy blew by Lima on the road to gold in January, by handing the 22 year-old-fighter a unanimous decision loss.

The defeat ended Lima’s three fight winning streak with the promotion, which included knockout victories over Bil Fraser and Jamie Toney.

“My wrestling time was way off,” said Lima while discussing his loss to the accomplished wrestler. “Originally I was supposed to fight a really good Brazilian striker named Bruno Carvalho, but he got injured the week before. I didn’t have enough time to prepare for Nathan.”

“A guy like that you need a full camp; you got to train a lot of wrestling against a guy like that,” Lima added about the Strikeforce vet. “I didn’t do enough wrestling in the camp. I really shouldn’t have taken the fight but I didn’t know much about him. Later on I found out that he was on the Olympic’s reserve, that his wrestling was outstanding, but it happens…it just makes you stronger.”

While the loss was a setback for Lima, Coy has since gone on to stop UFC vet Ryan McGillivray in May and become the MFC champ.

“I lost to a world champ,” Lima noted about the 33 year-old Coy. “That’s not bad. I put up a hell of a fight and he was tired at the end. If my timing was a bit better I know I could have done much better. Fighting wrestlers is tough because even though I’m a good striker he pretty much took me out my game. I couldn’t really strike with him because I was so worried about the takedown. You need a full camp to prepare for a guy like that.”

Lima (photo via Maximum Fighting Championship)

After the loss, little did Lima know that an injury was going to prevent the ATT Gwinnett fighter from competing again until August 10th, when he returns at MFC 34.

“Before that fight I knew that I had some injuries to work on, and that I was going to have to take some time off, but it ended up being more serious than I thought,” said Lima. “I didn’t even know if I was going to fight again at the time to tell you the truth. The MRIs didn’t look good at all…treatment took three months and then I started slowly coming back. It was hard.”

“I don’t want to talk about it specifically because fighters these days are mean,” Lima said half jokingly. “They want to look at your injuries and attack for it.”

Up next, Lima will take on MFC newcomer and Canadian veteran Nick Hinchliffe. During his six plus year career, not only has Hinchliffe fought at various different weight classes, but he’s taken on several UFC vets including Kalib Starnes, Victor Valimaki, and Rory MacDonald.

“When I looked at his record and everything I said ‘this is going to be a great fight,” said Lima about Hinchliffe. “He’s very experienced and I like fighting guys that are more experienced. He’s going to bring the fight and it’s going to be fight of the night for sure.”

“I’ve been studying him; I’m the type of guy that likes to study his opponents,” Lima added. “He used to be really big but once you lose that much weight you lose some power too…I said he’s going to bring it but he’s really patient in all his fights too . He always studies his opponent.”

And aside from returning to the winner’s column, what’s another key motivating factor for Lima heading into MFC 34?

“I’m planning on finishing this guy real fast and asking for a title shot immediately,” said Lima. “We’ll see. It’s whatever Mark (Pavelich) wants us to do. I really just feel like if I had more time for Nate I’d do much better.”