Dhiego Lima (left) (photo via UFC.com)

By Kelsey Mowatt

Although Dhiego Lima’s official record may not reflect it, 2014 has been a busy year for the 25 year-old fighter, and the welterweight wouldn’t have it any other way.

Lima is scheduled to take on Pawel Pawlak at UFC Fight Night 56 on November 8th, which will go down in Uberlandia, Brazil. Officially, it’s only Lima’s second fight of the campaign, since his run on the 19th Season of The Ultimate Fighter doesn’t count towards his record.

The American Top Team Atlanta member advanced to the finals of the middleweight competition, however, by submitting Tim Williams and Roger Zapata. Lima had made it into the fighter’s house, by decisioning Adam Stroup.

At the TUF 19 Finale in July, Lima was stopped by Eddie Gordon, in what was an official fight. So, in fact, Lima will be fighting for a fifth time this year, when he takes on Pawlak at UFC FN 56.

“I do. I do. It’s a crazy game you know. MMA is just a crazy sport. You never know. You can get hurt and only fight once a year,” Lima said on a recent episode of Full Contact Fighter Radio, when asked if he enjoys keeping a busy schedule in the cage. “So, if I’m healthy, I’m going to be fighting. I’m always going to keep training. If I’m healthy I want to fight four to five times a year.”

“I’m still young; I’ve got to take advantage of that because it’s a rough sport,” furthered Lima, who fought just twice in 2013. “As you keep getting older man the injuries are going to start piling up. You’re not going to be really able to fight four to five times a year. So I’m planning to stay busy as I’m young, enjoy the time, and pretty much look to be fighting four to five times a year, and racking up wins.”

Dhiego Lima (photo via UFC.com)

Pawlak will be competing in his second UFC fight next week, as the Polish fighter was decisioned by Peter Sobotta in his Octagon debut, which took place in May. Prior to the loss, the 25 year-old welterweight had won 10 straight fights, and nine of the victories came via submission or stoppage.

“He’s a complete fighter, he’s got a great record, and he comes from a great camp,” Lima said about Pawlak. “So he’s game man. He’s 10 and 1 as a pro. He lost his first fight in the UFC, but he just seems like he got a little nervous you know? He didn’t let it go as much as I’ve seen in his other fights. I felt that too in my fight. So that happens.”

“This will be our second fight, so it’s going to be awesome man. He’s probably going to open up his game and I’m going to open up my game, so it’s going to be a great fight. He’s a complete fighter. He’s good on the ground, he’s good on the feet, so I’m just excited man. It’s going to make it a good fight.”

Clearly, Lima has hit the internet to find more footage of Pawlak, other than just his UFC debut.

“Yeah, I do,” said Lima, when asked if he studies his opponents, as a means to tailor a game plan. “But, Pawlak is a guy that he doesn’t really have anything that goes ‘wow’, we’ve got to work on this, we’ve got to work on this. If you fought a wrestler you’ve got to study, you know what’s going to happen; he’s going to try to wrestle you…if you go against a guy who’s just a stand-up fighter, you’re going to try to get it to the ground. Pawlak’s good everywhere, so that make it’s easier actually; you’ve got to train everywhere.”

UFC FN 56 will be headlined by a light-heavyweight bout between “Shogun” Rua and Ovince St. Preux.