Former Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima will return to the Bellator cage next week at Bellator 156 as he will meet Chidi Njokuani in the co-main event of the fight card coming from the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.
The fight against Njokuani will be the first fight for Lima (26-6) since losing the Bellator title to Andrey Koreshkov at Bellator 140 eleven months ago. Since that fight, Lima has been recovering from injuries and will be looking to make his case for a title shot next Friday night when he meets Njokuani.
On this past Friday’s edition of “The MMA Report Podcast,” Lima was a guest on the show to preview his upcoming fight at Bellator 156. Along with talking about his fight against Njokuani, Lima admitted that he considered a move up to the middleweight division prior to signing the bout agreement to face Njokuani.
“Honestly it was before I signed the contract for this fight, I was actually thinking of moving up to 85,” Lima stated on The MMA Report Podcast about potentially moving up to middleweight. “We thought about it for a couple of weeks, but we decided to go back to 170. I don’t know man. I feel good now. My weight much lower. I am not going to have a massive cut this time and I just feel good. I think I got some unfinished business at 170. There are a lot of good fights there that I want to fight. Middleweight is out of the question. I am not thinking about that now. Main goal for me is the welterweight bout so that is what we are going for.
Check out Lima’s complete interview from Friday’s edition of “The MMA Report Podcast” below and be sure to subscribe to the show on iTunes and Stitcher.