The vacant Bellator welterweight title bout between Douglas Lima and Rick Hawn has a date as they will meet at Bellator 117 on April 18th. 
Bellator officially announced the event on Tuesday and the card will come from the Mid-American Center in Iowa.
Bellator 117 will broadcast live at 9 p.m. EST/ 8 p.m. CST on Spike TV and the preliminary card will be streamed live and free on Spike.com beginning at 7 p.m. EST/ 6 p.m. CST.
Tickets for the event will be on sale Friday, January 24th and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com, Bellator.com or by visiting the Mid-American Center Box Office.
“Without using too many cliché’s, Lima vs. Hawn is just a fight fans dream come true,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “Both of these are incredibly exciting to watch in the cage, and to have both of them set for a five round battle for our welterweight title is something I’m couldn’t be happier about.”
Lima (25-5) is a two time Bellator welterweight tournament winner and he has won seven of his eight fights in Bellator. His only defeat in Bellator came against Ben Askren and both of his tournament final wins came against Ben Saunders.
“This fight with Hawn is going to be very explosive, I think everyone is aware of that,” Lima said. “I really can’t describe how excited I am for this World Title shot. I’m bringing this belt home, and it’s not leaving me for a long time.”
Hawn (18-2) is only one of three fighters in Bellator history to win a Bellator tournament in two different weight classes. As a welterweight in Bellator, he has gone 7-1 and defeated Ron Keslar by knockout to win the season nine tournament in November.
“It’s great to be back in title contention and going for that belt,” Hawn said. “There is no question Douglas is an incredibly gifted fighter. In terms of his size and skill, this will probably be the toughest fight of my career, and I’m ready for that. I know how exciting this fight is going to be, and I’m just ready for April 18th to get here.”
The complete fight card will be announced by Bellator in the coming weeks.