Fighters Only

Issue 181

August 2019

He's had more KO wins than any other Bellator fighter. Yet Douglas Lima doesn't feel he's had the due respect., But now, as he gears up for the Grand Prix Final, that could be about to change.

Welterweight is arguably the most talented rich weight class in the world and one man who can lay claim to having mixed it with some of the best ever is Douglas Lima.

The 31-year-old Brazilian is on the brink of capturing his third Bellator welterweight title after navigating his way through to the final of the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix. Having defeated Andrey Koreshkov and then Michael Page in the semi-finals in May, just one man stands between Lima and an unprecedented third Bellator welterweight world title win.

The Brazilian made his professional debut in 2006 and has since fought no fewer than 38 times in five different countries. Having taken on the likes of Matt Brown, Ben Askren, Rory MacDonald and Paul Daley throughout his career, Lima has never shied away from taking on the best in the business and later this year he will get another opportunity to write his name in MMA history when he attempts to become Bellator’s most decorated ever welterweight.

Lima is currently fighting the best in the world but his journey to the top has been a long and arduous climb. His love for martial arts began at a young age back in his home country of Brazil, but unlike many of the professional fighters in his homeland, it wasn’t the influence of his family that first got him involved in the sport. Speaking exclusively to Fighters Only, Lima explained that it wasn’t until he moved to America that he began to take martial arts seriously.

“My brother and I were the first to really take up martial arts in our family,” Lima explained. “Everyone in our family, including myself just used to play soccer. I used to play every day in the streets and I guess that’s where my kicking power comes from. I absolutely loved it and I thought I would eventually go on to play professionally. Then I fell in love with martial arts and I realized that was what I wanted to pursue.

“I never really got the opportunity to properly train MMA in Brazil,” he continues. “I used to play around doing Capoeira in the streets with my friends and family, but it was never anything more than that. When we were kids we would sometimes watch films with guys like Van Damme, Schwarzenegger and then after pretend to fight each other in the backyard doing flying kicks and all of that good stuff. Martial arts was always a passion I had inside of me and I knew I was going to do it someday.”

Having gravitated away from another sport and into martial arts himself, Douglas quickly recognized that his brother Dhiego wanted to follow a similar path. Both brothers currently compete at the highest level in the UFC and Bellator respectively, but Dhiego took a while longer to gravitate toward combat sports and he made his professional MMA debut four years after his elder brother in 2010.

"My brother always played a lot of sports like soccer and he got really good at American football,” Lima said. “He was so good that he got offered a scholarship to play football in college, but he decided to follow in my footsteps and pursue MMA.

“When I first began training MMA he was still playing football so he started a little while after me. After he gave up football, he then started training 100 percent for fighting, and ever since that, all we’ve been focused on is fighting. He’s doing really well in the UFC now and I think people are starting to recognize how good he is.”

While it took a little longer for his brother to commit himself fully to the sport, Douglas knew from very early on that he wanted to pursue a professional career in martial arts. Though he admits himself that not everything came naturally to him at first, the joy that he took from learning new skills fuelled him to train hard and become the well-rounded fighter that he is today.

“From the first day I started I took this all very seriously,” Lima said. “I trained for three years before I took my first fight at 17 and then after that fight, I knew for sure this is what I wanted to do and that I could make a living out of this. I started training a lot and I’ve always loved it. To be honest with you, I wasn’t very good at the beginning and I used to get tapped out a lot. Then one day, everything just started clicking and the better I got, the more passionate I became. Along the way, I’ve always had amazing people by my side. I love this sport and I definitely want to leave a long-lasting impression.”

Lima is perhaps best known for being a two-time Bellator welterweight champion but he insists that it was a title he won before that led him to believe he was a world-class fighter. Prior to signing for Bellator in September 2011, Lima competed under the Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC) banner and racked up three impressive victories in just seven months. It was a period of his career where Lima believes his self-confidence grew exponentially.

“Before I won my world titles in Bellator, I was fighting in an organization called MFC and that was the first world title that I won,” Lima said. “I won the belt in Canada and then defended the belt. Before that, I did an eight-man tournament back in Atlanta which was at middleweight and I also won that. Even before Bellator, I had a lot of good things going for me. It was that belt in MFC though when I realized everything was clicking and that I was going places.”

Despite winning several world titles and defeating some of the biggest names in the sport, Lima feels that he isn’t getting the respect he deserves. Having competed for nearly 13 years and racked up victories over the likes of Daley, Koreshkov, and UFC fighters such as Clint Hester and Ben Saunders, Lima has an impressive record that is rivaled by few but he thinks it's only recently that people have sat up and taken notice of the scalps he's been taking.

“I don’t understand why I’m not on as many peoples’ radars,” Lima said. “Ever since I’ve come to Bellator I’ve had so many knockouts and great fights. I have the most knockouts in the company, tied with Pitbull, but it’s only now, after the MVP fight, that I feel people are starting to take notice of me. I believe it should’ve happened years ago though. I’ve been fighting at the highest level for a long time now. I feel like I’m at the top of the welterweight division already and that people should’ve recognized this already. There’s nothing I can do about this though. I’ll just keep on winning and proving it in the cage. I just want to give fans exciting fights and big knockouts.”

Lima’s last win was arguably his most high-profile victory. His semi-final Grand Prix bout against Michael Page acted as the co-main event of Bellator 221 and as many predicted, it was all-out action from the opening bell. The ending came just 35 seconds into the second round when Lima swept Page’s leg from under him and then landed a precise blow to the chin of the Englishman as he attempted to pick himself up off the floor. It was a stunning knockout and came just seconds after Page looked to be in the ascendency himself.

Reflecting on the win now, Lima believes that it was his preparation for the fight which was the key to his victory.

“That fight with Michael, oh my god, man, that was a difficult fight,” Lima said. “I always knew that heading into it. I knew from the start it would be [hard] because I’ve fought a few guys like him before, one in kickboxing actually. Fighting with hands down, dancing and moving, it’s very difficult to deal with, but it’s nothing you can’t prepare for. He’s so fast and his strikes come at you like lightning. He’s also incredibly strong and he surprised me with how strong he is in the clinch. He held my wrist down when I was in the top position, but I’m a patient fighter and I always wait for my opportunity.

“The key was not to get frustrated, because that’s how some of his previous opponents have got themselves knocked out,” he continued. “I was well prepared for that and the ending was just perfect. He hurt, but then seconds after that’s when I got connected. I landed four very hard kicks in the first round and I knew they would eventually take their toll. I just had one second of opportunity and I took it whilst he was getting up. He’s a great fighter and that was a huge win for me in my career.”

With Rory MacDonald and Neiman Gracie set to battle it out in the second semi-final of the tournament later this month, Lima knows that whoever he faces in the final will be no easy task. The prospect of facing a new opponent in Gracie holds its own appeal, but Lima openly admits that he would prefer a rematch with the man who took his belt last year.

“I think the fight with Rory would be the much bigger fight and of course, I want to run that one back,” Lima said. “It still kind of bugs me the way things ended last time. He’s a very game opponent, he’s super tough and he’s been through a lot of wars. It will be interesting to see how he approaches the fight, but I’ve little doubt that he’s going to be ready and I think he’s going to come out with something to prove. He looked okay against Fitch, but people made too much of what he said afterward. If you actually looked at him during the fight he did very well against a very difficult opponent.”

“Gracie is also a fresh face and he’s also been killing it. He’s not had as many fights, but he looked a very mature fighter against Ed Ruth and he’s definitely not someone to be taken lightly. His stand-up is getting a lot better and his jiu-jitsu is obviously world-class. He’s a very interesting fighter, but come on, if I have to choose between the two of them it’s got to be a rematch with Rory.”

Though he’s already twice before, becoming a three-time Bellator welterweight champion is Lima’s sole focus. The debate as to whether the UFC or Bellator’s welterweight is stronger will forever wae on, but in Lima’s mind, winning the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix would make it all very clear.

“For me, this Bellator welterweight title means you’re the best in the world,” Lima said. “This is a super tough tournament with a lot of amazing fighters. Bellator’s welterweight division is up there as one of the best in the world. If you don’t think it is then come fight me and prove it. The division is absolutely stacked and I think one of the best in the world. Winning this tournament will cement my legacy as one of the best welterweights in the world and no one can deny that. It’s a big tournament and I just can’t wait to get my title back. The most important thing to me right now is getting that belt. Forget the money, forget the status that comes with it; being the champion is what I want.”

At the age of 31, Lima is arguably about to enter his prime and he plans to continue fighting for many more years to come. His thirst to fight doesn’t look like being quenched any time soon and whilst he’s still racking up the wins at the highest level, he continues to build one of the most impressive welterweight resumes of all time.

“I’ve always said I want to have 70 fights,” Lima said with a chuckle. “This will be my thirty-ninth, but we will see. If I’m healthy I just want to keep fighting and I’ll do four fights a year no problem. Even those tournaments where you have two fights a night, I’d love to do one of those. I just want to stay busy and have another five or six more years doing this. I really just want to fight as many times as I can before I retire.

“The money is getting better with Bellator and most of the other promotions and that’s good to see,” he continued. “It’s all about enjoying what you’re doing and at the moment I’m loving my fighting. I just thank god that everything is going good. I just want to pile up those wins and get back what’s mine. The title will be on my shoulder again soon and I’ll then continue to prove that I’m the best in the world.”