Former Bellator Welterweight champion Douglas Lima will return to the Bellator cage on September 17 when he faces Aaron Jeffery in a Middleweight contest.
The 185lbs clash will take place at the Pechanga Arena on, what is shaping up to be, a big night of fights in San Diego, topped by an all Russian Lightweight title fight as Usman Nurmagomedov puts his title on the line against Alexander Shabliy.
After a hugely successful period in his career, Lima has struggled to consistent form of late, picking up several losses in a relatively short space of time.
In his last five contests, Lima has only found himself on the right side of the result once, when he defeated Costello Van Steenis at Bellator 296. Before that, Lima was on a four fight skid. The first of the losses came against Gegard Mousasi for the vacant Middleweight title at Bellator 250 before he then dropped back to Welterweight to face, then champion, Yaroslav Amosov at Bellator 260. It was another decision loss for Lima, who then returned to action just four months later and faced MVP. Prior to their Bellator 267 contest, Lima was the only man to have ever beaten MVP but the London Shootfighters Welterweight evened the score when he claimed a split decision win. His fourth and final loss of the skid came at the hands of Jason Jackson, who walked away with a unanimous decision win at Bellator 283.
Although entering the contest on the back of a win, by the time the fight night rolls around, Lima would have been out of the cage for 16 months. In stark contrast, Jeffery has competed twice since Lima’s last outing.
In his most recent contest, Jeffery took on Fabian Edwards in a number one contender bout at Bellator Champions Series Belfast. The two men left it all inside the cage but after the 15 minute war, it was Edwards who was the man having his hand raised by way of unanimous decision. Lima will be another huge name on Jeffery’s impressive resume, having previously squared off with the likes of Edwards, John Salter and Austin Vanderford.
