Douglas Lima hoping Bellator re-books Gegard Mousasi fight for July

Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima hopes his canceled vacant middleweight title fight against Gegard Mousasi is re-booked to take place in July.

Lima was set to step up a weight class and take on one of the best in the world in Mousasi in the co-main event of Bellator 242. But Bellator decided to cancel that card, as well as the promotion’s other upcoming events, and the promotion is now looking to re-launch its shows starting in July. If that’s the case, then Lima wants on the card.

“For sure, that’s the plan. The next step right now is the middleweight title. They just postponed the fight, and we’ll see what happens. Bellator said they want to start the shows again in July. I don’t have any details or anything, but hopefully we’re one of the first fights. The plan is this fight for the middleweight gold,” Lima told MMAFighting.com’s Mike Heck.

Lima most recently fought at Bellator 232 last October when he defeated Rory MacDonald by unanimous decision to win the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix as well as the undisputed belt. He decided to make the move up to middleweight and take on Mousasi for the vacant belt after champion Rafael Lovato Jr. was forced to give up his title.

In the meantime, Lima has been taking shots at UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman after the two recently encountered each other in person and had an intense staredown. This seems like an unlikely fight to see anytime soon given both men are in different promotions, but if at some point both men become free agents, perhaps it’s a fight that we could one day see. In the meantime, Lima is clearly focused on taking on Mousasi in what is arguably the toughest fight of his career.

Who do you think wins, Gegard Mousasi or Douglas Lima?