Bellator MMA announced a massive welterweight contest today that looks to be a title eliminator. The promotion took to Twitter to announce that former welterweight champion and middleweight title challenger Douglas Lima (32-10) will be taking on Jason Jackson (15-4).
The matchup will take place on May 13th when the promotion returns to London, England. This matchup will serve as the co-main event as the main event is scheduled to be a welterweight title contest between Yaroslav Amosov and Michael “Venom” Page.
This is a huge fight for Jason Jackson. A few years ago, Jackson was on the radar of the UFC. He appeared on Dana White’s Contender Series but lost his fight due to injury. Immediately after that, Bellator signed him and he scored a TKO win.
However, he found himself back in LFA for a couple of fights after that. After a couple of additional wins, Bellator brought him back. He lost his first fight back by split decision. However, he’s been perfect since then.
Jackson is now 5-0 in his last five Bellator fights. His competition level has been high as well as he’s defeated the likes of Paul Daley, Neiman Gracie, and Benson Henderson. A win over Douglas Lima would definitely make him next for the welterweight title.
Bellator Redemption for Lima
It seems just like yesterday that people were talking about Bellator’s Douglas Lima as one of the very best in the world. Lima was riding a stretch where he went 6-1 which included knocking out Michael “Venom” Page and dominating Rory MacDonald to become welterweight champion.
He rode that momentum into challenging Gegard Mousasi for the middleweight title. He was looking to become Bellator’s double-champion. However, he was dominated by Mousasi and that forced him to move back to welterweight.
When he returned, he lost to Yaroslav Amosov in dominating fashion which lost him his welterweight title. After that, he was defeated by MVP at Bellator 267. Now, all of a sudden, Lima has lost three fights in a row.
This is a huge fight for him to prove that he’s still amongst the best in the promotion. There’s a ton riding on this fight for both men which should make for an excellent fight.