This past weekend in the headliner of Bellator 267, we saw the rematch between Michael “Venom” Page (20-1) and Douglas Lima (32-10). This rematch was a couple of years in the making after the two first met back at Bellator 221 for the welterweight title.
That night, Lima became the first man to defeat MVP when he knocked him out in the second round. Outside of that loss, Page has been perfect inside the Bellator cage and really, nobody has given him much trouble.
Last Friday, Lima proved once again that he’s a very difficult matchup for MVP. MVP tried using his slick striking on the outside, but a lot of his attacks were ineffective. Lima did a fantastic job of using counters and he also was able to get the fight to the ground.
Now, both men did have their moments which made the fight very close. However, I was in agreement with the majority that watched the fight in thinking that Lima had won the fight two rounds to one.
However, when the cards were read at Bellator 267, MVP was given a split decision. Of course, many were pointing to the potential home cooking of the judges given the location of the fight. I don’t think it was a robbery, but I don’t think the right man won.
Should Bellator book the trilogy?
After Bellator 267, the only fight for both men that makes sense to me is the trilogy bout. Lima said before the fight that he considered it to be a title eliminator with the winner taking on Yaroslav Amosov (26-0).
If Lima had been given the decision, I think that would be the fight for Bellator to make given the fact that Amosov just dethroned Lima. However, with Page getting the razor close decision win, I don’t think we saw enough clarity for a title shot to be given.
Would Page be worthy of a title shot? In my opinion, yes. If Bellator went in that direction, you certainly couldn’t blame the promotion. However, after these first two fights between Lima and Page, the right thing to do is book the trilogy to settle the score once and for all.