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Join date : 2011-11-19
Bellator 90's Douglas Lima sees move from welterweight to middleweight in future
Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:47 pm
Douglas Lima hasn't fared too poorly at 170 pounds.
He won the Maximum Fighting Championship welterweight title. And then he went to Bellator, won the $100,000 Season 5 tournament and fought for the title there, too. Not too shabby for a 25-year-old.
Lima (23-5 MMA, 5-1) fights Bryan Baker (18-4 MMA, 8-3) on Thursday at Bellator 90 in a Season 8 welterweight tournament semifinal fight, which takes place at Maverik Center in Salt Lake City. The event's main card airs live on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.
Clearly, his eyes are on a Bellator title at 170. But Lima also is thinking about the future, and he believes his future is likely to be at middleweight.
"I'm really thinking about moving up a weight class real soon," Lima on Tuesday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "I don't know how much longer I can keep making the weight. It's a big thing I'm thinking about right now – maybe even later this year. Let's see how this tournament turns out, and let's see what's going to happen."
Lima said making the 170-pound weight becomes especially hard during Bellator's tournaments, which require three fights in three months, essentially four weeks apart.
Though he said he tries to keep the weight down in between tournament fights, Lima believes age is on his side now. He's 25 years old. But eventually, that's going to catch up to him when it comes to having to cut the amount he drops to make welterweight.
"It's not just the tournament," he said. "I'm just getting too big – 35 to 40 pounds is too much to cut. I don't want to kill my body. Right now, I'm young and I can do it. But later on, it's not going to be much fun.
"I eat a lot, but I do eat healthy – just too much intake. But before a fight, I eat really clean for six weeks. It's not about eating better – it's just how much I like to eat."
Against Baker, though, Lima won't be thinking about future plans at middleweight. He'll just be thinking about the next step toward another Bellator tournament crown and the $100,000 in total prize money that comes along with it.
And, of course, another shot at the title. His wins over Steve Carl, Chris Lozano and Ben Saunders got him a crack at Ben Askren in 2012, which he dropped by unanimous decision. He'd like nothing more than another crack.
Michael Tsarev was a TKO victim of Lima's brutal leg kicks this past month in the opening round. But he's not thinking about what Baker brings to the table so much as what he hopes to do: "The main thing is just get the fight over with as soon as possible.
"I've fought guys with his height before. He's just a different type of striker and comes in different ways. He's got a lot more reach than me, but i've fought guys like that and I'm not really concerned about him. I'm worried about what I'm going to do. I'm trained hard and I'm ready for this fight."
http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/02/bellator-90s-douglas-lima-sees-move-from-welterweight-to-middleweight-in-future
He won the Maximum Fighting Championship welterweight title. And then he went to Bellator, won the $100,000 Season 5 tournament and fought for the title there, too. Not too shabby for a 25-year-old.
Lima (23-5 MMA, 5-1) fights Bryan Baker (18-4 MMA, 8-3) on Thursday at Bellator 90 in a Season 8 welterweight tournament semifinal fight, which takes place at Maverik Center in Salt Lake City. The event's main card airs live on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.
Clearly, his eyes are on a Bellator title at 170. But Lima also is thinking about the future, and he believes his future is likely to be at middleweight.
"I'm really thinking about moving up a weight class real soon," Lima on Tuesday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "I don't know how much longer I can keep making the weight. It's a big thing I'm thinking about right now – maybe even later this year. Let's see how this tournament turns out, and let's see what's going to happen."
Lima said making the 170-pound weight becomes especially hard during Bellator's tournaments, which require three fights in three months, essentially four weeks apart.
Though he said he tries to keep the weight down in between tournament fights, Lima believes age is on his side now. He's 25 years old. But eventually, that's going to catch up to him when it comes to having to cut the amount he drops to make welterweight.
"It's not just the tournament," he said. "I'm just getting too big – 35 to 40 pounds is too much to cut. I don't want to kill my body. Right now, I'm young and I can do it. But later on, it's not going to be much fun.
"I eat a lot, but I do eat healthy – just too much intake. But before a fight, I eat really clean for six weeks. It's not about eating better – it's just how much I like to eat."
Against Baker, though, Lima won't be thinking about future plans at middleweight. He'll just be thinking about the next step toward another Bellator tournament crown and the $100,000 in total prize money that comes along with it.
And, of course, another shot at the title. His wins over Steve Carl, Chris Lozano and Ben Saunders got him a crack at Ben Askren in 2012, which he dropped by unanimous decision. He'd like nothing more than another crack.
Michael Tsarev was a TKO victim of Lima's brutal leg kicks this past month in the opening round. But he's not thinking about what Baker brings to the table so much as what he hopes to do: "The main thing is just get the fight over with as soon as possible.
"I've fought guys with his height before. He's just a different type of striker and comes in different ways. He's got a lot more reach than me, but i've fought guys like that and I'm not really concerned about him. I'm worried about what I'm going to do. I'm trained hard and I'm ready for this fight."
http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/02/bellator-90s-douglas-lima-sees-move-from-welterweight-to-middleweight-in-future
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