Bellator 250 Preview

Gegard Mousasi (46-7-2) is vying to take back the middleweight title he once held. His opponent, and the man standing in his way is welterweight champion Douglas Lima (32-7).

There is not a better fight that Bellator could put on right now, as two of it’s biggest stars are set to clash. This is a fantastic match-up and a fight that I am really excited to see. Mousasi is a legend of the sport. He has been involved with almost every major promotion, fighting for the likes of Pride FC, DREAM and DEEP in Asia.

Having went on to have brief stints with Cage Warriors and Bodog Fights, the Iranian-born Dutchman moved to Strikeforce for a few fights before making the jump to the UFC in 2013.

Mousasi has quite the résumé. Wins over Hector Lombard, Melvin Manhoef, Mark Hunt, Gary Goodridge and Renato “Babalu” Sobral, along with an exhibition armbar loss to Fedor Emelianenko, were the highlights of his earlier career.

During his spell with the UFC, Mousasi picked up wins over the likes of Dan Henderson, Thiago Santos, Vitor Belfort and Chris Weidman. Many were tipping Mousasi to go on to fight for UFC gold when he somewhat surprisingly left to sign for Bellator.

In Bellator, “The Dreamcatcher” has gone 4-1 so far with wins over Alexander Shlemenko, Rafael Carvalho for the middleweight title, Rory MacDonald and Lyoto Machida. His only defeat under the Bellator banner was a loss to Rafael Lovato Jr, a fight that was for Mousasi’s middleweight crown.

Lovato Jr. has since vacated the Bellator middleweight title. He was forced to retire from competing, which was confirmed yesterday due to concerns over his health. The former champion developed Cavernoma, which is a cluster of abnormal blood vessels, usually found in the brain and spinal cord.

Mousasi will need to bring his A-game and all of his experience into this fight going up against a guy like Douglas Lima.

Douglas Lima will come into this fight looking to do something Rory MacDonald couldn’t, become a dual champion. The welterweight king took the belt from MacDonald in his last fight at 170 pounds. The Brazilian is looking to test the waters at 185 pounds and will look to become Bellator’s second double champion.

Lima has been a staple in the Bellator ranks coming up on ten years now and has racked up a 14-3 fight record during that time. Recent victories over Andrey Koreshkov and a highlight reel knockout of Michael Page set him up for the title rematch with MacDonald. Lima claimed back his welterweight crown with a unanimous decision victory over the Canadian.

Confidence will be high in the welterweight champion’s camp. Lima has the style to beat Mousasi, but coming up against an experienced veteran in Mousasi is not an easy task. On the feet, the power advantage would have to go to the Brazilian, but the technical aspect of the striking game has to go to the Dutchman.

Overall, both fighters are very well rounded, and each fighter has multiple knockouts and submissions on their résumés. This is a super hard fight to call and a fight that will fiercely contested. This fight is worthy of being the headliner on any card in any promotion and I for one can not wait to see how it all unfolds.

Only two more bouts fill out the main card. Henry Corrales (17-5) will take on Brandon Girtz (16-9) in a featherweight contest. Veta Arteaga (5-4) and Desiree Yanez (5-2) will open up the proceedings on the main card, that fight is set to be contested in the flyweight division.

Bobby Voelker (33-13) and Sabah Homasi (14-8) will headline the prelims section of the card in the welterweight division. Nick Newell (16-3) returns for his third fight in the Bellator cage, he goes up against Zach Zane (14-9) at 155 pounds.

Hungarian fighter Adam Borics (15-1) will match his skills against American-based fighter Erick Sánchez (9-5) in a catchweight bout at 150 pounds. Former WWE star Jake Hager (2-0) looks to keep his undefeated streak alive in the heavyweight division, he comes up against Brandon Calton (2-0) who also has an unblemished record.

Main Card

Middleweight Gegard Mousasi vs. Douglas Lima
Featherweight Henry Corrales vs. Brandon Girtz
Women’s Flyweight Veta Arteaga vs. Desiree Yanez

Preliminary Card

Welterweight Bobby Voelker vs. Sabah Homasi
Lightweight Nick Newell vs. Zachary Zane
Featherweight Cody Law vs. Orlando Ortega
Heavyweight Jake Hager vs. Brandon Calton
Middleweight Taylor Johnson vs. Johnny Eblen
Catchweight (150 lb.) Adam Borics vs. Erick Sanchez
Middleweight Dalton Rosta vs. Ty Gwerder