5 Things You Might Not Know About Douglas Lima

Douglas Lima’s road to a fourth run as Bellator MMA welterweight champion begins against an opponent with whom he has grown intimately familiar.

Lima will rematch Michael Page in the Bellator 267 main event on Friday at the SSE Arena in London, where he looks to improve to 2-0 in his head-to-head series between the two longtime contenders. He knocked out Page in the second round of their initial encounter at Bellator 221 in May 2019. However, Lima enters the cage on the heels of a two-fight losing streak. The 33-year-old Brazilian last appeared in the Bellator 260 headliner, where he surrendered the welterweight crown to the unbeaten Yaroslav Amosov in a five-round unanimous decision on June 11.

As Lima moves towards his second confrontation with Page, here are five things you might not know about him:

1. He has established residence in the Bellator record book.

Lima made his organizational debut at Bellator 49, where he took a three-round unanimous decision from Steve Carl in the Season 5 welterweight quarterfinals on Sept. 10, 2011. He went on to win the tournament with back-to-back knockouts of Chris Lozano and Ben Saunders. More than a decade later, Lima ranks first on the Scott Coker-led promotion’s all-time list in knockouts (nine), third in title fights (nine), fourth in victories (14) and fifth in appearances (19).

2. Only serious opponents need apply.

The nine men who have defeated Lima—Amosov, Gegard Mousasi, Rory MacDonald, Andrey Koreshkov, Ben Askren, Eric Dahlberg, Charles Blanchard, Brent Weedman and Matt Brown—have a cumulative record of 202-52-4 (.783) and 76.7% finish rate.

3. He has yet to go home again.

Born in Goiania, Brazil, on Jan. 5, 1988, Lima has never fought professionally in his homeland. He has made 33 appearances in the United States, six in Canada, one in England and one in Israel.

4. His has a vast arsenal of offensive weaponry at his disposal.

Lima trains out of an American Top Team affiliate in Atlanta and holds the rank of black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Roan Carneiro. He has 10 submission wins to his credit, including three by rear-naked choke, two by triangle armbar, two by armbar and two by triangle choke. Lima also prompted a verbal submission from Steve Linton at an International Sport Combat Federation event in 2006.

5. He walks in exclusive company.

Lima remains one of only six fighters who have held the undisputed Bellator welterweight championship, with Amosov, Koreshkov, MacDonald, Askren and Lyman Good being the others. His three title reigns at 170 pounds have encompassed 1,486 days.