Rory MacDonald will have a chance to claim his first world title in just his second Bellator outing after it was confirmed that ‘The Red King’ will take on incumbent 170-pound champion Douglas Lima in January.
MacDonald’s long-awaited debut for his new employers took place in London last May. The former UFC title challenger needed less than two rounds to get past the challenge of Paul Daley and announce himself as a serious threat to Lima’s welterweight belt and now the two top fighters in the division are set to cross paths.
Wasting little time in amping up their rivalry, MacDonald took to Twitter to begin the mind games.
@PhenomLima pic.twitter.com/5NeJ6rPtGI
— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) September 20, 2017
GOOD ONE
— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) September 20, 2017
Lima won the Bellator title for a second time in November after knocking out Andrey Koreshkov in the third round of their bout in Israel atop the Bellator 164 card. He defended his title against recent UFC import Lorenz Larkin at Bellator’s NYC event earlier this year. Prior to that, Lima also earned a win over Paul Daley defeating the Brit via unanimous three-round decision.
MacDonald, meanwhile, is one of the most high-profile defectors from the UFC to Scott Coker’s promotion. The Canadian welterweight is widely recognised as one of the top fighters at his weight in the world. He holds wins over current UFC champ Tyron Woodley as well as his most recent title challenger Demian Maia.
MacDonald will challenge for Lima’s title on Saturday Jan. 20th in California.
