NEW YORK – [autotag]Gegard Mousasi[/autotag] admits that he would rather have tried to regain his belt from the man who took it from him.
Former Bellator middleweight champion Mousasi (46-7-2 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) lost the title to [autotag]Rafael Lovato Jr.[/autotag] in June 2019 via majority decision for his first loss in four years.
Mousasi was eager to run things back, vowing to knock out Lovato in a rematch, but ongoing medical issues have forced Lovato to relinquish the belt and putting the possibility of avenging the loss at least on hold.
Mousasi (46-7-2 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) bounced back with a win over former UFC light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida, and he will now face welterweight champ [autotag]Douglas Lima[/autotag] for the vacant 185-pound title in May at Bellator 242.
Lima (32-7 MMA, 14-3 BMMA) is a formidable opponent but not what Mousasi wanted.
“It’s for the belt against a worthy opponent, Douglas Lima,” Mousasi told MMA Junkie. “It’s a great matchup for me, I feel, but of course I wanted to fight Lovato, but he has some health issues, so it’s not in my mind at this time. I really wanted to erase that loss, let’s say.
“I should have won that fight (against Lovato). I could have won, let’s say, and I didn’t because the way I fought I felt, it wasn’t because of the opponent. He wasn’t a lot better or anything. I felt like I didn’t perform, and that was a little bit difficult to swallow.”
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Mousasi is a little familiar with Lima, having trained with him in the past, so Lima was never even on his radar as a potential future opponent. But things change.
“It was maybe one-and-a-half years ago, maybe longer even,” Mousasi said. “Never thought of fighting him. Very nice guy, humble guy, nothing but respect for him.”
Bellator 242 takes place May 9 at SAP Center in San Jose and airs on Paramount/DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
You can hear more from Mousasi in the video above.
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