The Bellator welterweight grand prix kicked off at Bellator 206 on September 29. The first fight of the tournament featured a trilogy fight between two former Bellator champions, Douglas Lima and Andrey Koreshkov.
Douglas Lima Finishes Andrey Koreshkov Late
The first four rounds of this fight were very close. It was a very technical match-up throughout those first four rounds. Koreshkov came into the fight with a wrestling game plan it seemed like. That would lead to a lot of clinch work throughout the fight. While Koreshkov would hunt for takedowns, Lima did a very good job at defending and staying on his feet.
The fight seemed to not please the crowd at all. Their first two fights were very entertaining and it seemed like the crowd was expecting another one like that as boos filled the arena. Until round five when Koreshkov would begin to fade and Lima began to work. Koreshkov would look for another takedown in round five, but once again, Lima showed off his very good takedown defense. After defending the takedown, Lima would get to Koreshkov’s back where he would quickly lock up the rear naked choke. Being the tough fighter that he is, Koreshkov refused to tap and would go to sleep, awarding Lima the first win of the tournament.
Douglas Lima will now move onto the semi-finals. He will meet the winner of the very anticipated fight between Paul Daley and Michael ‘Venom’ Page. At the post fight press conference, Lima felt as if he had gotten his toughest challenge out of the way in Koreshkov. He would go on to say “Koreshkov is the man. Definitely the toughest fighter-one of the toughest fighter I’ve ever fought”.
