The PFL became the second-largest MMA promotion in the world after acquiring Bellator. They had vowed to espouse the fighter-first approach but recently garnered criticism for their treatment of Gegard Mousasi, Kayla Harrison, and Douglas Lima. It appears the promotion listened to the critics.
PFL chairman Donn Davis recently criticized Harrison with a bizarre LeBron James–Kevin Durant comparison, which made no sense. Moreover, they released Mousasi from their contract, allegedly due to disputes. However, they appear to have taken the right direction in the case of Lima.
Douglas Lima has been re-signed to exclusive multi-year new agreement. We are excited to announce he will fight this fall 2024.
PFL via Instagram
Along with Michael Chandler and the Pitbull brothers, Mousasi and Lima were the pillars of Bellator MMA under Scott Coker. They appeared to have a huge fight purse, which the PFL seemed hesitant to pay. Donn Davis had already revealed their PFL product was profitable while the Bellator one wasn’t.
Like Mousasi, Lima was vocal about his discontent before the recent news. Nonetheless, the addition of Lima is a plus for the promotion, particularly as he is a knockout threat and a powerful leg kicker. The PFL needs superstars to compete against the UFC, and Lima is one.
Douglas Lima had criticized the PFL
Douglas Lima is one of the best fighters to not compete in the UFC. In his prime, many considered the welterweight champion a nightmare matchup for Kamaru Usman, his UFC counterpart. At Bellator, he was a three-time champion at welterweight and once unsuccessfully challenged Gegard Mousasi for the middleweight title.
Douglas Lima (Image via: Instagram)After the loss to Mousasi, he lost the welterweight title and subsequent bouts before winning his latest fight against Costello Van Steenis at Bellator 296. Soon after, the PFL acquired Bellator, but Lima was left out of much action. Moreover, Van Steenis recently won and seemingly became a number-one contender. At the time, Lima vented his frustration via X, criticizing the promotion for not honoring the contract.
Last guy I beat is fighting for the belt now. Solid win Costello great job. I’m on the sidelines for a year now, what heard was my purse was too “high” and PFL didn’t want to pay and honor my last fight on my contract.👎👎 so yeaaa @BellatorMMA @PFLMMA
— Douglas Lima (@PhenomLima) May 17, 2024
Lima holds a victory over recent UFC signee Michael Venom Page. It remains the first and only time Page suffered a knockout loss. After Lima lost the title to Yaroslav Amosov, the Ukrainian only made a single title defense as he lost to Jason Jackson Jr., who had already beaten Lima in a five-round decision.
Since then, PFL has re-signed Lima. It remains to be seen which direction they will go with him. A fight with the winner of Jackson vs. Ramazan Kuramagomedov is possible. However, Lima might have to fight one more before he gets a fourth crack at the title.
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