Bellator welterweight stud Douglas Lima today revealed on Twitter that he has re-signed with Bellator MMA. This is what Lima tweeted: “I just re-signed with Bellator MMA long term. I’m very happy and blessed! Working very hard to GET THAT BELT!!” The terms of the contracts weren’t immediately available, but it’s like he signed a deal in the vicinity of four to eight fights, which is the norm in MMA. This is an excellent re-signing for Bellator as I firmly believe Lima is the second-best welterweight in their organization outside of champion Ben Askren, who is a free agent and who has a cloudy future with Bellator. I believe Bellator wouldn’t mind if Askren left to go to the UFC and if Lima, who is the No. 1 contender after winning the last welterweight tournament, assumes role of champion because he is a much more fan-friendly fighter than Askren is and he’s a guy that Bellator can really build into a star in the mold of Hector Lombard. We’ll see what the future holds for Lima but expect him back in the cage in the next few months, even if it’s a non-title fight to keep him busy until Bellator figures out the Askren situation. Dias vs. Kawajiri, Kikuno vs. Mulhern Added To UFC Singapore Two new bouts were recently announced for the upcoming UFC Singapore card, which takes place Jan. 4, 2014. The first is a featherweight matchup between Hacran Dias and Tatsuya Kawajiri. I really like this matchup actually and I’m looking forward very much to seeing Kawajiri in the Octagon. However, this isn’t an easy fight for him at all as Dias is known to grind fights out and if he can land the takedowns, he can win this fight. The fight should be close in the betting lines but I would expect Dias to open as a slight favorite based on his wrestling. And the other fight announced is a lightweight clash between Katsunori Kikuno and Quinn Mulhern. This is a classic matchup as it pits a striker vs. a grappler, but unlike most instances where I’d lean towards the grappler, I just don’t think Mulhern is that great and I’m very curious how he will look at 155 pounds, which he will be cutting to for the first time. Look for Kikuno to open as a tiny favorite but this fight is pretty hard to call. UFC Will Keep Drysdale Despite Failed Drug Test It was reported by reporter Steven Marrocco of MMAjunkie.com last week that light heavyweight Robert Drysdale had flunked an out-of-competition drug test before his promotional debut at UFC 167, but last night MMAjunkie.com reported that Drysdale would get another fight in the organization once he takes care of his licensing issues. I like Drysdale as a prospect but if the UFC wants to start sending a serious message that they won’t tolerate failed drug tests they should have cut him immediately. But we’ve seen time and time again that fighters can fail drug tests and still be employed by the UFC so I’m not surprised by this news at all.
