Ex-champ Douglas Lima moves back to 185, meets Costello Van Steenis at Bellator Paris

A former Bellator welterweight champion is moving back up a division, and he has his first assignment.

Douglas Lima (32-11 MMA, 14-7 BMMA) has been booked for a middleweight matchup against Costello van Steenis (14-2 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) when Bellator returns to France this spring. Bellator officials announced the new booking Thursday, as well as a light heavyweight bout between Jose Augusto (7-4 MMA, 1-2 BMMA) and Simon Biyong (9-2 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) for the prelims.

Bellator Paris takes place May 12 at Accor Arena in Paris. The main card will air on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie. The event will be Bellator’s second event in Paris in less than a year.

Lima will be looking to get back on track in what is the roughest stretch of his career. “The Phenom” beat Andrey Koreshkov in a rematch to reclaim the 170-pound title in 2016 and defended it against Lorenz Larkin in 2017. But in early 2018, he lost the belt to Rory MacDonald.

Lima rebounded with finishes of Koreshkov, then became the first fighter to beat Michael Page when he knocked him out at Bellator 221. Later in 2019, he beat MacDonald to get the welterweight title back.

Then his struggles started. He dropped a unanimous decision to then-middleweight champ Gegard Mousasi in a bid to become a two-division titleholder. Then he lost the welterweight title to Yaroslav Amosov in June 2021. Later that year, he dropped a split call to Page in a rematch, and in July 2022, he lost a decision to Jason Jackson for his fourth straight setback.

Van Steenis will be looking to build on back-to-back wins over Fabian Edwards in 2020 and a submission of Kamil Oniszczuk this past October at Bellator 287. Van Steenis, from the Netherlands, is a training partner of Mousasi, who headlines Bellator Paris.

With the additions, the Bellator Paris lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (Showtime, 4 p.m. ET)

• Gegard Mousasi vs. Fabian Edwards
• Mansour Barnaoui vs. Sidney Outlaw – lightweight grand prix quarterfinal
• Douglas Lima vs. Costello van Steenis
• Thibault Gouti vs. Kane Mousah

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, noon ET)

• Davy Gallon vs. Saul Rogers
• Jose Augusto vs. Simon Biyong