Gegard Mousasi has a big challenge in front of him this coming weekend as he’s slated to defend his middleweight title against welterweight champion Rory MacDonald in the headliner of Bellator 206 that takes place at the SAP Center in San Jose, California on the newly launched streaming service, DAZN.
If he is able to beat MacDonald then he already has two names in mind for his next two fights. Those names are Rafael Lovato Jr. and ex-UFC champ Lyoto Machida. There was a belief that he would rather fight Machida next but the middleweight champ made it clear in a recent interview that Lovato Jr. will be his next challenge and once he wins that fight then fight Machida.
“First, (I have to) win over Rory,” Mousasi told MMAjunkie on Wednesday. “Hopefully, we get that. Lovato, I think, is the next No. 1 contender, because I’m not going to wait until (Lyoto) Machida fights in December and have to wait four months.”
It’s already been announced that Machida currently is scheduled to make his promotional debut against Rafael Carvalho at Bellator 211. Mousasi noted that he hopes Machida is successful.
“I hope he wins, and that will be the next challenge,” he said.
Bellator 211 is set to take place on Saturday, December 15, 2018 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. The preliminary card will air online at 7:00 pm EST while the main card will air on DAZAN at 9:00 PM EST. Ilima-Lei MacFarlane vs. Valerie Letourneau for the Bellator women’s flyweight title will headline this show.
