Douglas Lima Breaks Hand in Semi-Final Win; Saunders Bout Postponed Until Summer
The MMA game is one of the toughest sports to remain healthy in. Obviously the dangers involved are much higher than any other professional sport as the object of the game is to hurt your opponent. With that being said it makes sense that any tournament style show, such as the current Bellator season 8 tournament, will likely hit some snags and bumps along the way. It’s rare that a fighter ever comes out of a tournament, or even a single fight for that matter, 100% healthy.
Most fighters have to fight through injuries while competing in the sport of MMA but sometimes the injuries can slow a career down and become an inconvenience to the promotion. Broken bones and torn ligaments are the big injuries that often plague fighters and promotions alike.
This time it was Bellator’s Douglas Lima who has suffered a broken hand during his semi-final victory over Bryan Baker. With the victory Lima punched his ticket to compete against Ben Saunders in the Bellator Season 8 Final. However, the broken hand suffered by Lima will need some time to heal before the two scrap for the second time under the Bellator banner (Lima knocked-out Saunders in the season 5 final).
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney tweeted about the matter earlier today:
Tough break for the re-match as @PhenomLima suffered a broken hand in his last fight. @BenSaundersMMA-Douglas will now happen this summer.
Although this slows down the conclusion of the welterweight tournament for Bellator it really couldn’t have come at a better time considering current champion Ben Askren still need to defend his strap against season 7 winner, Andrey Koreshkov, before the season 8 winner get’s their shot.
The final between Saunders and Lima, like Rebney stated above via twitter, is projected to take place sometime this summer, assuming that Lima’s injury heals properly and without complications. The winner of that fight will ultimately get a shot at the Bellator Welterweight Title.
For more information regarding the Bellator Season 8 highlights and updates check out our Bellator News here.
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That Sucks. He’s a beast
It will be a good fight against Saunders, but Askren will just put another beat down on Lima or if a miracle occurs, Saunders. Nobody in Bellator at 170 can beat Askren. I doubt GSP could.