Bellator Makes Rampage vs Sonnen the Main Event for Bellator 192

Everyone was expecting that the highly anticipated welterweight title fight between Rory MacDonald and the champion, Douglas Lima was going to headline their big January 20th show. I mean, the welterweights are even highlighted on the poster as if they are the main event. But just a week before, Bellator has made the change to swap the co-main with the main making the first fight of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix between UFC veteran middleweight and light heavyweight, Chael Sonnen and former UFC champ, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. TheSportingNews’ Steven Muehlhausen confirmed the change via Bellator president, Scott Coker.

Can confirm via @BellatorMMA President Scott Coker, the main event of #Bellator192 will be Chael Sonnen vs Rampage Jackson with Douglas Lima vs Rory MacDonald WW Title Fight as the co-headliner. #MMA @sonnench

— Steven Muehlhausen (@SMuehlhausenJr) January 12, 2018

Can confirm via @BellatorMMA President Scott Coker, the main event of #Bellator192 will be Chael Sonnen vs Rampage Jackson with Douglas Lima vs Rory MacDonald WW Title Fight as the co-headliner. #MMA @sonnench

For Bellator, this won’t be the first time that they’ve had a non-title fight billed higher than a title fight. They have actually done this two times prior with the last time being at Bellator 180 when Sonnen took on and defeated Wanderlei Silva. That fight actually headlined over three title fights and the co-main event also wasn’t a title fight. The first time being when Tito Ortiz fought Stephan Bonnar.

Many have voiced their opinions that Lima vs MacDonald is the greatest matchup in Bellator history which is why this change may come as such a surprise. It’s also quite a hard opinion to argue against. MacDonald is will be making his sophomore appearance inside the Bellator cage after running through one of their biggest stars in Paul “Semtex” Daley. Lima is a two time champion at 170 lbs for Bellator and after his last win over the hot free agent, Lorenz Larkin, Lima continues to show how skilled he truly is.

Do you agree with the decision to make Rampage vs Sonnen the main event over Lima vs MacDonald?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/12/2018.