SAITAMA, Japan – Bellator president Scott Coker says Lorenz Larkin is in pole position to be the first man to challenge Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima in 2020.

The departure of Rory MacDonald from Bellator to the PFL squashed any thoughts of a championship rematch between the Brazilian and the Canadian, and opened up a path to the gold for the next top contender at 170 pounds.

Coker says that man is Larkin (22-7 MMA, 4-2 BMMA), who he puts just ahead of the likes of Michael Page in the welterweight pecking order to face three-time Bellator champ Lima in the New Year.

Larkin missed weight for his bout with Keita Nakamura before going the distance with the seasoned Japanese grappler at Bellator 237. But when chatting to reporters, including MMA Junkie, backstage Coker said he wouldn’t penalize the American for his faux-pas on the scale.

“We can look past that,” he said. “He came a long way and it’s not an easy task. I think that the flight, the trip, it’s just a different environment. I think in the timeframe that was different, that had a lot to do with it. The guy has fought – I don’t know his record offhand – but I think in 24 fights he has never missed weight. So we’ve got to give him a pass for that one.”

And Coker says the fact that Larkin is not just a top contender, but one that hasn’t yet faced Lima inside the Bellator cage, makes “Da Monsoon” the compelling choice to face “The Phenom” next.

“To me, I think the fight that we would like to see is Lorenz fight Lima, because he hasn’t fought him before,” he explained. “But I’d also like to see Lorenz fight ‘MVP,’ too. So, we’ll see. We’re going to mix it up and have some fun with that weight class.”

Larkin joked with reporters backstage after his win that he and Page were related and couldn’t possibly fight each other, but Coker’s grinning response to that suggested that he certainly sees the pair going head to head next year.

“Oh, is that what he said?” Coker laughed. “You know what, we’ll have a conversation with him. Don’t get too close!”