Bellator wanted the final of its welterweight tournament to take place in September. Rory MacDonald, the defending Bellator 170-pound champion, was adamant that he would not be ready until November or December.

Less than two weeks after MacDonald retained his belt with a unanimous-decision win over Neiman Gracie at Madison Square Garden, all parties — the fighters, promoter and media rights holder DAZN — agreed to split the difference and give the Bellator champion a 30-day extension to make the fight before the end of October, Bellator President Scott Coker today told The Athletic.

The location and date for that tournament final, where MacDonald (21-5-1) will rematch Douglas Lima (31-7) – have yet to be determined.

Although Bellator wished to promote the contest in September – a path that could have pushed MacDonald out of the yearlong grand prix – “everyone felt 30 days was reasonable to keep the fight intact,” Coker said via text from Italy, where he is supposed to be taking a week off following last Saturday’s Bellator card in London.

In the wake of MacDonald’s fight on June 14, his second bout in seven weeks, the 29-year-old Canadian called a September return against Lima “unrealistic.”

MacDonald also balked at making the mid-June date at MSG following a grueling majority draw against Jon Fitch on April 27, but after a week of stress, he came around despite desiring a month or two off to manage his physical and mental health.

“I had a feeling they would want (a quick turnaround),” he said at the post-event press conference. “But it’s just not possible with what’s going in my life right now. I need to take some time to heal from these fights, from these training camps, so I could be ready for a guy like Douglas.”

Rory MacDonald, left, defeated Neiman Gracie in a Bellator grand prix semifinal on June 14. (Ed Mulholland / USA TODAY Sports)

MacDonald defeated Lima at Bellator 192 in January 2018 to capture the promotion’s welterweight title.

Having worked his way into the welterweight tournament final, MacDonald is not at all surprised to meet Lima, who stopped Andrey Koreshkov last September and Michael Page in May to earn a shot at regaining the Bellator belt.

“I knew he was a strong competitor when I was up against him, and I knew I’d be matched up again down the road,” MacDonald said. “I know I’ll need to be at my best — mentally, physically. I need to come into that fight with an iron will again. That’s very important to have fighting a guy like that. I need to be like a tiger because with a hard-hitting tough guy with skill, I need to go through peaks and valleys in a fight and push through them. That’s something I’ll need to be prepared for.”

MacDonald’s head trainer, Firas Zahabi, told The Athletic that “Rory has shown that he’s still very much hungry to compete and make his mark as a champion.”

Zahabi, who has worked with MacDonald since the fighter was 18, was impressed by his charge’s back-to-back title defenses in two months and called the result against Gracie in New York a “great moment to see him grow up to be a champion.”

In order to keep the belt, MacDonald, who is 3-1-1 since joining Bellator in 2017 (the lone loss came at 185 pounds to then-middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi), said he must hone an iron will by chewing on steel for six weeks, which hardens the body and mind for battle.

“Something about that just gets you in that mind frame,” said MacDonald, who has a second child on the way — a big reason why he did not want to meet Lima in September. “Being able to push through certain low points, whereas if you’re training so-so, in good shape you might slack off a little bit.

“I wish I had an iron will every fight. Sometimes I haven’t. I’d say for most of my career I’ve been strong-minded, focused and trained properly.”

(Top photo of Rory MacDonald and Douglas Lima: Ed Mulholland / USA TODAY Sports)