Douglas Lima knows he has no one to blame but himself, but that isn’t making his recent loss to Rory MacDonald any easier to digest.

The former welterweight champ certainly damaged his opponent in the Bellator 192 affair but ultimately went ultra conservative in the latter stages of the title fight and wound up ceding his title via decision. Now Lima is intent on getting a second crack at the Canadian standout.

“That’s the goal right now: Aiming for the rematch as fast as possible,” Lima told MMAjunkie Radio. “A decent fight. Wish I could have done better. Not my best performance. But you know, it happens. Bad night. We’ll be back for sure.”

Lima (29-7 MMA, 11-3 BMMA) used his devastating low kicks to batter MacDonald (20-4 MMA, 2-0 BMMA early, and the strategy certainly worked. Sporting a massive welt on his left leg, MacDonald struggled with his mobility. But “Red King” showed tremendous heart, diving forward for takedowns that allowed him to stay in the fight.

When Lima closed his guard in the fifth round and showed no intent of rising to his feet, MacDonald was able to cruise to a gutsy decision win.

Lima admits he let victory slip through his hands. Now he wants a chance to run it back, and he believes his performance in the fight means he’s still the clear top contender.

“The reason I feel that I deserve it right away is because I put up a fight,” Lima said. “It was a close fight. When you’re in the championship, you’ve really got to beat the champion. As far as a fight, I felt like I won that fight. He definitely won on the judges’ (cards). I have to go back and watch the fight. Man, I’m not making any excuses. I just went there and fought. I lost. It was my mistake, but I fought. I tried to knock him out the whole time.

“When I got my belt back, I really got it. I KOed one of the best welterweights in the world in (Andrey) Koreshkov, and he didn’t get an immediate rematch. But a fight like this, I think I deserve it.”

Lima said Bellator officials have yet to reveal their intentions, but he plans to press the issue until the fight is booked again. The Brazilian-born fighter said he’s happy to travel to MacDonald’s native Canada for the matchup, or anywhere, for that matter.

He promises to drill his wrestling and take the closed guard out of his arsenal – “Closed guard is not a friend to me,” he joked – and leave no doubt the second time out.

“The main thing for me right now is to be the champion one more time, getting that belt back,” Lima said. “A lot of respect for Rory, but we’ve got to keep this going. Round 6 is about to happen.”

To hear more from Lima, check out the video above.

For complete coverage of Bellator 192, check out the MMA Events section of the site.

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