Bellator 117's Douglas Lima considering middleweight, fight with champ Shlemenko

Douglas Lima could have the Bellator MMA welterweight title wrapped around his waist later today, but he’s not discounting the possibility of a move up to the middleweight division.

And once there, he said he’d happily accept a fight with reigning middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko.

Up first for the 26-year-old Lima (25-5 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) is tonight’s fight with Rick Hawn (18-2 MMA, 10-2 BMMA), which headlines the Spike TV-televised Bellator 117 event at Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They fight for the welterweight title vacated by longtime champ and recent ONE FC signee Ben Askren.

Lima said he definitely wants the welterweight title – it’s the next best thing to avenging a title loss to Askren in 2012, which is Lima’s only defeat in his past 14 fights – but that the weight may eventually become too taxing for him.

“I’d like to fight a weight class above,” he told MMAjunkie. “I’m not sure how much longer I will fight at 170 pounds.”

Bellator’s middleweight division is ruled by Shlemenko (50-7 MMA, 11-1 BMMA) who recently picked up career win No. 50 and his 13th straight victory by submitting Brennan Ward in a title fight at Bellator 114. The Russian could soon make a one-time move to light heavyweight for a Bellator 120 pay-per-view bout with former UFC champion Tito Ortiz.

“If I do move up, he’s certainly who I’d be aiming for,” Lima said of Shlemenko. “I think it would be a great battle. He fights hard and has been knocking everybody out.”

But he insisted his focus currently is on Hawn, who’s won four straight since dabbling in the lightweight division and ultimately suffering a title loss to then-champ Michael Chandler. The Olympian cruised through a Season 9 welterweight tournament and now is the only man standing between Lima and a belt, which thus far has been elusive during his four-year Bellator stint. Admittedly, though, Lima would rather be fighting Askren for the belt.

“That would have been better,” he said. “Some folks might say that Askren will always be champion since I didn’t get to defeat him. It would have been great to avenge that loss. It sticks in my craw. … I think it would have been a very different fight. Back then he nullified my game, undeniably. I expected him to be a good wrestler, but not that good. He has a style very different from all wrestlers with whom I’ve trained. But it would go differently now. We always learn more from our losses.

” … But what can I do? Now I’m facing Rick Hawn, and what really matters is the belt.”

Check out Lima’s breakdown of tonight’s fight above.

And for the latest on Bellator 117, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.