Lima had three straight wins before his loss to MacDonald at Bellator 192. He won the welterweight title in 2014 with a TKO of Rick Hawn, but lost it to Koreshkov 15 months later. After a win over Paul Daley, he knocked out Koreshkov in their rematch at Bellator 164 to get the belt back, then defended it at Bellator NYC with a unanimous decision over Larkin.