Bellator free fight: Gegard Mousasi batters Rory MacDonald in champ-vs.-champ showdown

Former Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi has plans to reunite with the title when he takes on Douglas Lima on May 9 at Bellator 242.

Welterweight champion Lima will step up to 185 pounds to tussle with Mousasi for the now vacant middleweight title in San Jose, and both men have a common opponent on their recent records.

Lima defeated Rory MacDonald by unanimous decision to capture the welterweight title at Bellator 232 last October, but when Mousasi welcomed MacDonald’s challenge for the middleweight strap he held back at Bellator 206, his performance was even more emphatic.

Mousasi delivered a one-sided beatdown to “The Red King” as he punished an ambitious Imanari roll attempt from the Canadian to finish him with a barrage of elbows in the second round.

Mousasi looked sharper, faster and more powerful than the then-welterweight champion as he connected with MacDonald almost at will in the stand-up exchanges, mixing up his attack from the head to the legs as he switched from snapping straight punches to powerful leg kicks.

Mousasi will be looking to produce a similarly dominant performance when he returns to the cage to battle Lima for the vacant 185-pound title as he bids to reclaim his middleweight crown and become a two-time Bellator champ.

You can watch “The Dreamcatcher’s” win over “The Red King” in full in the video above.