Bellator MMA president Scott Coker believes Gegard Mousasi’s future is in the light heavyweight division.
Mousasi became a two-time middleweight champion following his dominant unanimous decision victory over Douglas Lima in the Bellator 250 headliner on Thursday.
Although he was the favorite, many expected a more competitive fight for Mousasi was never really troubled by Lima throughout the 25 minutes of action.
And now that Mousasi is back on top of the 185-pound division, Coker would like to see him move up to light heavyweight.
“When we signed Gegard he had a desire to fight at 205,” Coker said in the post-fight press conference (via MMA Junkie). “We’re going to explore that. We’ve got some great fights for him at 205.
“I still think we have the best 205-pound weight class in the world. We have I think six, seven, eight deep, including Corey Anderson who is going to fight Melvin (Manhoef) next week. To me, it’s something that I think he should do and he should go and try to check it out. But it’s up to him. We’ll see how he feels.”
Mousasi last competed at 205 back in 2013 when he made his UFC debut. And if he does move up, Coker has a few names in mind he would like for him to face.
There’s also the possibility of him becoming a simultaneous two-weight champion by facing current light heavyweight king Vadim Nemkov in a champion vs. champion bout.
For now, Coker will just let Mousasi celebrate his victory and rest up.
“I think him fighting Ryan Bader – I could see him fighting maybe Corey Anderson,” Coker added. “There’s a lot of guys. Even fighting (Vadim) Nemkov at some point. If he wants to go for the belt, we could have that conversation. He’s been focusing on this fight, and now that it’s over, I’m going to let him rest up and then we’ll have some conversations.”
