Lima vs. Jackson Promoted to Bellator 283 Main Event; Musayev In Against Outlaw

Following an injury to lightweight champion Patricky Freire, a welterweight showdown between Douglas Lima and Jason Jackson has been elevated to the Bellator 283 main event.

Meanwhile, Tofiq Musayev will step in against Sidney Outlaw in the co-headliner. Outlaw was originally slated to challenge Freire for lightweight gold, while Musayev was booked against Adam Piccolotti, who also withdrew from the card due to injury. Promotion officials announced the changes on Tuesday. Lima vs. Jackson will now be contested over five rounds.

Bellator 283 takes place at Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash., on July 22. The main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel, the Bellator MMA YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

On the preliminary draw, new signee Archie Colgan will replace Vladimir Tokov and face Justin Montalvo in a lighweight bout, while a proposed light heavyweight scrap between Jose Augusto Azevedo Barros and Viktor Nemkov was canceled due to a Nemkov injury.

A former welterweight champion, Lima is mired in the first three-fight losing streak of his professional career. The American Top Team Atlanta standout lost a five-round verdict to Gegard Mousasi in a bid for 185-pound gold before relinquishing the welterweight strap to Yaroslav Amosov in a decision loss at Bellator 260. Most recently, Lima dropped a split decision against Michael Page in a rematch at Bellator 267 this past October.

Jackson, meanwhile, has compiled a five-bout winning streak to emerge as a top contender at 170 pounds. During his run, “The Ass Kicking Machine” has earned notable triumphs over the likes of Benson Henderson, Neiman Gracie and Paul Daley to run his career mark to 15-4.