nt"

Douglas Lima is hopeful he meets Michael Page in the semifinals of the Bellator welterweight grand prix, but he doesn’t view “MVP” beating Paul Daley in his first-round matchup as any sort of guarantee.

Lima (30-7 MMA, 12-3 BMMA) advanced through the quarterfinals when he beat Andrey Koreshkov (20-3 MMA, 11-3 BMMA) by fifth-round submission in their tournament quarterfinal bout at Bellator 206 in September. The bracket calls for him to fight the winner of Page (13-0 MMA, 9-0 BMMA) vs. Daley (40-16-2 MMA, 6-3 BMMA), who are expected to meet early next year.

Although Lima, the former Bellator 170-pound champion, is willing to take on all comers on his way to his tournament crown, he said he would prefer to fight Page in the next round. That’s partially because he already owns a win over Daley.

“I would like it to be ‘MVP’ just because I haven’t fought him before,” Lima told MMAjunkie. “A new face. Let’s see if he can pull it off. Daley’s not an easy fight, especially for that type of style. When Daley fights another striker he does really good. Let’s see if ‘MVP’ is able to stop him it will be good.”

Lima, 30, admits the fact he earned a unanimous-decision victory over Daley at Bellator 158 in July 2016 gives him a certainly level of confidence going into a potential rematch. However, he said the unbeaten Page would be the bigger fight, and that’s the reason he favors it.

“That’s the goal,” Lima said. “The hype has always been really big around him so it would be a big fight for sure. But he’s got a big test ahead of him. Daley’s a tough fight for anybody. Let’s see what happens, we’re got to wait and see.”

Bellator President Scott Coker recently told MMAjunkie that January is the desired month for Page and Daley to fight. Nothing is set in stone, though, and that leaves Lima somewhat in limbo when trying to figure out when his next fight is going to take place.

Lima said he never stops training and will continue to work on his skillset during his downtime. It’s slightly frustrating, he said, but Lima promises to be prepared whenever his time to fight does come around.

“It could be worse,” Lima said. “I’m just happy I’m not injured. I’m healthy and if they fight in January and everything goes good and they don’t get hurt, maybe we fight in April or May and finish by September. The idea is it’s going to take a whole year to finish the tournament.”

“I’m always training and that’s my job. (I’m going to) take a little vacation when I can with the family, but I’m just getting better. I’ve just got to make sure to be ready when my time comes.”

For more on Bellator’s schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.