For the first time in a long time, Douglas Lima feels healthy going into a fight.

A former three-time Bellator welterweight champion, Lima (32-11 MMA, 14-7 BMMA) will move up to middleweight for the first time Friday when he takes on Costello Van Steenis (14-2 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) in the Bellator 296 co-main event, which takes place at Accor Arena in Paris and airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

It’s a crucial fight for Lima. Not only is he changing weight classes, but he enters on a four-fight losing skid, prior to which he’d never lost consecutive fights. It’s a big moment for his career, and he thinks the move up will pay dividends in turning the tide.

“(I’m now) focusing just on training – you don’t focus a lot on losing the weight,” Lima told MMA Junkie Radio. “It’s been really a good thing. I’ve been training a lot more and focusing more on training and getting better. I always had terrible weight cuts at 170, terrible. And (they) just kept getting worse. And at this age, I think middleweight would be the best thing for me for sure. So I decided to make the move.

“I believe (the move to middleweight is permanent). I don’t think I can make 170 again. I mean I can, but man. I don’t want to go through that process. If I really have to I will, but I’m not thinking about 170 again, man. That was such a terrible weight cut. It’s getting harder as I get older. I’m 35 right now, and I think middleweight is it.”

Given his age, Lima thinks it’s imperative to focus purely on performance in the cage. Fighting at 185 pounds brings a whole new land of opportunity, but Lima isn’t getting ahead of himself. He knows getting his hand raised for the first time since October 2019 is the only thing that matters right now.

“I’m in the position where I can’t call out anybody,” Lima said. “I’m coming off some losses. I’m focusing on this guy first and then we’ll see what happens after. I am fighting a guy that has a win over (Fabian) Edwards, who is fighting (Gegard) Mousasi (at Bellator 296). Whoever wins that is fighting for the title. For me, I don’t think I’m in a position to call out anybody. But get a good win here, we’re definitely going to be asking for fights like that. Right now I’m focusing on him. That’s what I have to take care of now.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 296.