Bellator NYC live blog: Douglas Lima vs. Lorenz Larkin

NEW YORK – This is the Bellator NYC live blog for Douglas Lima vs. Lorenz Larkin, a welterweight bout at Saturday night's Bellator event at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Lima, who has won four of his past five fights, will square off against Larkin, who is making his Bellator debut, in a welterweight title fight.

Check out the Bellator NYC live blog below.

Round 1: Big John McCarthy the ref. They touch gloves. Lima with a swing and a miss, and Larkin measures up something. So far not letting fly. Left from Larkin, and Lima’s not there. Tentative start here. Larkin moves forward. A couple of kick attempts by Larkin, and Lima catches one of them. Neither man doing much yet, Larkin with another leg kick, and he moves forward again. Lima doing well in spots, but not very aggressive here. Lima lands a nice right hand, and now an inside leg kick. Lima trying to come to life here, lands on fence, and Larkin bursts forward winging punches of his own. Doesn’t feel like there’s a real threat right now, but the punches when thrown are carrying import. Lima ties Larkin on fence. MMA Fighting scores R1 for Lima, 10-9.

Round 2: See if Larkin can get rolling. Lima with a right hand, and now an inside kick. Larkin returns fire, and completes his own kick. Hand leg kick from Lima, and Larkin just walks right through it. Now Larkin on fence with a violent exchange, and he lands several shots. Now at other end, Lima drops Larkin, and he goes in for the finish! He’s is ground and pounding, and Larkin is in survival mode here. But he;’s still with it, and he’s hanging in. Crazy. A few more shots, and he turns on his back, pivots, and he’s back up. Wow. Larkin knows he’s in a fight now. Lima stalks forward, and Larkin lands a push kick. Right hand from Lima nads, and now a swift hard combo on fence. Larkin got out of the way for the most part. Lima’s nose bleeding. Round ends. Nice action round. MMA Fighting scores R2 for Lima, 10-9 (20-18 overall)

Round 3: Lima with a left hand, and Larkin waving the jab. Lima still looks relatively fresh, and he’s moving around. He’s the one in pursuit. Big head kick from Larkin, was partially blocked but still there. Larkin falls into fence, but bounces off to center, and he’s the recipient of a hard body kick. LIma doing a nice job mixing it up. Might have been a low blow there, as Larkin checks his cup. He says he’s fine. They continue. Larkin mobile, and he waves a nice right hand home. Best exchange of the round comes at the end, and Lima backed Larkin to fence and let loose. MMA fighting scores R3 for Larkin, 10-9 (29-28 Lima overall)

Round 4: Larkin to the center, and he’s starting with the left hand. Lima a push kick and a follow up strike up top. Lima doing a good job rolling, and countering when Larkin commits. He slams home a nice uppercut into Larkin’s body. Crowd a little restless again, maybe still fuming after Bader-Davis. Lima a nice right hand, but right now Larkin is the one looking for the offense. High kick from Larkin. Larkin with a series of left hands there, most of which got through. Now Larkin gets overly aggressive and ends up getting pushed to the canvas, and Lima pounces. He tries to lands some shots down there, and as Larkin stands, the round ends. MMA Fighting scores R4 for Lima, 10-9 (39-37 overall for Lima)

Round 5: They touch gloves. Larkin rolls a full rotation around the cage, and Lima now backs towards the fence. Lima with a crisp right hand, that lands. Larkin with a leg kick and then he tracks Lima down for a high kick. Lima making himself elusive, for the most part. Larkin trying to get that lead jab to work for him in there, but Lima staying out. Head kick was blocked by Lima, caught his forearms. Combination from Lima, looked like he was shadow boxing — Larkin was out of there in a hurry . Now Larkin comes in with a high kick on fence and Lima catches it, can’t dump Larkin on his back. Inside of a minute to go. Lima another high kick that’s blocked. Some blood trickles from Lima’s nose. Larkin not fighting wit ha ton of urgency here. Lima swings for the fences at the end, can’t land. They hug. Fight over. MMA FIghting scores R5 for Larkin, 10-9 (48-47 for Lima overall).

Bellator NYC official results: Douglas Lima def. Lorenz Larkin via unanimous decision (50-45, 48-47, 48-47)