Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald and new Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi want to fight each other. That could not be any clearer. 

“Obviously, me and Gegard want it and I think the fans want it,” MacDonald said on The MMA Hour this week. “I think it would be the biggest fight that Bellator, that they could put on right now. In my opinion, if they pass this opportunity by, it would be a mistake because how often can you get this kind of timing and one fight could change the direction of any one of our careers, so I think the opportunity is now and we should take it.”

“Rory is a big name,” Mousasi said on the same episode of The MMA Hour. “He’s a big name. If I win, people will know I have a win over a good fighter, a very well-known fighter. So of course it’s, for me, a win-win situation, [rather] than fighting a guy that no one knows.”

Apparently, however, Bellator will not be booking this champion vs. champion fight. At least, not yet.

“As I was walking over here, Rory was blowing my phone up going, ‘Let’s do it, I want to get this fight on,’” Coker told reporters shortly after Bellator 200 (via MMAjunkie). “We’ll go back, and let’s see. We’re working on a few things that will make sense. That fight will happen one day. How soon? I’m not sure.”

Coker continued, assuring that there are big things on the horizon for the new champ Mousasi, but implying that a fight with Rory MacDonald probably isn’t the next move.

“Gegard showed why he’s probably one of the best in the world,” Coker said of Mousasi. “Now he’s our world champion. I knew when we signed him to fight in Strikeforce he was amazing. He’s just getting better and better, and we have some great fights ahead for him.”

Do you think Bellator should book an immediate champion vs. champion fight between Gegard Mousasi and Rory MacDonald?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/30/2018.