Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell goes backto work Friday night – but his title won’t be on the line.

Instead, Caldwell (12-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) will move up to featherweight for a non-title bout against Noad Lahat (12-3 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) in the Bellator 204 main event. It’s Caldwell’s way of giving himself a challenge, and a win almost certainly would have him wanting a title fight at 145 pounds.

Bellator 204 takes place Friday at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. The main card will air on Paramount following prelims on MMAjunkie.

Caldwell won Bellator’s bantamweight title in October 2017 with a decision over Eduardo Dantas. In March, he defended it with a first-round submission of Leandro Higo. Now he’ll move back to featherweight for the first time since October 2014. His 135-pound title won’t be on the line against Lahat in what for now may amount to a stay-busy fight.

Lahat has won three of his four fights for Bellator since signing after a 2-2 stint in the UFC. He has submissions of Scott Cleve and Lloyd Carter, and most recently took a decision from Jeremiah Labiano at Bellator 188 in his native Israel to bounce back from a decision loss to Henry Corrales.

In the video above, Caldwell talks about his journey to MMA and how it started with his wrestling background.