CHICAGO, Ill. (January 6, 2011) — As Bellator Fighting Championships prepares to make the jump to Friday nights, the tournament fields are beginning to take shape as the lightweight and welterweight tournament participants have been revealed. Bellator’s sixth season begins Friday, March 2nd LIVE on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX, with the preliminary fights being streamed LIVE and FREE around the world on Spike.com. Season 6 will feature tournaments in the bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions.
Coming off a 50-second knockout victory over UFC veteran Kurt Pellegrino, Patricky Pitbull (@PatrickyPitbull) headlines an impressive group of 155 pounders looking to dethrone the newly crowned Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler. After a successful run at welterweight, former 2004 US Olympic judo team member Rick Hawn (@RickHawnMMA) has made the drop to lightweight and has his sights set on capturing a guaranteed title shot and $100,000 payday. The tournament will also be full of newcomers as Ricardo Tirloni (@TirloniMMA), Thiago Michael and J.J. Ambrose (@Superjjambrose) all make their Bellator tournament debuts and all come with high expectations. Joining Hawn in the weight drop is Brent Weedman (@Brent_Weedman), who will try his hand at lightweight after competing in the last two welterweight tournaments. Fan favorite Lloyd “Cupcake” Woodard (@MMAcupcake) is back with Bellator and looking to get back to his winning ways after suffering a unanimous decision loss at the hands of the current Bellator lightweight champion.
In a field that holds a combined 122-29-5 record, Bellator’s Season 6 Welterweight Tournament is loaded with talent hungry for a title shot against undefeated Bellator Welterweight Champion Ben Askren. Bellator newcomers and UFC veterans Brian Foster (@BrianFoster170) and War Machine (@WarMachine170) will be looking to make strong first impressions, while Season 5 Welterweight Tournament Finalist Ben “Killa B” Saunders (@BenSaundersMMA) will be looking to finally secure his title shot. Bellator Season 2 Middleweight finalist and Season 5 semifinalist Bryan Baker (@BryanBeastBaker) has dropped down to welterweight and plans to stir up 170-pound class. David Rickels (@TheCaveman316) and Raul Amaya both bring identical 9-0 records into the tournament, while veterans Carlos Pereira and Karl Amoussou round out one of the deepest tournaments in Bellator history.
A full list of tournament participants is listed below:
Bellator Season Six Lightweight Tournament
Patricky Pitbull
Thiago Michael
Ricardo Tirloni
Brent Weedman
Rick Hawn
J.J. Ambrose
Lloyd Woodard
TBA
Bellator Season Six Welterweight Tournament
Ben Saunders
Brian Foster
Bryan Baker
Karl Amoussou
David Rickels
Raul Amaya
Carlos Pereira
War Machine