(Photo courtesy of travisthehurricane.com)

Bellator announced yesterday that they have signed 14-2 prospect Travis "The Hurricane" Reddinger for their upcoming bantamweight tournament. You can’t miss him — he’s the guy with the enormous "BELLATOR" tattoo on his stomach. So did Reddinger get the piece done in a fit of excitement after he learned of his signing? Nope. It turns out it was just a strange coincidence. As Travis explained, he got the tat four-and-a-half years ago, long before Bellator Fighting Championships even existed: 

"For me it just symbolizes perseverance and the never-say-die mentality that I strive for. I know that Bellator stands for the warrior mentality as well, so it’s a great honor for me to be a part of the organization.”

Makes sense to us, though it’s still going to to look strange when he gets picked up by the WEC. Reddinger’s Bellator-ink earns him a spot in MMA’s Weird-Stomach-Tattoo Hall of Fame. You can check out the other members after the jump…



(Weird-Stomach-Tattoo Hall of Fame chairman Paulo Filho, and his $1,000,000 pitbull-bill.)

(Jeff Monson: If you can’t decide on one stomach-tattoo, get both of ‘em.)

(Hopefully TapouT is paying Shad Smith for this one.)

(Joe Riggs: His nickname, arranged in a rainbow-arc, in Austin Powers font. Brilliant.)

(Dan Hardy, sporting some…whatever that stuff is.)

(Mike Nickels, with basically the same tattoo as Dan Hardy. If you know what it means, please enlighten us.)

(Kurt Pellegrino got his wife’s last name tattooed on his stomach. Now *that’s* romantic.)

(Go ahead, punch Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos in the liver. Mike Tyson dares you…)

(…and all of a sudden, James Irvin‘s Bad Boy tat doesn’t seem so hardcore.)

(Melvin Costa, the self-deprecating Nazi.)