Friday night, Bellator Heavyweight Champion Cole Konrad kicked off an impressive weekend for heavyweight MMA with his first title defense against Eric Prindle at Bellator 70 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After the event, I managed to catch up with the champion in order to talk about his victory and the current state of Team DeathClutch. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my microphone with me (again), so at times the interview is hard to hear. I’ve taken the time to transcribe it for you, available after the jump.

I managed to catch up with Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney after Bellator 69 at the L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana on Friday night. Bjorn touched on issues such as fighters who stuck out on the undercard, why the Asplund vs. Sparks fight didn’t happen, MMA in New York and much more. Come inside after the jump for the full interview, as well as fight videos from the fighters that Bjorn Rebney mentions.

(Props: TheFightNerd)

Bellator has already proven that they have a zero-tolerance policy for tournament competitors missing weight, and this afternoon, Maiquel Falcao put himself in danger of being the second finalist to be disqualified this season.

During the weigh-ins for tomorrow’s Bellator 69 event at L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Falcao punished the scales at 188 pounds, three above his middleweight limit. He has been given two hours to sweat off the excess; if he doesn’t make it happen, his opponent Andreas Spang could win the Season Six Middleweight Tournament by default, earning a title shot against a cardboard cutout of Hector Lombard. Cross your fingers for a good result, because these two really need to squash their beef. UPDATE: Falcao made weight on his second attempt.

In other Bellator weigh-in news, two undercard fighters also came in heavy on their first attempts, and welterweight semifinalist Karl Amoussou made opponent David Rickels his bitch during the staredown. You can see a GIF of that rather embarrassing moment after the jump, along with complete weigh-in results from Bellator 69, which will also feature a 115-pound women’s match between Megumi Fujii and Jessica Aguilar.

(Like this, Stone Cold?)

MMA Weekly is reporting that former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal has signed with MMA promotion Bellator Fighting Championships and professional wrestling organization Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Lawal was fired from Strikeforce after testing positive for a banned steroid and is currently serving out a nine-month suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Because of that suspension, Lawal will have to wait to be able to compete under the Bellator banner — but since he’s also signed with TNA, he can conceivably begin making some money much sooner since professional wrestling is not regulated as a competitive sport by athletic commissions. Lawal signing with both organizations fuels rumors that Bellator and TNA  — both of which air on Viacom-owned television channels and, starting in 2013, will appear on Spike TV — will somehow collaborate or cross-promote.

“Whoooooaaaa…says here this thing is a ‘Rousimar Palhares’. We’re already legally dead.”

Yesterday, while you were making terrible Star Wars jokes and/or mourning the death of MCA, lawmakers in “The Green Mountain State” were busy passing a bill to regulate the sport of mixed martial arts. Vermont is now the 46th state in the United States to regulate our sport.

My initial reaction to this news was probably the same as yours: “That’s nice.” Our second reactions were probably also pretty similiar: Damn, New York. You let the state known for its organic-granola crunching, Birkenstock wearing hippies regulate MMA before you did. Get your shit together. For real this time.

Granted, everything I know about Vermont I’ve learned from pints of Ben & Jerry’s. So let’s read the press release that the UFC issued:

“Vermont’s legislation of the sport of MMA is further evidence of the continued growth and success of our sport in this country,” said UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta. “We are pleased that fans in Vermont will now have the opportunity to watch a live UFC event in their own backyard, and look forward to making that happen.”

UFC President Dana White says that Bellator import, Hector Lombard, might just get a middleweight title shot if he beats Brian Stann in his UFC debut. “When you talk about cleaning out a division, there’s always another guy who comes up, even for a guy like Anderson…We just brought in Lombard. (If) Lombard beats Stann. … that (title) fight makes sense,” Sergio Non reports White as saying, for USA Today.

And, oh yeah, Stann vs. Lombard will headline UFC on Fox 4, according to MMA Fighting ace Mike Chiappetta. When a fan asked Chiappetta, via twitter, if the fight was set to be the main event for Fox’ fourth UFC installment, he replied in the affirmative.

(This is the last known photo taken of Jay Hieron before he was forced to cut off that thumb to fulfill contractual obligations.) 

You gotta feel sorry for Jay Hieron. After a successful run through Bellator’s season 4 welterweight tournament, he was given the chance to knock reigning champion and narcolepsy catalyst Ben Askren from his perennial throne at Bellator 56. The fight was close to say the least, but it was the general consensus that Hieron had done enough (ie. stop Askren’s takedowns) to earn the title. The judges, however, saw things differently, awarding Askren the victory despite his usual lack of anything resembling offense. Sometimes these things happen in MMA. And just like that, Hieron’s title hopes, and a ten fight win streak dating back to 2007, were destroyed.

Cut to a year later. Hieron has requested time and time again for a rematch with Askren, only to be repeatedly denied by the Bellator brass, who informed him that if he is so desperate to get “Funky,” he should sign up for the next tournament and try his luck. Hieron wasn’t having it, and asked to be released from his contract.

And although Bellator are likely dealing with some separation issues at the moment, they kindly obliged “The Thoroughbred”…on the grounds that he would return a significant amount of money first.

Hear Hieron’s side of the story after the jump. 

(Who the hell just asked me if I want to be a f*cking fighter?!) 

Talk about a great way to start of your day. Confirmed by none other than “Lightning” himself via his Twitter, it appears that Hector Lombard has officially signed with the UFC. After being offered a contract a little over a week ago, Lombard gave the Bellator brass a chance to match the UFC’s bid. But Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney must have come to the same realization that nearly every sappy rom-com protagonist has; if you love something, let it go. Here’s what he told MMAFighting, who first broke the news:

We have a business model where we make decisions based on analyzing data. Since the first day we came into being, we made decisions based on real models, not hypotheticals. The UFC model is largely based on pay-per-view, and the offer they made to Hector is going to be monetized via pay-per-view. While pay-per-view could play a role in our future, today it doesn’t. So, we did our due diligence to review the UFC contract, analyzed it in terms of charging our audience to see Hector vs. putting him on free TV, and we decided to allow the UFC to sign Hector, where I am extremely confident he will win the UFC middleweight title on pay-per-view.

Currently 31-2-1 in MMA competition, Lombard finds himself on a ridiculous 25-fight unbeaten streak, including victories over TUF 7′s Jesse Taylor, UFC veterans Brian Ebersole and Joe Doerksen, and arch-nemesis Alexander Shlemenko, who, barring a sudden signing with the UFC, will not be receiving his well-earned rematch with Lombard anytime soon. Lombard has not lost a fight since 2006, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Gegard Mousasi at Pride Bushido 13.

So I ask unto you, Potato Nation, who should Lombard face in his octagon debut? And how will he cope with fighting in a ring smaller than your average soccer arena?

Join us after the jump as we bid adieu to Hector’s Bellator run with a look back at his greatest hits. 

Even if you weren’t glued to your Twitter account last night, you still had plenty of MMA news to keep yourself entertained. From a middleweight and lightweight tournament to a post-fight brawl to a referee ignoring a fighter’s cornermen throwing in the towel, there were plenty of things to talk about. All of these story lines came from Bellator 66 last night in Cleveland, Ohio.

While this season hasn’t been a stranger to dangerously late stoppages, last night’s main event, a rematch between former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki, provided one worthy of mention in our worst referee blunders roundtable. Alvarez dropped Aoki early, and although he initially seemed hesitant to jump into Aoki’s guard, Alvarez unloaded some heavy punches that almost immediately put Aoki out cold. When the referee in charge, Jerry Krzys, didn’t stop the fight Aoki’s cornermen threw their towel into the cage. Of course, everyone knows that “throwing in the towel” is just an expression for giving up, and not a sign that the fighter’s cornermen actually believe that the fight should be stopped, right? No? Well then someone should have explained that to Jerry Krzys, who allowed the fight to continue for a few more seconds before stopping the action.

After the fight, Alvarez had a very simple question for Bellator, and an equally simple follow up request: “Bjorn Rebney where you at? Show me the money.” Of course, if Bellator can’t- or isn’t willing to- comply with that request, something tells us that the UFC will.

(Jessica Eye and Anita Rodriguez face off at yesterday’s weigh-ins. / Photo via Bellator.com)

Before the main card kicks off on MTV2, Bellator 66 will feature a set of prelim bouts featuring two UFC vets — Jason Dent and Donny Walker — as well as women’s flyweight up-and-comer Jessica “Evil” Eye. For the first time ever, you can watch all the preliminary card action right here on CagePotato.com starting at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, in the streaming video player after the jump. Free MMA is always a good thing, so give it a look!

(Anyone else want to negotiate?)

It’s looking like current Bellator middleweight champion and world renowned can-crusher Hector Lombard may finally get his chance to make waves in the UFC. Yes, it seems the man who has vowed to “take Anderson Silva’s head off” was recently offered a contract with the UFC in light of his dispute-ridden contract with Bellator expiring earlier this month. The Cuban-born knockout artist has been out of action since steamrolling Trevor Prangley in the second round of their catchweight non-title affair back in November of 2011, and has still yet to grant season five middleweight tournament winner Alexander Shlemenko his much deserved rematch. We can likely call that one a wash at this point.

And although that sucks for Shlemenko, we’ve got to admit that we’d much rather see “Lightning” in the UFC. If you recall, Lombard was supposed to make his promotional debut way back at UFC 78 in November of 2007 against Karo Parisyan, but Visa issues forced him to withdraw after he was denied entry into the country. He was eventually replaced by Ryo Chonan, who couldn’t handle “The Heat” and was defeated by unanimous decision.

Five years and countless corpses of MMA journeyman later, we may finally see Lombard live up to his potential.

But before we start setting ourselves up for disappointment, we (and the UFC) are awaiting a move from the Bellator brass, who still have an opportunity to match the UFC’s offer. Bellator CEO told Sherdog that a “strategic decision” would determine Lombard’s future with the company, but that they wouldn’t even begin deliberation until after this weekend’s Bellator 66 event:

We’ve received the final proposed UFC agreement from Hector’s attorney, and right now we are in the process of reviewing it to determine whether we’re going to match the agreement. We’ve got the 60 pages of UFC contract that were forwarded to us by Hector’s counsel.

Out of respect for Hector, I think we will turn [the UFC contract] around very quickly. Obviously, we have a huge event coming up Friday. As soon as that is over, we will sit down with our partners and go through the UFC contract line-for-line and make a strategic decision whether we’re going to match it or pass. [If we pass, we will] wish him the best and let him go knock out everybody in the UFC.

Check out more from the interview after the jump.

Before I even begin to analyze this card, let’s get a few things out of the way: No, there were not as many decisions on this card as last week’s smothering performances; the main event ended by submission. No, the card overall was not comparable to a ProElite event, although there was a light sparring session thrown in with the fights that we could have done without. Simply put, the main card of Bellator 65 brought a lot of decisions, but was overall an entertaining event.

The evening kicked off with the opening bouts of the season six bantamweight tournament. The first bout saw Marcos Galvao outwork Ed West on his way to a unanimous decision victory. West attempted to keep Galvao outside with kicks throughout the fight, but Galvao was able to consistently take West down and avoid submission attempts. When the fight would find its way back to the feet, Marcos Galvao threw flying knees and hard rights to win over the judges, 30-27 on all scorecards.

As for the other opening bout of the bantamweight tournament- it happened. That’s about all there is to say about Luis Nogueira vs. Alexis Vila. In a fight that saw very little action, Nogueira managed to avoid Vila’s wild strikes throughout the first round and take Vila’s back. And that’s about it; neither fighter landed anything of significance for the rest of the bout, although Vila was more active than Nogueira for the rest of the fight. Controversial decision? If there was more action, maybe. But since Vila’s offensive output was equally non-existent, it’s hard to say that either fighter deserved a victory.

(Bellator’s charmingly “WTF?” fight-finishes are coming to a reality show near you.)

Though Bellator Fighting Championships has been putting on high-quality fights for three years now, the organization and CEO Bjorn Rebney have been careful to not wage war with the UFC. However, it was announced today that Bellator will step just a little bit closer to direct-competitor status, with a reality show to air on the same cable network that gave the UFC its big break by airing The Ultimate Fighter — Spike TV.

After the UFC and Spike could not come to terms on continuing their partnership, Spike’s parent company Viacom bought Bellator, announcing that the new organization would begin airing programming on Spike in 2013. We now know that part of that will be a reality show featuring Bellator fighters and produced by The Amazing Race producer, Bertram van Munster.

“Some of the most physically-gifted and fascinating athletes in the world fight in Bellator, and I believe that they make ideal subjects for an innovative non-scripted series,” van Munster said in a statement released by Spike today.

Karl Amoussou vs. Chris Lozano, courtesy of IronForgesIron.com

As dangerous as Cleveland can be as a city, it has struggled to field decent sports teams and produce champions (not to mention keeping them). Last night at Bellator 63, which gave viewers the Quarterfinal round of this season’s welterweight tournament, “The Cleveland Assassin” Chris Lozano looked to break the cycle and make a run at Bellator’s welterweight title. If you’ve been paying any attention, you already know what to expect.

Perhaps no one in MMA other than Chael Sonnen embraces his alter-ego more than Lozano’s opponent, “Psycho” Karl Amoussou, who had Lozano uncharacteristically angered with his psycho routine before the fight. While that didn’t translate to either man swinging for the fences at the bell, it did lead to an early finish for the French judoka. After Amoussou cut Lozano with a head kick, “The Cleveland Assassin” took Amoussou down and landed in his guard, which would be Lozano’s only offense for the fight. From there, Amoussou swept Lozano, mounted him and took his back to sink in the rear-naked choke. Karl Amoussou improves to 14-4-2 in his welterweight debut.

Which means whoever made this picture just wasted a bunch of time.

If you were impressed with Vyacheslav Vasilvsky’s performance at Bellator 61, out gunning Victor O’Donnell en route to a unanimous decision victory, don’t get used to seeing him in Bellator just yet.

MMAJunkie.com is reporting that M-1 Global has been awarded damages from a breach of contract by former M-1 Light Heavyweight Champion Vyacheslav Vasilvsky by a Dutch court, and is planning on pursuing Vasilvsky- who wasn’t present in court, nor were any of his representatives, mind you- in the United States. Okay, that sounds pretty rough, but at least M-1 is being reasonable in their demands and not trying to bury the guy, right? Um, have you heard of M-1 Global?

The promotion has been granted €1,000 for each day he’s been in breach of contract (which, according to M-1, is exactly one year today), €5,000 for each fight he’s had in another promotion (five since 2010), and court fees. I’m not exactly a mathematician, but I think that adds up to 1,000x more money than M-1 Global could have possibly made off of Vyacheslav Vasilvsky. Ken Shamrock could not be reached for comment.

Rick Hawn, Olympic Judoka knock-out artist (Video: YouTube/BellatorMMA)

It just wouldn’t be a Friday night without a Santos-Prindle cancellation and an action-packed Bellator tournament. If you went dateless last night (or had a really awesome date) and managed to catch the opening round of the Season 6 Lightweight tourney, you were treated to some memorable scraps. For those who missed it: someone got concussed, someone’s in a cast, and we’ve got your cheat sheet right here.

Rene Nazare was looking to let his hands go from the onset, but once Thiago Michel rattled off a few front kicks to the grill his interest in a standup battle waned. Michel worked his kickboxing game all three rounds, using his long limbs to land combinations while keeping Nazare at bay. The BJJ specialist was denied takedowns throughout the fight, and when he did manage to pull Michel to the ground he was either short on time or short on action. Michel’s aggression on the feet and defense on the ground was enough to score the split decision win.

A rare submission, a knock out, and a broken limb await you after the jump.

Bellator vet Blagoi Ivanov has been placed in a medically induced coma in the intensive care unit of the Bulgarian hospital he has been recovering in since being stabbed more than six weeks ago in his homeland.

This according to a press release by the hospital, sent out today.

Doctors are planning to start hemodialysis on Ivanov soon in an attempt to save his kidneys from further damage. His breathing is being assisted by a respirator and he is being pumped full of a steady supply of antibiotics to ward off infection.

There’s no word on whether or not his physicians expect him to fully recover from the attack.

(“Menstrual period, bro. I’ve done nothing this week except retain water and eat Girl Scout cookies.”)

Remember two weeks ago when a Bellator featherweight tournament competitor was kicked out for missing weight by four pounds? That was nothing. At yesterday’s Bellator 62 weigh-ins in Laredo, Texas, season five heavyweight tournament finalist Thiago “Big Monster” Santos hit the scales at 277.8 pounds, whiffing his heavyweight limit by a full 12.8. By our calculations, this is the third greatest weigh-in failure in MMA history.

Instead of postponing Santos’s HW finals match against Eric Prindle again — remember, this fight has already been re-scheduled twice due to savage groin kick and flu-like symptoms — Bellator decided they’d had enough of Big Monster’s antics and booted him from the tournament. By default, Prindle scores the $100k check and will face undefeated champion Cole Konrad for the Bellator heavyweight title later this year.

All of Bellator 62′s season six lightweight tournament fighters were on weight for their opening-round bouts, although welterweight Joseph Daily came in three pounds heavy for his preliminary card match against Sean Spencer. Full weigh-in results and broadcast info for tonight’s event are below…

Say what you want about how bitter SPIKE is acting towards the UFC ever since acquiring rights to Bellator. But after watching Bellator 60 last night in Hammond, Indiana on MTV2, it’s not hard to understand what SPIKE sees in the promotion. Season Six kicked off with a bang, with a new featherweight champion and four men advancing in the season’s featherweight tournament.

Even without considering Joe Warren’s Greco-Roman background, it’s no surprise that Warren’s gameplan would consist of attempting takedowns early and often after the brutal knockout loss to Alexis Vila he suffered in his last fight at Bellator 51. And while Warren found success with his takedowns, he was completely unable to keep Pat Curran on the mat. Curran landed some hard shots throughout the fight, but a hard right knee in the third round put Warren out on his feet. But since the referee didn’t stop the fight, Curran then landed a flurry of punches and knees that caused Joe Warren to turn his back to the challenger. And when the referee still didn’t stop the fight, Pat Curran landed two huge uppercuts that floored Warren, finally ending the fight one minute and twenty five seconds into the third round. With the victory, Curran improves to 17-4 in his MMA career, including a 7-1 run in Bellator.

Video After the jump.

(Looks like Viacom is putting its cash behind its latest investment.)

Divorces can be so bitter, can’t they?

SPIKE is really rubbing in how much more they like their new wife’s kids than they do the ones they helped make. It must be hard for the UFC to  see them spending so much time with Bellator buying them ice cream and cotton candy, when they don’t even call them on their birthday or pay any child support.

They rubbed salt into the fresh wound this week when they announced their latest family outing: a new Bellator video game developed by their newly-formed SPIKE Games family.

Funny, they won’t even give their own kids their old home movies, yet they start a new company to help their stepkids prosper. That’s cold.

Kung-Fu Games, the group responsible for creating the somewhat underwhelming Supremacy MMA title, are helping with the project. They also worked on on the new Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat and Ugly Americans games released by 345 Games — the Viacom-owned collective made up of Spike Games and Comedy Central Games.

According to the release, the game, dubbed Bellator: Onslaught, should be out this summer.

Check out a sneak peek of the game after the jump.

A middleweight bout between Canadian standout Cory MacDonald (12-2) and well-travelled veteran Brendan Seguin (23-17-1) and a welterweight scrap between former TFC champion Ryan Ford (17-4) and WEC veteran Luis Santos (50-7-1) have been added to Bellator’s May 4 Bellator 67 card, set for Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario. CagePotato.com learned of the MacDonald-Seguin pairing and confirmed the rumored Ford-Santos bout today from sources close to both bouts.

(Ben Askren is the disease. And the Whitemare is the cure.)

From somersault knockout kicks to ill-advised backflipping guard-pass attempts, Marius Zaromskis has developed a high-risk, high-insanity MMA style that’s all his own. And though a 2010 stint in Strikeforce went terribly — with TKO losses against Nick Diaz and Evangelista Santos, and a depressing 6-second no-contest against Waachim Spiritwolf — the Lithuanian striker is preparing to give it another go for a rival American promotion.

MMAFighting.com breaks the news that Zaromskis has signed with Bellator, and will make his debut this year in the later part of their sixth season. Though he would have made an excellent replacement for War Machine, Zaromskis will not be a part of the welterweight tournament. We’ll update you when we know more about his promotional debut date and first opponent.

(Somehow, we don’t think Ben will be smiling after this fight.)

Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that the previously unannounced April 6 event we broke the news about last week will feature a main event scrap between Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren and season 5 tournament winner Douglas Lima.

As we mentioned, the event, officially named as Bellator 64, will take place at Caesar’s Windsor.

(Covering up that neck tattoo before going to court would have been a good idea.)

If you’ve been missing War Machine’s acclaimed Big House Blogs, you’re probably the only group that is going to be happy about this news.

According to the fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver, he has been sentenced to another year in jail in Las Vegas for an old charge, forcing him to withdraw from Bellator’s season six welterweight tournament that gets underway in March. He indicated on Twitter that he will begin serving his sentence in two weeks and that, as per usual, he isn’t happy with the system.

(Bellator: Now with twice as much maple syrup and back bacon.)

Canadian MMA fans will get a double-dose of Bellator Fighting Championships in back-to-back months this Spring.

CagePotato.com has learned that the Chicago-based promotion has secured May 4 for its second Ontario event of 2012 and that the show will take place at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario. As we announced last week, BFC will also be holding an April 6 event in Windsor.

The May show will be the third held at the native-run casino. Both Bellator 47 and 57 took place at the venue.

Windsor, Ontario MMA fans will likely only have to wait a few more months for their next live fight fix.

CagePotato.com has learned that Bellator Fighting Championships have penciled in an event for April 6 in Windsor, Ontario and that the event is likely to take place at Caesar’s Windsor Casino, just across the Ambassador bridge from Detroit.

(“Chainsaw-f*cking” jokes are so much funnier when Dane Cook does them.)

In their continuing efforts to pick up the best fighters that Zuffa doesn’t want, Bellator has reportedly signed former UFC heavyweight prospect Sean McCorkle to compete on the undercard of Bellator 60, March 9th in Hammond, Indiana. According to Sherdog, his opponent is expected to be Richard “Big Man” White, who has lost ten of his last twelve fights.

McCorkle’s brief spin through the Octagon was highlighted by an agonizing weight cut, a debut victory against Mark Hunt, and back-to-back stoppage losses against Stefan Struve and Christian Morecraft. Since then, he’s gone 3-0 in regional leagues, with all wins by first-round submission. Like many of his early opponents, his last two victims carried losing records. McCorkle is already booked to face Mike Gordon next Saturday at a North American Allied Fight Series event in West Virginia. Gordon is undefeated in sanctioned MMA competition, with a perfect record of 1-0. Christ, Sean, where do you find these people?

(War Machine poses with the kids’ MMA class that he is somehow allowed to teach. Props: @WarMachine170)

Two interesting updates to Bellator’s sixth season, which begins March 2nd…

— After signing to the promotion in December, War Machine has secured his quarterfinal opponent for Bellator’s upcoming welterweight tournament. As he wrote on Twitter yesterday, “Fuck ya its on! My first fight in @BellatorMMA tournament will be March 30th vs. Karl Amoussou!! Gonna send him back to France in peices!!” It will be Machine’s first appearance since his impressive post-prison win against Roger Huerta in November.

Karl “Psycho” Amoussou (13-4-2, 1-1 in Bellator) is indeed French, and has also competed for M-1, Strikeforce, DREAM, and Pancrase. The Haute Tension product most recently scored a first-round TKO over Jesus Martinez in a 175-pound catchweight bout at Bellator 59 in November. Bellator’s Season 6 welterweight bracket will include Bryan Baker, Brian Foster, undefeated triangle-choke specialist David Rickels, and Season 5 tournament finalist Ben Saunders. War Machine is already looking forward to an emotional reunion with his TUF 6 castmate.

In other news…

Ueda & Nakamura. Photos not exactly to scale. (Pics: Sherdog.com)

While some MMA promotions are culling their divisions, Bellator is steadily adding depth to its ranks. The Spike-bound organization has announced the addition of two new fighters to their roster. Japanese standouts Masakatsu Ueda and Hiroshi Nakamura will make their Bellator debuts in the Season 6 Bantamweight tournament.

Nakamura went 3-1 in 2011 and comes into the tourney riding a pair of wins over Seiji Akao and Yoshiro Maeda. With his last six fights going the distance, “Iron” seems to have the sort of Fitch-level durability one needs to survive the grueling tournament format.

Ueda has only fallen once in his six-year career. The top-10 ranked bantamweight has also only fought outside of the Shooto organization on one occasion, picking up a win over Royler Gracie at AFC 1 last September. Ueda also holds wins over Rumina Sato and Bellator Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament Champion Eduardo Dantas. He still has an upcoming bout against Kyoji Horiguchi before making his way stateside.

The pair join a nearly-completed tournament line-up of Alexis Vila, Marcos Galvao, Ed West, Rodrigo Lima, Luis Nogueira. Any favorites going in?

(Will MMA finally be able to overcome the mythical Friday Night Death Slot?)

By Jason Moles

Last week, it was announced that Bellator Fighting Championships would be changing the night they broadcast their weekly fights, beginning with their Season 6 tournaments in March 2012.

Instead of competing for an audience on Saturday nights, when most fans are preoccupied with UFC pay-per-views and college football, Bjorn Rebney in conjunction with Viacom, has determined the best night for the largest number of MMA fans to enjoy the show is Friday. Good choice? Perhaps.

Also airing on Friday nights starting in 2012 is the UFC’s flagship reality series, The Ultimate Fighter. In its fifteenth season, Zuffa decided to mix it up a bit in hopes of revitalizing fan interest and attracting new viewers by airing the fights live.

So will Bellator gain any ground if they’re still competing with the world’s largest MMA promotion? Will the in-house shenanigans, trash-talking coaches, and UFC brand be able to attract a larger audience than an entire night of live fights, some of which have been classified as ‘Super‘? Not only can we not be in two places at once, we can’t watch two television programs at the same time either. So, who wins the ratings war?