In a continuing effort to scout and sign the world’s best talent, Bellator Fighting Championships has added two dynamic bantamweights in Masakatsu Ueda and Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura. Both will compete in the promotion’s upcoming Season 6 Bantamweight Tournament, joining Alexis Vila, Marcos Galvao, Ed West, Rodrigo Lima, Luis Nogueira and a yet to be named final participant.

Ueda joins Bellator already well established within the MMA community, holding notable wins over Royler Gracie and current Bellator Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament Champion Eduardo Dantas. With those victories Ueda is widely considered one of the best bantamweights in the world, holding rank in nearly every major Top 10 list. Armed with one of the best grappling pedigrees in the sport, Ueda should be considered a serious contender heading into the deepest bantamweight tournament in Bellator history.

“Iron” Nakamura should have no problem sustaining a long tournament run, as the scrappy bantamweight has fought seven times since the beginning of 2010, including a unanimous decision victory over Seiji Akao on December 16th. Holding a 3-1 record alone in 2011, Nakamura will look to keep the momentum going against a tournament field that currently holds an impressive 87-20-6 record.

Bellator’s sixth season kicks of Friday, March 2nd LIVE on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX, while the preliminary fights are streamed LIVE and FREE across the globe on Spike.com. Bellator Season 6 will feature five eight-man tournaments in the bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions.

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