UFC Vet Maiquel Falcao Confirmed For Bellator Middleweight Tourney

With Sherdog's report that Maiquel Falcao will indeed take part in Bellator's Season 6 middleweight tournament, the field of 185-pound fighters has expanded to six.

Falcao fought in the UFC once, in November of 2010, taking a unanimous decision win over Gerald Harris. However, as legal complications arose relating to a 2002 arrest, Falcao was cut from the ranks before he could make a second appearance. Falcao has competed three times since then, with a submission loss to Antonio Braga Neto splitting a pair of first-round TKO victories.

Falcao will be competing against a host of knockout artists and submission specialists, most of them so far only strongly rumored participants, for a shot at the Bellator championship. Below, a look at the likely tournament contenders...

• Brian Rogers (8-3-0) compiled a seven-fight winning streak, including wins in both Strikeforce and Bellator, before falling last October to Alexander Schlemenko's knees. He is the only other tournament participant to be definitely confirmed.
  
• Brett Cooper (16-7-0) followed his own loss to Schlemenko with three straight victories, including slight upsets over Joe Doerksen and one-time Bellator finalist Jared Hess. Eleven of Cooper's sixteen victories have come by (T)KO.
  
• Like most of the men on this list, Vitor Vianna (12-2-1) also saw a win streak come to a halt courtesy of Alexander Schlemenko. A Season 5 finalist, Vianna holds wins over Bryan Baker and current UFC middleweight Francis Carmont.
• Vyacheslav Vasilevsky (15-1-0) has spent his entire career fighting on the European circuit. He's currently on a fourteen-fight tear, which includes a third-round submission of UFC vet Xavier Foupa-Pokam.
• Giva Santana (17-1-0), known also as "The Arm Collector," has defeated fifteen opponents by way of submission, and no less than thirteen of those by armbar. His current six-fight win streak includes victories over former WEC champion Doug Marshall and former Strikeforce title contender Anthony Ruiz.