Bellator Fighting Championships added another star to its season-two welterweight tournament with the signing of top free agent Dan Hornbuckle.
Bellator officials today exclusively revealed the signing to MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com).Hornbuckle (19-2), whose 2009 breakout year included knockouts of Akihiro Gono and Nick Thompson in the Japanese-based World Victory Road promotion, has posted stoppages in 18 of his 19 career wins.
Bellator's season-two tournaments, which commence on April 8 with a 12-week season, are held in four different weight classes and determine No. 1 contenders for the champions who were crowned in the organization's debut season. In addition to Hornbuckle, Bellator also recently signed former U.S. Olympic wrestler and two-time NCAA Division I national champion Ben Askren (3-0) and highly touted prospect Jacob "Tick Tock" McClintock (6-0) for the 170-pound tourney.
"When we began the recruiting process for season two and beyond, Dan Hornbuckle was one of our top targets," Bjorn Rebney, founder and CEO of Bellator Fighting Championships, stated. "To be able to land a fighter like Dan is another sign of our commitment to bring world-class fights to MMA fans on a weekly basis."
As the organization announced earlier this year, Bellator has pieced together a first-of-its-kind broadcast alliance that calls for live weekly events on FSN and weekend highlights shows on NBC and Telemundo. The first season aired on ESPN Deportes and garnered solid ratings on the Spanish-language station.
The 28-year-old Hornbuckle, who's won 17 of his past 18 fights (and four straight), has kept a steady pace of fights since turning pro in early 2006. In fact, he's averaged a fight every two months, and eight during a 10-month span in 2006.
With a successful run in the tournament, Honrbuckle would meet Lyman Good (10-0), who won the season-one tourney with wins over Hector Urbina, Jorge Ortiz and Omar De La Cruz (all via stoppage) to become the Bellator welterweight champion.
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