The Doggy Bag: Now With More Nick Diaz!

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Bellator Season 6 is coming up fast. Who are some of the favorites and prospects in these upcoming tournaments? Are there any tourney fighters with a shot to be champions this season? I'm not even ashamed to admit that I am quite bummed out that War Machine will be sitting this one out behind bars. -- Peter from London

Chris Nelson, associate editor: Since you mention him, let us first address Mr. Machine. While the Bellator brass might be sad to lose an infamous UFC veteran with such unique name recognition, I do not think his incarceration diminishes the welterweight tournament all that much. If it is a lack of violence you fear, consider his replacement, Chris Lozano: a true headhunter with big power in both hands who has yet to be involved in a dull fight. If you are longing for that special WM brand of machismo and gay slurs, there is always his prison blog.

Speaking of 170-pounders with power, I am interested to see how David Rickels fares in his first Bellator tourney. The “Caveman” has solid muay Thai on the feet and a deadly triangle choke combined with slicing elbows once the fight hits the floor; the latter two might come into play in the quarterfinals, since he is lined up against a strong wrestler in Brian Foster. Slimmed-down middleweights Bryan Baker and Karl Amoussou could go far, too, but I am not sure I see any of the eight picking off the guys atop the division right now, Ben Askren and Douglas Lima.

Easily the most interesting prospect at 185 would be Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, but his participation remains in question due to a contractual squabble with his former promoter, M-1 Global. As such, I am going to go out on a limb and pick a Brazilian to win here: Season 5 finalist Vitor Vianna had a surprising run last year and could do it again, as could slugger Maiquel Falcao or armbar genius Giva Santana. Again, though, I am not sure how well any would fare against the runaway freight train that is Hector Lombard.

The 155-pound bracket is much too hard to call and features a number of guys who could prove a tough test for the relatively green Michael Chandler. Of course, the early favorite should be Patricky “Pitbull” Freire, whose only misstep in Bellator thus far came last May in a decision loss to Chandler. Then there is judoka Rick Hawn, another solid ex-welterweight in Brent Weedman and whoever emerges from the first-round matchup between Brazilian studs Rene Nazare and Thiago Michel.

One man stands out as the clear favorite at 145, and that is Marlon Sandro. I was there to witness his devastating loss to Pat Curran, and we all saw how he treated poor Rafael Dias when he came back three months later. The last time the Nova Uniao product had a serious chip on his shoulder, he rode a wave of mutilation straight to the Sengoku Raiden Championship title. There are no sure things in this bracket, however, and guys like Ronnie Mann, Daniel Straus and Alexandre “Popo” Bezerra cannot be overlooked.

Finally, the most diverse field of the season is at 135, and it is also the trickiest to predict. In a way, it is too bad that Eduardo Dantas won the Season 5 tournament, because I would love to see a rematch between the young Brazilian and ex-Shooto ruler Masakatsu Ueda. As it stands, I do not see that happening; even if “Dudu” can knock off reigning champ Zach Makovsky in their upcoming title fight, Ueda probably will not be able to handle guys like Alexis Vila and Marcos Galvao in the same way he did Royler Gracie.