Dan Hornbuckle Inks Contract With Bellator Fighting Championship

MMA Junkie is reporting that Dan Hornbuckle has signed a contract with Bellator Fighting Championships:

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.

Hornbuckle, Askren, McClintock all in one tournament with champion Lyman Good waiting for the winner? This is the kind of stuff that we used to see in the old days of MMA where tournaments with top level talent were common. If anything, this is what The Ultimate Fighter was supposed to represent; top level prospects competing in a tournament format to prove their worth. Unfortunately we’ve seen “reality show antics” take over that TV show where Bellator will just provide us with a chance to see great fighters fighting.