Bellator announces cast of ‘Fight Master’

If you’ve ever wondered how another major MMA organization would handle putting together it’s own reality show, Bellator has arrived with an answer. The cast of the upcoming ‘Fight Master: Bellator MMA’ reality series has been announced. The show will be comprised of 32 fighters competing on four separate teams. The coaches for those teams will be Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Greg Jackson, and Joe Warren.

It appears Bellator will be shaking up the tried and true (and tired) format that the Ultimate fighter set down by letting the competing fighters choose their own camps and their own opponents. I’m not sure how that will work if everyone wants to train under Greg Jackson, or if everyone wants to fight the fighter they deem to be the best or worst. There will be a series of ‘qualifying bouts,’ to start off the show which appear to be pre-picked, from there I’m guessing that fighters will be tracked into a limited series of options, but only time will tell.

For the moment what we do know is the cast. Here they are:

There’s no way to sugar coat this, this is a rough list. The names of note are UFC vet. Joe ‘Diesel’ Riggs, and former Strikeforce fighter Mike Bronzoulis. Those fighters aside, some fans may be familiar with the name Marcus Aurelio, from the similarly named Pride fighter, and Chris Lozano from his stint in Bellator’s season 5 welterweight tourney. From there it’s a dramatic drop off in recognition. Almost half of these fighters are 30 years old or older, and 14 will enter the competition having lost their last fight (Cobb is currently on a 5 fight losing streak).

Much like TUF, the eventual goal of the show is to find a diamond in the rough. The winner gets a spot in a future Bellator tournament, which isn’t exactly high stakes, but lines up pretty well with the talent they’ve brought in. The premiere airs on June 19th, 10PM Eastern and Pacific. If you’d like to get a better look at the contestants for yourselves check out the trailer here.