'Wild' West Official for Bellator Season 6 Bantamweight Draw

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Bellator Fighting Championships announced Friday that two-time tournament veteran Ed West will go for a hat trick in Season 6.

A total of five competitors have now been officially announced for the upcoming bantamweight draw. West joins Marcos Galvao, Alexis Vila, Luis Alberto Nogueira and Rodrigo Lima as a verified participant.

Sherdog.com has also confirmed that former Shooto champion Masakatsu Ueda will fight in the tournament, though the Japanese standout has yet to be made an official participant by the organization.

In addition to the bantamweight field, the Chicago-based promotion will also hold tournaments in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions. Season 6 is expected to kick off in March on MTV2.

A five-time Bellator veteran, West, 28, fought his way to the finals of the promotion's third-season bantamweight draw, besting Bryan Goldsby and Jose Vega before being outwrestled by tournament champion Zach Makovsky in a five-round unanimous decision defeat.

After his failed bid to capture Bellator's inaugural 135-pound title, West returned for the Season 5 tournament this past September, outpointing Luis Alberto Nogueira in the quarterfinals before dropping a split decision to eventual tournament winner Eduardo Dantas in the round of four.