Bellator Adds Olympic Judoka Rick Hawn To Season Four Welterweight Tournament (VIDEO)

Bellator announced yesterday that former Olympic Judoka and undefeated MMA prospect Rick Hawn will participate in season four’s welterweight tournament. Hawn – who FIGHT! profiled nearly a year ago – was a buzz fighter among hardcore fight fans leading up to his Bellator debut at Bellator 33 last fall and he showed out, recovering from a bad kick to throw Levon Maynard to the mat and finish him with hammerfists at the end of round 1. Video from that fight is below.

The Sityodtong / Renzo Gracie BJJ / Pedro Judo fighter is currently unranked but will enter our rankings following his next qualifying bout. The tournament winner will take home $100,000 and a shot at Bellator Welterweight Champion Ben Askren (#16).

The promotion’s inaugural Light-Heavyweight Tournament is the only other officially-announced component of Bellator’s upcoming fourth season, which will air on MTV2. In the coming weeks, Bellator will announce its season four tournament participants. To date, the only other announced fighters for season four are Dan Hornbuckle (#57 Welterweight), Daniel Gracie and Ron Sparks.

The promotion currently boasts champions in all men’s divisions but Flyweight and Light Heavyweight. Those champions are Zach Makovsky (#11 Bantamweight), Joe Warren (#2 Featherweight), Eddie Alvarez (#10 Lightweight), Ben Askren (#16 Welterweight), Hector Lombard (#6 Middleweight), Cole Konrad (#24 Heavyweight), and Zoila Frausto, who will likely be at the top of the heap when FIGHT! unveils its Women’s Flyweight Rankings.