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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Bellator has signed the first light heavyweights for their season four tournament, as MMAWeekly.com reports that Daniel Gracie will join the organization in 2011.
Per the report, Gracie will meet Tim Carpenter in February of 2011 in the opening round of the first ever light heavyweight tournament in Bellator's young history.
Gracie's manager commented on the decision to sign with Bellator.
"Daniel is older, he wants to fight now every month, and this is a good opportunity for him to fight in the tournament," Abdel-Aziz said. "I'm very confident and I think Daniel will have the opportunity to win the tournament."
"Daniel took almost four years off and now he wants to fight every month, and Bellator offered us the opportunity for him to fight, and I think it's going to have a very, very good outcome."
Gracie put together a 4-2-1 record in Japan and in the IFL in the U.S. from 2002-2006 before exiting the sport to concentrate on coaching BJJ at his cousin Renzo Gracie's academy. He returned to action last month at the first ever MMA event in Israel and scored a first round submission win over Martin Wojcik.
Carpenter is 6-0 in his career, and picked up a win in Bellator during season three in October over Gracie's teammate Jamal Patterson.
Penick's Analysis: Looks like Bellator is set to kickstart season four early in 2011, and Gracie is a good addition to the light heavyweight tournament. Despite a four year layoff, he looked good last month on the Israel Fighting Championships card. With a TV deal that will bring them actually live from week to week instead of being preempted in many markets, they'll have a chance to gain some momentum and a stronger viewership. Hopefully we'll get some more announcements in the coming weeks as season four gets closer.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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