Sandro, Mann And Fabiano Tapped For Bellator Season Six Featherweight Tournament

A trio of veteran fighters have been confirmed as the first entrants for Bellator's season-six featherweight tournament.

Marlon Sandro, Ronnie Mann, and Wagnney Fabiano will be among the eight-man field, according to reports from Sherdog. The winner of the tournament receives a $100,000 grand prize and guaranteed title shot against Bellator 145-pound champion Joe Warren.

Both Sandro and Mann competed in Bellator's 2011 Summer Series featherweight tournament.

Sandro (20-3), a 34-year-old Brazilian out of Nova Uniao, earned consecutive decision wins over Genair da Silva and Nazareno Malegarie before falling to a Pat Curran head kick in the tourney finals. Since then Sandro picked up a first-round submission victory over Rafael Dias at Bellator 58.

Mann (21-4-1), meanwhile, knocked out Adam Schindler before stumbling against Curran in the semifinals. The 25-year-old rebounded from the loss with a first-round submission over Kenny Foster to pave his way into season-six's tournament.

Recent Bellator signee Fabiano (14-3) makes his promotion debut after an extended run in the WEC. The 36-year-old Brazilian has won ten of his last twelve fights, but failed to gain entry into the UFC due to a WEC 52 loss to Joseph Benavidez. Fabiano then tried out for "The Ultimate Fighter 14", but ultimately failed to make the cut.

Bellator's sixth season is slated to kick off in March and will feature additional tournaments in the bantamweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions. The inclusion of a sixth tournament is currently being mulled by promotion officials.